It has recently come to light that mothers in South Korea have been going to great lengths to give their children not just a leg up, but a tongue up on speaking English. Not only do these ambitious parents play their children English nursery rhymes in the womb, hire pricey tutors for their toddlers, and send their preschoolers to America to pick up the accent, now, in an effort to give their children an advantage in a highly competitive global society, the parents are turning to surgery to sort out misplaced l and r sounds. The procedure, which takes twenty to thirty minutes under local anesthetic, involves snipping the thin tissue under the tongue to make it longer and supposedly nimbler. More ... 

When IE roots begin in bh-, they often enter Latin as f. Thus bhareku appears in Latin as the reflex stem farc- in the verb farcire, "to stuff." More ... 

Nonce Words. Most dictionaries define a nonce word as one coined "for the nonce," that is, for a particular occasion, presumably never to be used again. There is, of course, a paradox hidden in the definition, which if taken strictly, would mean that the very discussion of a nonce word would remove it from its own category. That logical dead end aside, my American Heritage cites as an example of a nonce word mileconsuming, as in the following fragment from Faulkner: "the wagon began to fall into its slow and mileconsuming clatter." William and Mary Morris's Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage offers the charming example of a nonce word arising from the centennial celebration of Lincoln, Illinois. There the townspeople minted a commemorative coin valued at 7.5¢. Since it was worth less than a dime and more than a nickel, they called it a dickel. The word had not been used before nor has it since (except by the Morrises and, now, me). More ... 

Two seconds for the design, artwork, and the title. A large proportion of books have tombstone covers. Nobody could think of an image, symbol, or metaphor that could capture the essence of the book in a way that would help sell it, so words are all that browsers have to go on. Finding the perfect title for your book will be an "Aha!" experience. You will know it the moment you think of it or hear it. It will be love at first sound. More ... 

1.    How bad to be without bones,
flesh spread around
unable to move,
breathing sticky dreams,
dance-steps like flocks flown away.

2.    I am a thick muffin.
Bring me raisins and walnuts,
re-butter my insides,
yearning for the sweets of substance.

3.    An iron fence
guarded by a mean nun
with a shaved head under her tight wimple.
Latin is her only love.
She cultivates thorns on cactus,
replicating fricatives and rubrics. More ... 

That having been said, let me ask the class why booty is such a funny word. More ... 

This is the first in a series of essays on editing — that is, on the job of helping writers to present their work in the most effective possible way. It is based on a lifetime's experience of editing and being edited, and only very little, if at all, on what others have written about either experience. I know that in ignoring almost everything already written on editing I may be depriving myself of many useful insights, and repeating what others have already said, and said well. But I am trying to serve myself as well as you here; I wanted to discover what I had learned from my own experience, whether or not it duplicated what others learned from theirs. So you may find some of what follows too familiar or too elementary to be useful; if so, just skip it. I will be dealing exclusively with the editing of nonfiction — expository writing of various flavors — since the editing of fiction is a rather different craft. I'll welcome, of course, any comments that you may have, and if you send useful suggestions in time, I will try to weave my response into future installments. More ... 

I am one who should not read the newspapers. It seems every time I do I run across another culture story that depresses me more than a dozen drive-by shootings. This time, the story that caught my eye and doused my spirit was hatched in the capital of the glorious New South. There, progressive Atlanta educators are experimenting with a novel way of teaching Shakespeare — by not teaching Shakespeare. More ... 

Knowing to use the possessive case before a gerund is one of the hallmarks of good English usage. People who use the objective case instead of the possessive are ill spoken, coarse sounding. More ... 

Although few people can complain of another's grammatical mistakes with impunity, that is, without revealing their own, we are hopeful that "Grumbling About Grammar" will encourage us all to pay more heed to how the language is used — by ourselves as well as by others — while bettering our ability to speak and write it.

obfusticate Idiotic for obfuscate. • It isn't true encryption, but a fast and easy online tool to obfusticate the source code of your own webpages, to prevent thieves from jacking your html. USE obfuscate. • Words like "nazi" and "monster" appeal to emotions and obfusticate the facts. USE obfuscate. • These terms obfusticate what is really happening, but it does not matter, they are both useful metaphors, and both valid but only to a point. USE obfuscate.

Some people would have you believe that obfusticate (a word doubtlessly begotten of mispronunciation) means to darken, becloud, make obscure, confuse, or make unintelligible. Other people know this is the definition of obfuscate, truly a word. Proclaiming the validity and usefulness of obfusticate is behavior worthy of a half-wit — or a laxicographer. More ... 

We all know far too well how to write everyday English, but few of us know how to write elegant English — English that is expressed with music as well as meaning, style as well as substance. The point of this feature is not to suggest that people should try to emulate these examples of elegant English but to show that the language can be written with grace and polish — qualities that much contemporary writing is bereft of and could benefit from.

Since this little book appeared in print, it has had no less than three answers, and fresh attacks are daily expected from the powers of Grub-street; but should threescore antagonists more arise, unless they say more to the purpose than the forementioned, they shall not tempt me to reply.

Nor shall I engage in a paper war, but leave my book to answer for itself, having advanced nothing therein but evident truths, and incontestable matters of fact.

The general objection is against my style; I do not set up for an author, but write only to be understood, no matter how plain.

As my intentions are good, so have they had the good fortune to meet with approbation from the sober and substantial part of mankind; as for the vicious and vagabond, their ill-will is my ambition. — Daniel Defoe, Preface to Everybody's Business Is Nobody's Business More ... 

Whereas a witticism is a clever remark or phrase — indeed, the height of expression — a "dimwitticism" is the converse; it is a commonplace remark or phrase. Dimwitticisms are worn-out words and phrases; they are expressions that dull our reason and dim our insight, formulas that we rely on when we are too lazy to express what we think or even to discover how we feel. The more we use them, the more we conform — in thought and feeling — to everyone else who uses them.

a (welcome) breath of fresh air Of what it purports to describe, a (welcome) breath of fresh air offers the opposite. If intelligent or heartfelt sentences are invigorating, this dimwitticism should make us gasp as though we've been throttled by foul-smelling thoughtlessness. • A toy industry analyst called the news a breath of fresh air. REPLACE WITH exciting. • Ordinarily, I find Friedman a welcome breath of fresh air — he has little patience for fools and plagiarists, an obvious depth of knowledge on all genres of the entertainment industry, reliable inside sources and candor to spare. REPLACE WITH refreshing. More ... 

Words often ill serve their purpose. When they do their work badly, words militate against us. Poor grammar, sloppy syntax, misused words, misspelled words, and other infelicities of style impede communication and advance only misunderstanding. But there is another, perhaps less well-known, obstacle to effective communication: too many words.

continue on continue. • If he doesn't raise enough money, he won't be able to continue on. If he doesn't raise enough money, he won't be able to continue. • Her business is going to continue on. Her business is going to continue. • The series is set to begin at 7 pm Friday, March 26, and continue on Saturday, March 27, at 7 pm. The series is set to begin at 7 pm Friday, March 26, and continue Saturday, March 27, at 7 pm. • I hope that commitment will continue on indefinitely. I hope that commitment will continue indefinitely. More ... 

Inadequate though they may be, words distinguish us from all other living things. Indeed, our worth is partly in our words. Effective use of language — clear writing and speaking — is a measure of our humanness. What's more, the more words we know and can correctly use, the broader will be our understanding of self, the keener our acquaintance with humankind.

apostrophe (ah-POS-trah-fee) n. a rhetorical device in which a speaker or writer addresses an absent person, an abstraction, or an inanimate object. More ... 

Each month, "Oddments and Miscellanea" will focus on a particular matter of faulty grammar, slipshod syntax, or improper punctuation. This month's admonition:

Do not use seldomly. The adverb is seldom. More ... 

Among the best written, if least read, books are those that we will be featuring each month in "On the Bookshelf." No book club selections, no best-selling authors are likely to be spoken of here. Best-selling authors, of course, are often responsible for the worst written books.

Theodore Dreiser: An American Tragedy More ...