Kerfuffle
Some seldom-used words have a particular charm: their meaning is clear simply from their spelling …
Words that Aren’t Quite Words
Copying and pasting text or images is an established and tidy practice: we copy the …
Slash Those Superfluous Words
Good composition includes slashing all needless words from your business writing. But to do that, you …
What Words Should We Look Forward to in 2019?
Partly Sunny – Or Partly Cloudy?
Weather fascinates in both its variety and vocabulary. A still night can morph into a …
The Wonder of Frankenfood
Monsters aren’t always scary, especially not in cartoons that decorate packages of fun foods, such …
10 Tips to Tidy Up Your Holiday Messages
A Nitpicker’s Guide to Fixing Common Writing Gaffes Before you write another batch of holiday …
Virtually Unnecessary Words
There’s nothing virtual about superfluous words, even if they do seem to creep into our …
A Double Take on “Doppelgänger”
“She looks just like you.” Or, “You could play his double in a movie.” If …
Editing: The Last Mile of Effective Writing
Ask children to describe their dream job and the response will be clear: a firefighter …