In recent years a number of ersatz words have entered the popular vocabulary (particularly in sports broadcasting). One of the chief offenders is “comfortability.” Comfortability, as in, “He shows great comfortability moving the pocket” is a classic example of the practice of . . . Continue reading →
Language evolves over time and that process is often driven by popular usage. This may be one of those instances where popular usage has so far outstripped the original use of a phrase that it is beyond correcting. Nevertheless I persevere if . . . Continue reading →
HB reader Barbara asks, “Is conversate a word? I am a nurse and see other nurses using it in their progress notes. Example: ‘The resident was seen conversating with her room mate.’ Thanks Barbara. That is a good question. In English verbs, . . . Continue reading →
To anticipate an objection: yes, language evolves but language also has a fixed core. There is a connection between language and the nature of things. There is a distinction in nature between the subject and the object. The languages with which I . . . Continue reading →
Almost without fail today, whether on a media news program, in print, or in causal discussion, when one hears or reads the phrase “begs the question” (or some variant) it is used to mean, raises the question. On its face this might seem an odd thing since raises is hardly an obscure or antiquated verb. Continue reading →
Talk radio is either the fertile valley or the fruited plains of popular speech. As a regular listener to several genres I have noticed both hosts and listeners confusing these two words: quasi and pseudo. One may almost understand why there might . . . Continue reading →
I have noticed these two words being confused more frequently of late, hence a grammar guerilla post. Your is the possessive of you. It means that something belongs to you. “I see that your ball rolled into the street.” “The house is . . . Continue reading →
Sports-talk radio is a never-ending source of malapropisms and a good indicator of the state of the language. One abuse which I hear regularly on the radio and in personal conversation is the unnecessary use of the preposition of. A preposition indicates . . . Continue reading →
Eleven years ago the film Idiocracy was released. I have only seen portions. I am not a great fan of the comedy of errors. It is difficult for me to watch Seinfeld because of the George Costanza character. Jason Alexander did a . . . Continue reading →
For the better part of the last decade I have been hearing and reading the expression, “I do not like that conversation” or “I do not like that discussion.” If, in this context, the nouns discussion and conversation mean “the exchange of . . . Continue reading →
One hears and sees these two adjectives confused with increasing regularity. E.g., in a Dallas, TX news story an attorney is quoted as saying, “It’s incredulous that this lease is being used….” The word incredible is derived from the Latin incrēdibilis, which . . . Continue reading →
The distinction between while and though is neglected but should be recovered. The writer observes it is clearer and more useful to his reader. Most often today, even in edited publications (e.g., newspapers, magazines, and books) one sees them used interchangeably and . . . Continue reading →
It is easy to confuse two words when they have the same root. This is the case with the adjectives (words that modify nouns or persons, places, and things) incredulous and incredible. As incredible as it might seem and as incredulous as . . . Continue reading →
Sportscaster Dick Enberg died at 82 today. One writer recalled him “waxing poetically” while calling a ball game. To wax poetically suggests that one is polishing one’s car while reciting Keats but that is not what the writer intended. Enberg may have waxed . . . Continue reading →
Words are frequently learned aurally. After all, children learn their native language aurally until they learn to read. Even after we learn to read, however, we continue to collect new words through hearing them. I suspect that fact may account for the . . . Continue reading →
In yet another indicator that the West is collapsing, Webster’s Dictionary has apparently named they, used to designate a particular, non-gendered person, the word of 2019. This seems to call for a quick refresher on basic grammar: There are two kinds of . . . Continue reading →
“He is as good of a running back as you will see in the SEC.” One hears and sees the expression, “as good of” almost constantly now and it as defective as it is unnecessary. The first part of the problem is . . . Continue reading →
Just before I entered public school in 1966 the geniuses who were running the education establishment had already begun to give up on education in favor of using schools as laboratories of social change, personal development, and family therapy. In their defense, . . . Continue reading →
These two words are closely related in meaning but they are distinct in their subjects and yet people regularly confuse them. In general the speaker or writer implies and the reader or hearer infers. An implication is a suggestion something without expressly . . . Continue reading →
I was surprised to learn that of the more than 6,000 Heidelblog posts, two of the most popular have been Grammar Guerrilla posts: Grammar Guerrilla: Comfort v Comfortability and Grammar Guerrilla: Agreement v Agreeance. Continue reading →