Browsing Posts of Author
WTF?
From the “How’d They Miss That One?” Department: WASHINGTON (AFP) — OMG! What is that on my car’s license plate? That’s the question asked by 10,000 drivers who registered their vehicles in North Carolina last year and got registrations starting with “WTF.”
Good Riddanc, Copy Editors!
Not! Check out this funny article by the Washington Post’s Gene Weingarten on why copy editors are important.
A Bookstore to Take Your Breath Away
Greetings from Argentina, where I recently had the great pleasure of exploring one of the world’s most breathtaking bookstores, El Ateneo, in Buenos Aires. Opened in 1919 as a grand theater for live performances, it later became a movie theater, and in 2000, was converted into a bookstore. As you can see, the stage has more…
When Spellcheckers Attack
Oops. Spell-check run amok changes names in Pa. yearbook AP–A computer spell-checker run amok christened several Pennsylvania high school students with new — and in some cases unflattering — last names. Middletown Area High School’s yearbook listed Max Zupanovic as “Max Supernova,” Kathy Carbaugh as “Kathy Airbag” and Alessandra Ippolito as “Alexandria Impolite,” just to more…
i am neurotic
i am neurotic is a place for you to confess your neuroses (including, apparently, a morbid fear of capital letters). A sampling: When I have to ask for directions and the location is fairly obvious, I’m always embarrassed. To avoid the humiliation, I ask in a British accent so my incompetence is socially accepted. And: more…
A Book You Can Really Dig
The good folks at iUniverse, which provides affordable publishing, editorial, and marketing services, are featuring my book, A Garden of Words, on their site. There you’ll also find a recent podcast interview I did with them about the book, which is about how flowers got their names — as well as how many other words more…
Dah Dah DUH
As Shpilkes points out, it’s hard to know what the naming consultants at Volkswagen were thinking when they named their new models Touareg, Tiguan, and Routan. I can’t help wondering if Touareg is some kind of anagram. (“Outrage”? “Age Rout”? “A Toe Rug”?) Btw, how did I miss until just this instant that there’s a more…
Writer’s Block? Kvit Your Kvetching!
Great advice about writer’s block. For starters, quit whining. Whining is the white blue smoke in your tailpipe that lets you know you’re burning mental oil. It means you’re unconsciously devoting cycles to something that you can’t, won’t, or shouldn’t be spending time thinking about. Otherwise, why would it be bothering you, right? You’d be more…
Ving, Vang, Vong
In an editorial subtitled “The Pleasures of a New Vocabulary,” Verlyn Klinkenborg beautifully describes the thrill of picking up unfamiliar words while acquiring a new skill. Who knew that “scandalize” was a sailing term? (Okay, besides sailors.) It means “to make a sail smaller,” and is an alteration of “scantelize,” which may have something to more…
Back Home Again in Indiana (Sort of )
I’m delighted to say that Grant and I will be in Indianapolis this weekend for several important fundraising events. We’ll be in the studios of NPR affiliate WFYI, pitching live during their spring membership campaign on Saturday, April 12, from noon to 1 p.m., when “A Way with Words” is broadcast. If you’ve been thinking more…
