October 18, 2009
Many, many years ago, way back in 19-cough-cough (all right -- it was 1969 and some of you weren't even born yet), I was in London for the first time. I found myself in a car rental office, eager to start driving on the wrong side of the road. As I...
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September 27, 2009
Please read this entire column, whether you hate Twitter, love Twitter or don't even know what Twitter is. The reason I'm writing about Twitter is this: I want to offer periodic advice on language via Twitter, and you can help make it happen.
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August 23, 2009
Everyone makes typographical errors at some time, yes? What's troubling me is that organizations that should not make them -- book publishers -- do. We should be able to read a novel without finding egregious mistakes, don't you agree? All right, I...
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July 20, 2009
We all have our pet sayings, yes? You know people who say “you know,” others who rely on “um” or, well, don’t even get me started on “like.” Thing is, any saying can be irritating if it’s used to excess.
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June 21, 2009
What is more enjoyable than a good, old-fashioned question-and-answer session? Well, here's what I come up with: ice cream, golf, movies, good books, the beach &ellipses; wait a minute. I'd say almost everything is more fun than boring questions and a...
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May 24, 2009
Sometimes people misuse or even make up words, and when they do, readers of this column seem to be within hearing (and note-taking) distance. That's good for me because they tell me about it. Here are some examples.
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April 19, 2009
When I was 21 years old (so long ago, rope was a new invention), I lit out for the territory, driving from my native Texas to attend graduate school in Pittsburgh, in large part simply to learn what Yankees were like. I’ve never been the same.On the...
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March 22, 2009
When I signed on to write these columns, my wife said, "Do you have enough to write about?" I laughed, saying: "I have enough material to write several per day." Today marks the beginning of this column's fourth year, and one of the re...
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March 10, 2009
I'm gonna be sick. If I'm not very careful, this could become the most disgusting article ever to appear in this paper. Nay -- in any daily newspaper. At least, I hope you agree with me that it's disgusting. You might think I'm just out of touch. Here's t...
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February 15, 2009
Well (to quote the outrageous Little Richard), good golly, Miss Molly, it seems that errors surround us. You would expect that Barack Obama would merit more than his fair number of typos and other errors, given the vast amount of copy dedicated to him sin...
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February 10, 2009
I'm old, and that's OK with me. Oh, sure, many people tell me, "You're not old!" Well, yes, I am. If we have young adult, middle-aged and old as the categories, I'm old. If I were classified as middle-aged, I'd need to live to 126. That won't happen. I......
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January 18, 2009
After my last column appeared, Reader Amanda said, "I have to give you the title." What title, I dutifully asked. "My curmudgeon title. I think you've earned it." What? Me? Oh, you mean my complaining just a little bit, here and there, about the occasiona...
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December 14, 2008
Let’s leap into language today with some actual examples that have darkened my path recently. We’ll start with a tennis announcer who said: “The thing about (Rafael) Nadal is that he forces so many unforced errors.” As a former tennis player mysel...
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November 16, 2008
Occasionally I'm able to share some of the entertaining and intriguing notes I receive from readers of this column. Today is one of those times. After I wrote about a trip to Arkansas, Reader Barry sent this. "My father, who passed on in 1998, carried the...
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October 19, 2008
Because this is Sunday, I'm reminded of some of the church humor that's been circulated widely lately, all of it supposedly derived from real church bulletins and all funny because of language. You may have heard or read many of these, but maybe not. For...
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September 28, 2008
Today I'm going to use two words you may find nasty (or, as some say, "nassy"). But think of today's column as you do medicine - something that is good for you, even necessary. So take your meds and keep reading. Here they are, those two words. Ready? Sub...
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August 17, 2008
My last column admitted right up front, "there is no theme here!" It was a brazen emptying of Mike's Miscellany, and it felt terrific (for me, at least). So we're doing that again today. Odds and ends, kids, and here we go.
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July 20, 2008
Oh, this is exciting. At least for me it is. I've decided to forgo all pretense of attaining a topic, a theme, a focus for today's column. Today we simply clear out some of Mike's Miscellany - a way to handle some odds and ends that have lived with me lon...
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