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# Grammarphobia

Grammar, etymology, usage, and more, brought to you by               Patricia T. O’Conner and Stewart Kellerman

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://grammarphobia.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Blog](https://grammarphobia.com/blog)
- [No, it’s not spelled d-i-l-e-m-n-a](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/05/dilemma-dilemna.html) - "Dilemma" is and always has been the correct spelling of the word sometimes misspelled "dilemna."
- [A dilemma inside an enigma](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/02/dilemma-inside-enigma.html) - Is it spelled "dilemma" or "dilemna"?
- [When Dickens don’t use 'doesn’t’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/06/dont-doesnt.html) - Was the use "don't" for "does not" standard English in the 18th and 19th centuries?
- [Was ‘it don’t’ once good English?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/06/dont.html) - “Don’t” was the usual contraction of “does not” for more than two centuries.
- [When usage goes out the window*](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/06/defenestrate.html) - Most standard dictionaries define “defenestrate” literally as to throw someone out a window and figuratively as to remove someone from a position of authority.
- [The “c” word in fact and fiction](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/11/c-word.html) - The origins of the word "cunt."
- [The acronym, initially speaking](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/06/acronym.html) - Language authorities are divided today on whether an “acronym” is an abbreviation pronounced as one word or as individual letters.
- [Performative gratitude](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/06/performative-gratitude.html) - “Performative gratitude” first appeared about a dozen years ago on social media as a term for a formulaic or stock expression of thanks.
- [On ‘seeing’  and ‘hearing’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/06/see-hear.html) - The verbs “see” and “hear” can express many states or actions. One can "see" a rainbow (perceive it with the eyes) or "see" Hamlet (be a spectator at the play).
- [The sense of ‘ill-being’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/06/ill-being.html) - The term "ill-being" is relatively rare, but you can find it in several standard dictionaries, where it's defined as lack of prosperity, happiness, or health.
- [The importance of being open](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/04/the-importance-of-being-open.html)
- [Frankly, my dear, we like “hopefully”](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/01/hopefully.html)
- [Tense about the present](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/02/tense-about-the-present.html)
- [When the past is present](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/01/literary-present.html) - The literary present: when writers use the present tense to describe things in the past.
- [‘Cutting corners’: A horsey tale](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/05/cutting-corners.html) - When "cutting corners" appeared in the early 1800s, it referred to riders and drivers who made their horses take corners and bends in the road too sharply.
- [Let’s give ‘proper’ its props](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/08/proper.html) - The history of "proper," from the Middle Ages to the age of Aretha, with the coming of the nouns "propers" and "props."
- [Tom, Dick, and Harry](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/02/tom-dick-and-harry.html) - Origin of the expression "Tom, Dick, and Harry."
- [Tom, Dick, and Harry, part 2](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/06/tom-dick-and-harry-part-2.html)
- [Let it be](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/01/let-alone.html) - The phrases "let alone" and "leave alone" have both been used to mean "not to mention" since the first half of the 19th century.
- [‘My’ and ‘mine’ shadow](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/05/my-mine.html) - The evolution of “my” and “mine” as possessive adjectives was messy until "my" became the universal first-person possessive adjective in Modern English.
- [Two-faced words, part 2](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/03/two-faced-words-part-2.html)
- [Two-faced words](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/06/two-faced-words.html)
- [Table talk](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/05/table.html) - How the verb "table" took on a new meaning when it crossed the Atlantic.
- [Is 'irregardless' your #1 'uggie'?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/06/irregardless.html)
- [Why don't “laughter” and “daughter” rhyme?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/01/laughter-daughter.html) - Why "laughter" and "daughter" don't sound the same.
- [Is this use of “on” really off?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/05/0n.html) - The preposition “on” has been used by respected writers since Anglo-Saxon days to mean about or concerning, a usage recognized in standard dictionaries.
- [Why a ‘rise’ can be ‘meteoric’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/04/meteoric-rise.html) - The use of “meteoric” for something that rises may seem counterintuitive, but the adjective has been used that way for more than a century and a half.
- [Cut to the chase](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/01/cut-to-the-chase.html) - The Hollywood origins of "cut to the chase."
- [Making the cut](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/04/make-the-cut.html) - When the expression “make the cut” first appeared in print, it referred to people who didn’t “make the cut” for Christmas bonuses.
- ['New albums drop like leaves in the fall’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/04/drop.html) - The use of “drop” for the release of new music, software, movies, podcasts, and so on apparently originated in the late 1980s in the world of hip-hop and rap.
- [‘Thou shalt not loose by it’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/04/lose-loose.html) - The spelling of “lose” as "loose" in casual writing today may be influenced by the double “o” in “choose,” a word that rhymes with “lose.”
- [A thorny question?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/03/a-thorny-question.html) - How "ye" came to mean the definite article "the" and pronoun "you."
- [‘A hundred literate children’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/03/literate.html) - The word “literate” has meant educated or learned since it first appeared in English in the 14th century, though iIt now usually means able to read or write.
- [A chimerical journey](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/02/chimera-2.html) - Why the noun "chimera," which originally meant a monster in Greek mythology, now usually refers to a mere wild fancy or an unfounded idea.
- [When ‘ye’ became ‘you’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/03/ye-you.html) - Why did Robert Herrick switch from "ye" to "you" in the last line of his 17th-century poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”?
- [On ‘adult’ and ‘adultery’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/03/adult-adultery.html) - Are “adult” and “adultery” related?
- [Let’s go down the ‘rabbit hole’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/03/lrabbit-hole.html) - The phrase “rabbit hole” has been used literally and figuratively since well before Alice fell down one. The figurative sense seems to have been recorded first.
- [Neither hot nor cold](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/05/neither-hot-nor-cold.html) - The tepid history of "lukewarm."
- [A bunch of sauces?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/04/bunch.html) - Can "bunch" refer to a group of people or things, like "a bunch of friends"?
- [‘All Sects, all Ages smack of this vice’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/10/smack.html) - When “smack” appeared in Old English, it was a noun for a taste or flavor. When the verb arrived in Middle English, it meant to perceive by the sense of taste.
- [How cool was Abe Lincoln?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/02/cool-2.html) - When Abraham Lincoln said "That is cool" in his 1860 Cooper Union speech, he used “cool” to mean impudent or shameless, recognized senses at the time.
- [Birth of the cool](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/09/cool.html)
- [How cool is coolth?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/07/coolth.html) - Chilling out etymologically with "coolth."
- [Osculation: A kiss is still a kiss](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/02/osculation.html) - “Osculation” has meant “kissing” since English adopted the term from Latin in the 17th century, but that sense is now considered humorous.
- [On the euphemism treadmill](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/02/euphemism-dysphemism.html) - The change from a euphemism to a dysphemism is called pejoration, while the change from a dysphemism to a euphemism is amelioration.
- [When ‘misery’ rhymes with ‘high’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/01/misery.html) - Although “misery” has usually been pronounced MIZ-uh-ree, it has sometimes been pronounced MIZ-uh-rye (rhyming with “high”) in poetry and formal speech.
- [Has the verb ‘progress’ progressed?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/01/progress-2.html) - The word "progress" has evolved since English borrowed it from Latin in the 15th century, but it's progressed in some places more than others.
- [Progressive education](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/02/progressive-education.html)
- [What a fetching Labrador retriever!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/01/fetch.html) - Both the retrieving and attractive senses of “fetching” come from the verb “fetch,” which originally meant in Old English to seek and bring back someone.
- [Are ‘hopium’ and ‘copium’ nope-iums?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2026/01/hopium-copium.html) - Is it legit to use “hopium” for an imaginary opiate taken to achieve unrealistic optimism, and “copium” for one taken to endure hard times?
- [How ‘super’ and ‘bowl’ touched down](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/12/super-bowl.html) - The first person to use the term “Super Bowl” for the football championship game was Lamar Hunt, owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, in 1966.
- [Gentlemen, God rest you merry!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/12/god-rest-you-merry-gentlemen.html) - The tangled history, and the proper punctuation, of the Christmas carol "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen."
- [Gentlemen, God rest you merry!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/12/god-rest-you-merry-gentlemen-2.html) - The tangled history, and the proper punctuation, of the Christmas carol "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen."
- [We dasn’t commit ourselves](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/12/dasnt.html) - How did “daren’t,” the most obvious (and standard) contraction of “dare not,” end up as the dialectal shortening “dasn’t”?
- [Evacuation roots](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/12/evacuate.html) - How "evacuate" evolved from a verb for emptying the bowels to one for, among other things, removing people from a place.
- ['Went to go see a movie'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/12/went-to-go.html) - The use of “went to go” in a construction like "I went to go see" is regarded as colloquial and is common in speech, but it's rarely found in edited prose.
- [Gender issues (no, not those)](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/11/grammatical-gender.html) - The most common theory about the origin of grammatical gender, a means of categorizing nouns, is that it first consisted of two classes—animate and inanimate.
- [Genesis: ‘you and I’ v. ‘you and me’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/11/you-and-i-v-you-and-me.html) - Many English translations of the Bible use "let us" with “you and I” in Genesis 31:44, but many others use "let us" with “you and me.”
- [He's not 'quite quite,' you know](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/11/not-quite-quite.html) - The use of “not quite” to mean socially unacceptable dates back to the mid-19th century, and the longer term, “not quite quite,” appeared a decade later.
- [Well, clutch the pearls!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/02/pearl-clutch.html) - The shocking life of "clutch the pearls" and similar expressions.
- [Matriculating down the field](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/11/matriculate.html) - Dictionaries define “matriculate” as to enroll or be enrolled at a college or university, but at least one has a colloquial football sense on its radar.
- [It’s not quite “quite” anymore](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/03/quite.html) - The many meanings of the word "quite."
- [On fawning and fawns](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/10/fawn.html) - Is the verb “fawn” (to show affection or flatter) related to the noun “fawn” (a young deer)?
- [‘Allude’ and its playful history](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/10/allude.html) - The verb “allude” has been a work in progress since it first appeared in English in the 15th century. And it’s not at all surprising that it still is.
- [A pub, yclept Ye Olde Watering Hole](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/10/yclept.html) - “Yclept” is an old adjective that means named, called, or by the name of. Some dictionaries consider it archaic, but several regard it as standard English.
- [Are you getting antsy?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/09/antsy.html) - A possible early version of "antsy" (spelled “ancey”) appeared in the first half of the 19th century, but it’s uncertain that the two terms are related.
- [The short and the long](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/09/the-short-and-the-long.html) - The words “short” and “long” are sometimes antonyms and sometimes not, often depending on whether they're adjectives or adverbs.
- [Why 'learn by heart,’ not 'by brain’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/09/why-learn-by-heart.html) - The expression “learn by heart” reflects an ancient belief that the heart, not the brain, is the human body’s organ of sensation and cognition.
- [Is coconut milk really milk?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/03/milk.html) - When the word "milk" appeared in Old English, it meant the fluid from mammary glands, but that sense soon widened to include the milky liquid from plants.
- [Spick and span](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/06/spick-and-span.html)
- [A tidy history of ‘spick and span’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/09/aspick-and-span.html) - The original meanings of “spick" and "span” have died out, but the two words survive bound together in the phrase "spick and span."
- [Liwans, porticos, and palaces](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/09/liwan.html) - What does the word “lewen” mean in the novel Ben-Hur? I cannot find it in any dictionary but it appears to be an architectural feature.
- [Ulterior purposes](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/10/ulterior-purposes.html)
- [A ‘bad boy’ can be a good thing](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/08/bad-boy.html) - “Bad boy” has been used since the 19th century to describe a rebellious man, but in the mid-20th century it also came to mean something effective or impressive.
- [Why not ‘ceiling’ of the mouth?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/08/roofceiling.html) - “Roof” appeared in English hundreds of years before “ceiling,” and its use for the upper part of the mouth was firmly established well before “ceiling” arrived.
- [And now, let us digress](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/08/gress-grade.html) - The “gress” element found in many English words (“aggression,” “digress,” “transgressive,” and so on) ultimately comes from a Latin term for to step or walk.
- [At the end of the day](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/11/at-the-end-of-the-day.html) - The origin of the expression "at the end of the day."
- [When ‘jealousy’ met ‘envy’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/08/jealousy-envy.html) - The term “jealous” is often used to mean “envious,” a usage that dates back to the 14th century and is now recognized by standard dictionaries.
- [Tales of the drawing room](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/07/drawing-room.html) - The term “drawing room” began life as a shortening of “withdrawing-room,” a room to withdraw to. It later became a room to welcome and entertain guests.
- [On the banks of the Ohio](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/07/banks.html) - Both “bank” and “banks” have been used for hundreds of years to mean the entire raised area of land along a river, lake, sea, or other water body.
- [Some ‘after’ thoughts](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/07/after.html) - How did the word "after" come to mean “behind” as well as “in pursuit of”?
- [Emotional baggage](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/06/emotional-baggage.html)
- [Unpacking ‘emotional baggage’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/07/emotional-baggage-2.html) - The term "emotional baggage" apparently first appeared in the early 20th century, though “baggage” had been used earlier in a similar way with other modifiers.
- [Donjons, dungeons, and dragons](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/06/donjons-dungeons.html) - The English words “donjon” and “dungeon” are derived from an Anglo-Norman term for a keep, or fortified tower, in the inner court of a castle.
- [In the longue run](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/08/in-the-longue-run.html)
- [Odds and endings](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/02/odds-and-endings.html)
- [Let us repair to the boudoir](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/06/repair.html) - The verbs “repair” (to fix) and “repair” (to go) are two distinct words that have evolved from two different Latin terms.
- [Channeling the talking heads of yore](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/06/talking-head.html) - What is the origin of the expression “talking head,” and why has it become so pejorative?
- [The death of a buddy in Vietnam](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/05/memorial-day.html) - In observance of Memorial Day, an article that Stewart Kellerman wrote for UPI in 1971 about the last day in the life of an American soldier in Vietnam.
- [On and off the cuff](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/05/off-the-cuff.html) - The use of the expression “off the cuff” to mean without preparation apparently comes from notes jotted on one’s shirt cuffs.
- [On criticizing and critiquing](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/05/on-criticize-critique.html) - The verb “critique” means to analyze or evaluate, though it’s sometimes used in the sense of “criticize”—to find fault with.
- [Why are clams happy?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/05/happy-as-a-clam.html) - English speakers have used the “as happy as” formula for centuries, comparing great happiness to that of people and creatures perceived to be happy.
- [One of the best there is](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/04/one-of-the-best-there-is.html) - The expression “one of the best there is” is an expanded version of the singular noun phrase “one of the best,” which first appeared in the late 1400s.
- [Clawing back in the age of DOGE](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/04/claw-back.html) - “Claw back” has been used since the 1950s to mean take back money, and “claw” has been used by itself in a similar way since the mid-19th century.
- [Reluctant vs. reticent](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/reluctant-vs-reticent.html)
- [On Passover and Easter](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/05/passover-easter.html) - The words for Passover and Easter are similar in many languages because the lookalikes are derived from the Hebrew word for the Jewish holiday.
- [On Passover and Easter](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/04/on-passover-easter.html) - Words for Passover and Easter are similar in many languages, especially European, because they come from the Hebrew word for the Jewish holiday, פסח (Pesach).
- [Sex, gender, and sociology](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/04/sex-gender.html) - “Sex” and “gender” have meant either of the two main biological forms of a species since the Middle Ages, but the two terms began evolving in the 20th century.
- [Befooled, besotted ... beclowned?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/03/beclown.html) - Beclown? The word first appeared in English more than 400 years ago, but it isn’t all that common now and never has been.
- [A horse of a different choler](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/03/curry-favor.html) - How “curry favor” was inspired by the Roman de Fauvel, a 14th-century satirical poem about a horse fawned upon by the powerful in France.
- [Preventative medicine!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/08/preventative-medicine.html)
- [A ‘heart-wrenching’ sorrow](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/03/a-heart-wrenching.html) - The use of “heart-wrenching” has increased sharply in recent years, but the usage isn’t new. It’s been around for almost two centuries.
- [The ambiguity of ‘disambiguity’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/03/disambiguity.html) - The noun “disambiguity” has been around since at least the mid-20th century, but it hasn’t become common enough to make it into standard dictionaries.
- [An update on updating](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/08/an-update-on-updating.html)
- [Hello, handsome](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/02/handsome.html)
- [Memento memorious](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/10/memento-memorious.html) - Is “memorious” a word?
- [Are you down on “escalate”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/04/escalate.html) - When "customer care" decides to "escalate" a complaint.
- [Calculus class](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/09/calculus.html) - Is it OK to use the word "calculus" to mean “reasoning” or “decision-making” or “thinking” or “method” or “calculation” in a loose sense?
- [A usage to diary for?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/10/diary.html) - Is “diary” a verb?
- [A reactionary usage](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/07/reactionary.html) - Is it OK to use the word "reactionary" to mean reactive?
- [And, voilà, "wallah"!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/08/wallah.html) - Why "voilà" is sometimes pronounced wa-LA and spelled "wallah."
- [Is “monthslong” a word?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/03/monthslong.html) - On months-long and monthslong.
- [Locked and loaded](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/08/lock-and-load.html) - Why is the expression "locked and loaded," not "loaded and locked"?
- [Is flyering the new leafleting?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/09/flyering.html) - The use "flyering" to mean "handing out flyers."
- [A throne for the king of the band](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/12/drummer-throne.html) - How a drummer's stool came to be known as a "throne."
- [Is 'deprioritize' a priority?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/04/deprioritize.html) - Should "deprioritize" be deprioritized?
- [Can a woman be a chap?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/chap.html) - The noun "chap" is occasionally used to mean a woman, but it's usually used for a man or a boy.
- [Like more, only more so](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/10/moreso.html) - On "more," "more so," and "moreso."
- [To internet, or not to internet?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/04/internet-science.html) - Is it OK to use "internet" and "science" as verbs?
- [Dead-on balls accurate](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/09/dead-on-balls-accurate.html) - The origin of the expression “dead-on balls accurate.”
- [The purple haze of autumn](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/11/purple-haze.html) - The "purple haze" of twilight, autumn, atmosphere, and drugs.
- [‘Preventive’ or ‘preventative’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/02/preventive-preventative.html) - “Preventive” and “preventative” have been used since the 17th century. Most standard dictionaries recognize both, but some usage guides prefer the shorter one.
- [Calling ‘in,’ ‘out,’ or ‘off’ sick?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/02/call-in-out-off-sick.html) - People have called “in,” “out,” and “off” sick for dozens of years, but “call in sick” is the most common way to report an absence from work because of illness.
- [Cheersing at the pub](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/02/cheersing.html) - The use of “cheers” as a verb meaning to say “cheers" in a toast, often while clinking glasses, has been around for at least two decades.
- [Are you feeling pressurized?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/10/pressurize.html) - Is it OK to use “pressurize” to mean “put pressure on” someone?
- [A prohibitive favorite](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/11/prohibitive.html) - “Prohibitive” usually refers to something that prohibits or costs too much, but in American English it may also describe an overwhelming favorite.
- [No buts about it](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/01/but-2.html) - The word “but” has been used as a relative pronoun since the early 15th century, though it's usually a conjunction or a preposition.
- [A singular dynamic](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/02/dynamic.html) - The use of “dynamic” as a noun for something that influences growth, change, progress, and so on has been around since the late 1800s and is standard English.
- [Metaphors be with you](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/11/metaphors-be-with-you.html)
- [Metaphors and cataphors](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/06/metaphors-and-cataphors.html)
- [Synecdoche on his mind](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/05/synecdoche-on-his-mind.html)
- [People, places, and names](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/07/people-places-and-names.html)
- [Not a man but felt this terror](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/02/but.html) - In the sentence "Not a man but felt this terror," what does "but" mean?
- [What’s “de” story?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/07/nobiliary-particle.html)
- [You can’t call me Al](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/01/arab-names.html) - On the use of "al-," "Al-," "al," and "Al" in rendering Arabic terms in English.
- [Are you feeling irregular?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/01/intermittent.html) - The adjective "intermittent," which now means irregular, originally referred to a medical condition, such as a fever or cramp, coming by fits and starts.
- [Why do we have both “less” and “fewer”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/12/less-fewer.html)
- [More about less](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/05/more-about-less.html)
- [This is highway robbery!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2025/01/highway-robbery.html) - “Highway robbery” now means charging an exorbitant price for something, but it once meant robbery by armed “highwaymen” on horseback who preyed upon travelers.
- [Uh-oh, it’s the glottal stop](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/12/glottal-stop.html) - English speakers have been glottalizing the letter “t” since at least the mid-19th century. The pronunciation is common today in American and British English.
- [To unalive, or not to unalive](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/12/unalive.html) - The verb “unalive” showed up about a dozen years ago as a verb meaning to kill. But it has been used for over 200 years as an adjective meaning unaffected.
- [A stink over ‘odoriferous’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/12/odoriferous.html) - Both “odoriferous” and “odiferous” first appeared in English in the 15th century, but the longer term is now recognized by more dictionaries.
- [A lost utopia](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/02/buxton.html) - Buxton, Iowa, now a ghost town, was once a bustling mining community with an African-American majority.
- [We’ll tell you what](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/12/tell-you-what.html) - The colloquial expression “I’ll tell you what” dates back to the 1500s and can be seen in the works of many respected writers.
- [‘Tuckered out’ and ‘tucked in’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/12/tuckered-out.html) - The story of "tuckered out" begins in Anglo-Saxon times, when the verb “tuck” ("tucian" in Old English) meant to punish, mistreat, or torment.
- ['Generally' speaking](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/11/generally-speaking.html) - The adverb “generally” used to have three meanings: (1) broadly speaking, (2) usually, and (3) universally, but the third sense is now considered archaic.
- [A new angle on an old word](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/11/orthogonal.html) - The evolution of the old mathematical term "orthogonal."
- [‘In general,’ for the most part](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/12/in-general.html) - How the phrase "in general" came to mean usually or for the most part.
- [Cheeseparings from the moon](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/11/cheeseparing.html) - The use of "cheeseparing" to mean miserliness apparently comes from the practice of closely paring the rind to waste as little cheese as possible.
- ['We'-ism in fact and fiction](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/11/singular-we.html) - Writers have been using “we” to refer to themselves since Anglo-Saxon days—a usage primarily seen in nonfiction until the 18th and 19th centuries.
- [Is a scaredy-cat scary?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/10/scary.html) - “Scary” has meant fearful as well as fearsome for centuries. Both are accepted in standard American dictionaries and at least one standard British dictionary.
- [When ‘even’ looks odd](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/10/even-2.html) - The history of the word "even" helps explain its use in biblical passages.
- [Three faces of ‘even’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/12/even.html) - Where to put "even" in a sentence when it points out a special case or an unusual situation.
- [Why is the ‘w’ silent in ‘write’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/10/silent-w.html) - We don't pronounce the "w" of "write" today, probably because speakers of Old English and Middle English found the “wr” pronunciation difficult.
- [Is this an odd use of ‘even’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/10/even-3.html) - The adverb “even” can be used to indicate a special or exceptional instance of a more typical one, a usage that's been around for hundreds of years.
- [Keep your pecker up](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/10/pecker.html) - In British English, “pecker” has meant courage or fortitude since the mid-19th century, decades before it came to mean penis, chiefly in American English.
- [On books and bribery](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/09/book.html) - When “You Should, Too” is an elliptical version of “You Should [Pay Your Kid $100 to Read a Book], Too.”
- [Cuddle, huddle, snuggle](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/09/cuddle-huddle-snuggle.html) - Is there a reason why “cuddle” and “huddle” have the same “-uddle” ending, and “snuggle” has the slightly similar “-uggle”?
- [People who look like me](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/09/look-like-me.html) - The figurative use of “people who look like me” for a racial, ethnic, sexual, or other group appears to date from the late 1960s.
- [Can ‘difficult’ be a verb?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/09/difficult.html) - The use of “difficult” as a verb first appeared in the mid-15th century and is still seen occasionally, though it’s now considered rare or obsolete.
- [Do let’s have another drink!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/09/do-lets.html) - The use of “do” as an auxiliary verb to give polite encouragement to a command dates back to Anglo-Saxon days.
- [If money were no object](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/08/no-object.html) - How did the phrase “no object” come to mean “not something important” or “not an obstacle” in a sentence like “I’d fly first class if money were no object”?
- [Looking into ‘leaning into’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/08/lean-into.html) - The use of “lean into” to mean embrace or commit to has been around since the mid-20th century, but few standard dictionaries have embraced it.
- [May you always walk in sunshine](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/08/modal-auxiliary.html) - Why does the verb change when “I hope every day finds you feeling better” becomes “May every day find you feeling better”?
- [An accommodating detective](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/08/accommodate.html) - Punning on two meanings of “accommodate” (to oblige and to provide lodging).
- [Thank you kindly](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/06/thank-you-kindly.html)
- [Does “let’s” need lexical support?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/03/let-us.html) - Should “let’s” be followed by “you and I” or “you and me”?
- [We thank you kindly](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/07/thank-you-kindly-2.html) - The expressions “thank you kindly” and "feel poorly" may sound old-fashioned now, but they're still in use and have had somewhat of a revival lately.
- [That’s all, ffoulkes!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/08/ff-names.html) - Why do some British surnames begin with a lowercase double "f," as in ffolliott or ffoulkes?
- [The quick and the late](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/05/quick-late.html) - How did "quick" come to mean alive and "late" come to mean dead?
- [The  stylish origin of ‘tag along’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/07/tag-along.html) - The “tag” in "tag along" ultimately comes from medieval times, when “tags” were ribbon-like strips of cloth in the decoratively slashed hem of a skirt.
- [Late for the funeral](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/04/late.html) - The unusual use of "late" in Alexander McCall Smith’s "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" novels.
- [The twisted history of ‘bent’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/01/bent.html) - The many meanings of "bent," an adjective that bends in all directions, every way but straight.
- [Rhyme and reason in Shakespeare](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/07/original-pronunciation-2.html) - Did “word” once rhyme with “afford” and “sword,” as it seems to do in Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 79" and "A Midsummer Night’s Dream"?
- [On the truckling arts](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/07/truckle.html) - Someone skilled in the “truckling arts” is a sycophant, like Uriah Heep in the Dickens novel David Copperfield or Mr. Collins in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
- [Whence the silent ‘c’ in ‘indict’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/07/indict.html) - The verb “indict” wasn’t spelled or pronounced with a “c” when it first appeared in Middle English in the early 14th century.
- [Playing the etymology card](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/06/card.html) - How did the word “card” end up in expressions like “play the race card” and “play the gender card”?
- [An indisputable choice?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/indisputable-undisputed.html) - What's the difference between "indisputable" and "undisputed"?
- [‘Ever more,’ ‘ever-more,’ ‘evermore’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/06/ever-more.html) - Is it "ever more," "ever-more," or "evermore"?
- [On ‘as such’ and its ‘as-suchness’  ](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/06/as-such-2.html) - Although “as such” traditionally refers to something already mentioned, the antecedent is often obscure in a colloquial usage almost as old as the original.
- [Did the Bard speak American?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/07/original-pronunciation.html) - Linguists have reconstructed Elizabethan speech, and it sounds more NBC than BBC.
- [Is “wussy” milder than “pussy”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/01/wussy.html) - Is "wussy" a more acceptable way of saying "pussy"?
- [Did she coin ‘wuss’ and ‘wussy’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/05/wuss-wussy.html) - How "wuss" and "wussy" got their weak and effeminate senses.
- [A wussy pronunciation](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/06/wuss-pronunciation.html) - When the term "wuss" is a dialectal pronunciation of "worse," not an informal noun for a weak or ineffectual person.
- [Beholden to a schedule?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/05/beholden.html) - Traditionally, “beholden” has meant obligated or indebted. Can it also be used figuratively to mean restricted to or bound by something, such as a schedule?
- [Like hell, like mad, like stink](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/05/like-stink.html) - “Like stink” has been used in British English since the early 20th century to mean intensely. It’s similar to “like hell,” “like mad,” and “like crazy.”
- [Oh, dear! Oh, deer!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/05/dear-deer.html) - Are “dear” and “deer” etymologically related or are they just homonyms? They may be related, but the evidence isn’t conclusive.
- [Footing the bill](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/05/footing-the-bill.html) - The use of “foot” in “foot the bill” ultimately comes from the use of “foot” for the lower part of something—in this case, the total at the bottom of a bill.
- [Mixed marriage: two ways to wed](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/04/officiate.html) - Both the transitive and intransitive uses of “officiate” are standard in American English, but only the intransitive usage is standard in British English .
- [It's the bee's knees](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/04/its-the-bees-knees.html)
- [Toothsome twosomes](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/06/toothsome-twosomes.html)
- [The more things change](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/01/the-more-things-change.html)
- [Goody goody](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/01/goody-goody.html) - Why do we use the term "reduplicative," rather than "duplicative," for phrases like "bow-wow," "choo-choo," and "flim-flam"?
- [An itsy bitsy teenie weenie question](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/01/an-itsy-bitsy-teenie-weenie-question.html)
- [A wonderful catastrophe](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/07/a-wonderful-catastrophe.html)
- [Old Hungarian Goulash?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/10/old-hungarian-goulash.html)
- [The earliest English writing](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/04/old-english-2.html) - Old English developed in England in the fifth century from the dialects spoken by Angles, Saxons, and Jutes—migrants from what is now Germany and Scandinavia.
- [Left for dead](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/04/left-for-dead.html) - The expression “leave for dead” appeared in Anglo-Saxon times and has been used since then to mean abandon someone or something almost dead or certain to die.
- [Jeepers creepers: Are you myth informed?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/05/jeepers-creepers-are-you-myth-informed.html)
- [Why is a Jeep called a Jeep?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/why-is-a-jeep-called-a-jeep.html)
- [Incentive payback](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/03/incentive-payback.html)
- [Term limits](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/08/term-limits.html)
- [Does Wimpy need a spell-checker?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/09/does-wimpy-need-a-spell-checker.html)
- [Did you warsh behind your ears?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/04/wash-warsh.html) - Many Americans pronounce "wash" with an “r” before the “sh,” but the usage may be dying out.
- [When ‘like’ means ‘lack’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/03/like-lack.html) - The use of "like" to mean "lack" is a Southern regionalism and a pronunciation spelling of a dialectal usage.
- [Junk mail and male junk](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/11/junk.html)
- [‘Dad wouldn’t have a bar of it’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/04/not-have-a-bar-of-it.html) - The expression “not have a bar of something” first appeared in Australian English in the early 20th century.
- [Wanna look like a chumbolone?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/03/chumbolone.html) - The slang term “chumbolone” was first recorded about a decade ago at the trial of a former Chicago police officer accused of leaking information to the mob.
- [How unnatural is ‘preternatural’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/03/preternatural.html) - The adjective “preternatural” was quite common in the 1700s and 1800s, gradually fell out of favor, then rebounded somewhat at the end of the 20th century.
- [‘You had your will of me’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/03/will.html) - The use of "will" in the sense of sexual desire dates back to Anglo-Saxon times.
- [Subject matter](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/10/subject-matter.html)
- [Mixing and matching](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/06/mixing-and-matching.html) - “Mix and match” can often be replaced by “mix” alone, but the full expression suggests combining compatible items that complete or improve one another.
- [A tale of tricky endings](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/02/tricky-endings.html) - The suffixes “-tion,” “-sion,” and “-cion” ultimately come from the same word fragment in Latin. So etymologically they’re three spellings of the same term.
- [On ‘giving’ and ‘giving back’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/02/giving-back.html) - When did people begin referring to charitable "giving" as "giving back"?
- [Don’t sweat it](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/04/sweat.html) - On sweating and not sweating it.
- [Don’t sweat the small stuff](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/02/dont-sweat-the-small-stuff.html) - The slang expression “don’t sweat the small stuff” apparently first appeared in American English in the 1950s.
- [Lede time](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/10/lede-time.html) - The meaning of "lede" in newspaper shop talk.
- [We hope you’re not bored](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/01/bored.html) - Is it OK to say you're bored of something, rather than bored with it or by it?
- [When ‘wood’ means ‘wooden’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/08/wood-wooden.html) - Are ‘wood’ and ‘wooden’ interchangeable?
- [A tale of two suffixes](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/02/suffixes-2.html) - On “-ive” and “-ful”: the history of the suffixes and their use with the noun "impact."
- [The first exclamation point!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/01/exclamation-point-2.html) - The exclamation point or exclamation mark first appeared in Medieval Latin in the 14th century, but its parentage is somewhat uncertain.
- [Drive friendlily?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/10/drive-frriendly.html) - Do the Texas signs that say "Drive Friendly" use proper English?
- [Is the adverb losing its -ly](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/12/adverb.html)
- [Wordle fancies: ‘bezel’ vs. ‘bevel’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/01/bezel-bevel.html) - “Bezel” and “bevel” have somewhat similar meanings, but they’re believed to come from different Old French terms.
- [Bookworms, in etymology & entomology](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/01/bookworm.html) - “Bookworm” originated by joining “book” with “worm” used in its early sense of an insect that eats holes in the binding and paper of old manuscripts.
- [Two dots or three?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/12/two-dots-or-three.html)
- [Gob on a stick](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/01/gob-on-a-stick.html) - A "gob on a stick" in British English is someone who talks a lot, especially a broadcast “talking head.”
- [Speaking of the silent final ‘e’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/01/silent-final-e.html) - Why is the "e" silent in words like “dote,” “fate,” “hate,” “note,” and “wine”?
- [A murder of crows](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/01/a-murder-of-crows-2.html) - "A murder of crows" and other group names for animals.
- [How possessive can you get?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/03/how-possessive-can-you-get.html)
- [Happy Chanucha & Merry Xpes mæsse](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/12/hanukkah-christmas.html) - How the season's holidays came to be spelled "Hanukkah" and "Christmas" in English.
- [Some 'randy' thoughts](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/12/randy.html) - Is the English word "randy" etymologically related to the Hindi word रंडी, which is pronounced similarly and has a similar meaning?
- [A note to our readers](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/12/note-to-readers.html) - Because of the holiday today, we're publishing our usual Monday post on Wednesday.
- [Something wicked this way comes](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/12/wicked.html) - The evolution of "wicked" from evil to excellent.
- [Dog days: Are you pooped?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/12/dog-days.html) - How “dog days” changed from meaning the hottest time of the year to a period of sluggishness or stagnation.
- [Impactful wisdom](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/04/impactful.html) - "Impactful" is a legitimate adjective, but it's not impactful.
- [When ‘stopping’ means ‘staying’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/11/stop-stay.html) - The use of “stopping” for “staying” was more common in the past, but it still shows up once in a while.
- [Why we’re in cahoots](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/11/cahoot.html) - Did "cahoot" originate in the American South or West?
- [The rustle of a print dress](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/11/print-dress.html) - The term “print dress” refers to a garment made of a fabric with a printed design, though it’s often used without describing the design or the color.
- [The best of verbs, the worst of verbs](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/03/best-worst.html) - Why do the verbs "best" and "worst" mean the same thing: to defeat?
- [Is your foot out of step?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/05/step-foot.html) - Do you "set foot" or "step foot" in a place?
- [A hydra-headed question](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/10/head-2.html) - Why do we try to get or wrap our heads, minds, brains, or arms around problems?
- [A newfangled suffix?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/suffix.html) - Are words ending in "-ment" replacing those ending in "-tion"?
- [The convinced and the persuaded](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/07/convince-persuade.html) - The evolution of "convince" and "persuade" over the centuries.
- [Book ‘depository’ or ‘repository’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/12/depository-repository.html) - How "depository" and "repository" evolved from their Latin roots.
- [Congregate or congregant care?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/03/congregate-congregrant.html) - Is it "congregate" or "congregant" living, housing, or care?
- [How special is ‘especially’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/07/special-especially.html) - Both “special” and “especial” have been adjectives in English for hundreds of years. Likewise, “specially” and “especially” have been adverbs nearly as long.
- [Why ‘sightseeing,’ not ‘siteseeing’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/10/sight-site.html) - “Sight" (something worth seeing) is derived from an ancient term for “to see." It appeared centuries before “site” came from the Latin word for a location.
- [The origin of “randy”](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/12/the-origin-of-randy.html)
- [When a diet is a journey](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/10/journey.html) - The word "journey" originally meant a spiritual trip through life. Now, it's often used to make ordinary things, like exercise or dieting, seem special.
- [Cohort in crime?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/04/cohort-in-crime.html)
- [Are the cohorts in cahoots?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/04/cohort.html) - Is a "cohort" made up of "cohorts"?
- [The roots of cahoots](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/05/cahoots.html) - What is the origin of the phrase "in cahoots"?
- [A chorus of exclamation points  ](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/10/exclamation-point.html) - The exclamation point is like the horn on your car—use it only when you have to.
- [Paint the town red!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/paint-the-town-red.html)
- [Caesar’s wife in Shakespeare](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/10/calphurnia.html) - The “ph” of “Calphurnia,” Caesar's wife in Shakespeare's "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar," was pronounced as “p” in Elizabethan times.
- [How ‘chintz’ became ‘chintzy’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/09/chintz-chintzy.html) - "Chintz" got the negative sense of "chintzy" in the 19th century when British factories were making cheap imitations of the original handmade chintz from India.
- [Upon my word!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/10/upon-my-word.html) - Jane Austen primarily uses the expression "upon my word" in "Pride and Prejudice" as an exclamation of surprise or strong emotion.
- [Why a ‘beef’ is a complaint ](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/09/beef.html) - The use of “beef” for a complaint or grievance dates back to the early 18th century when to cry “beef” in British criminal slang meant to raise an alarm.
- [Growing pains](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/growing-pains.html) - Is it OK to say "grow" your business?
- [Is this ‘which’ dead?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/09/which-3.html) - A relatively unusual use of the relative adjective "which" to avoid ambiguity.
- [On ‘cul de sac’ and ‘dead end’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/09/did-cul-de-sac-dead-end.html) - Originally, “dead end” was a plumbing term for the closed end of a pipe, while “cul-de-sac” was an anatomical term for a pouch on an organ like an intestine.
- [On jays and jaywalkers](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/08/jaywalk.html) - How did “jay” plus “walk” come to mean crossing a street unlawfully?
- [On "swine" and "pork"](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/on-swine-and-pork.html)
- [Every man and every woman](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/08/every.html) - You can use either a singular or a plural verb when “every” appears one or more times in a compound subject, but the singular usage is more common.
- [Is there a bee in your bonnet?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/07/bee-in-the-bonnet.html) - What is the origin of the expression "a bee in one's bonnet"?
- [A double-edged sword](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/08/a-double-edged-sword.html) - How did the expression “double-edged sword” come to mean something that has both positive and negative results?
- [A rising sophomore?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/07/a-rising-sophomore.html) - When did expressions like "a rising sophomore" come to mean a student about to begin a new educational level.
- [Why ‘beggar’ isn’t spelled ‘begger’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/08/beggar-begger.html) - The word “beggar” was usually spelled with an “-er” suffix for centuries after the word was first recorded in Middle English in the late 12th century.
- [Steal a march](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/07/steal-a-march.html) - How the expression “steal a march” came to mean get an advantage over a rival.
- [Bobby pins, bobby socks, and bobbies](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/07/bobby.html) - Are “bobby pins,” “bobby socks,” and the “bobby” walking a beat in London etymologically related?
- [‘Pit road’ or ‘pit row’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/07/pit-road-pit-row.html) - The motor-racing terms “pit road” and “pit row” apparently showed up in writing around the same time in the early 1960s.
- [Rhetorically speaking](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/07/why-dont-you.html) - How English speakers use the idiomatic “Why don’t you” to introduce a proposal or a helpful suggestion.
- [Why a horn?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/06/why-a-horn.html)
- [A "trying" time](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/09/a-trying-time.html)
- [Let's try, try again](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/05/lets-try-try-again.html)
- [‘Which, yeah. Whatever.’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/06/which-2.html) - The word “which” has been used as a conjunction for more than 600 years, but hardly any standard dictionaries include the usage.
- [A riot in the garden](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/06/riot.html) - The noun “riot” has meant an extraordinary profusion, often of brilliant colors, for more than three centuries.
- [Are you stumped?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/01/stump.html) - The political sense of “stump” comes from using the base of a large felled tree as a platform for speaking.
- [What is ‘which’ doing here?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/05/which.html) - Is it OK to use “which” to introduce a clause that refers back to something said earlier?
- [Team USA](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/09/team-usa.html) - How did the American team at the Olympics come to be called Team USA?
- [Pair-snickety](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/03/pair-pairs.html) - Which is correct: six pairs of socks or six pair of socks?
- [You’re doing what?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/05/wh-words.html) - An interrogative may come at or near the end of a sentence or clause to show surprise, ask for clarification, quiz someone, or refer to other interrogatives.
- [What’s the singular of “scissors”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/02/whats-the-singular-of-scissors.html)
- [A singular undergarment](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/12/a-singular-undergarment.html)
- [Why ‘one’ sounds like ‘won’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/05/one-won.html) - The pronunciation of "one" as "won" comes from a regional usage that began spreading across England in the early 1400s and changed the expected pronunciation.
- [Stative seeking](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/11/stative-seeking.html)
- [‘Ask, and it shall be given you’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/05/given-you.html) - "Given you" vs. "given to you": the idiomatic use of prepositions in English has varied widely over the years.
- [Who invented the question mark?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/02/question-mark.html) - Godescalc, a poet, scribe, and illuminator, may have been the first person to use the punctus interrogativus, the medieval ancestor of the question mark.
- [Can a chatbot hallucinate?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/05/hallucinate.html) - When a chatbot makes something up, the untruth is a “hallucination” in the lingo of artificial intelligence.
- [‘Time to get up, you lot!’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/04/you-lot.html) - The Southern American regionalism “y’all” and the British colloquialism “you lot” are similar, but the two usages differ in several ways.
- [Why we rely on a 'go-to'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/04/go-to.html) - The term “go-to” has referred to a dependable or reliable person or thing since it showed up in the late 20th century as an American sports usage.
- ['Lighted'/ 'lit' and 'dived'/ 'dove'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/08/lighted-lit-dived-dove.html)
- [Not to mention Paul](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/04/not-to-mention.html) - Was the first mention of "not to mention" in the New Testament?
- [Imperfect pitch](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/02/imperfect-pitch.html)
- [Captious reasoning](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/12/captious-reasoning.html)
- [Excuse me, Mr. Trump!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/03/excuse-me-mr-trump.html)
- [Got your jabs?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/05/jab.html) - The word "jab" has referred to an injection for more than a century, but the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly expanded the usage.
- [The laundry list, itemized](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/04/laundry-list.html) - The term “laundry list” has been used literally since the 1860s and figuratively since the 1930s.
- [Hand me the wellies, Jeeves](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/11/hand-me-the-wellies-jeeves.html)
- [Let’s liven things up](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/03/enliven-liven-liven-up.html) - The verbs “enliven” and “liven” and the phrasal verb “liven up” are all acceptable English and have been for hundreds of years.
- [A lot of idiomatic English](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/09/a-lot-of-idiomatic-english.html)
- [Yinz, you-uns, you-all, and company](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/02/yinz.html)
- [Why the ‘w’ is called a ‘double u’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/02/double-u-2.html) - The 23rd letter of the English alphabet is called a “double u” because it was originally written that way in Old English.
- [Did ‘y’all’ originate in England?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/03/you-all.html) - The regional “y’all” of the American South isn’t quite the same as the earlier contraction used in England, which has roots in Anglo-Saxon times.
- [Good, best, or well wishes?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/03/good-best-well-wishes.html) - “Good wishes” and “best wishes” are the usual expressions, but “well wishes” has been used for hundreds of years in the same sense.
- [Who put the “X” in “Xmas”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/12/xmas.html) - The origins of "Xmas" and the use of "X" to mean "Christ."
- [Who put the "X" in "Xmas"?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/12/xmas-2.html) - The origins of "Xmas" and the use of "X" to mean "Christ."
- [Who put the “X” in “Xmas”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/12/xmas-3.html) - The birth of the abbreviation "Xmas" in medieval monasteries in Britain.
- [Comma names](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/01/comma-names.html)
- [Amn’t I a smart smartypants](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/08/am-not.html) - Contractions for "am not" over the years: "an’t," "a'n't," "amn't," "ain't," and "aren't."
- [I'm a riddle: Am I ridiculous?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/03/ridiculous-riddle.html) - Are “riddle” and “ridiculous” related? No, “riddle” comes from an Old English noun for a word game, while “ridiculous” comes from a Latin verb meaning to laugh.
- [On jurors and panels](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/02/panels-jurors.html) - The verb “empanel” comes from the use of the noun “panel” for a piece of parchment on which the names of jurors were written.
- [Why an annoying person is a pill](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/05/pill.html) - Why is an unpleasant person called a pill?
- [Why isn't a W called a double V?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/04/double-u.html) - Why is a W called a double u and not a double v?
- [Why Old English looks so weird](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/02/old-english.html) - The Anglo-Saxons and other Germanic people used various versions of the runic alphabet (called the Futhark) before adopting the Latin alphabet.
- [Not to mention the goldfish](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/10/not-to-mention-the-goldfish.html)
- [What's up, man?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/01/man-2.html) - The use of “man” in an expression like “hey, man” dates back to Anglo-Saxon days, though the sense has evolved over the years.
- [Fain vs. feign](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/10/fain-feign.html) - Why do two words that look so different sound the same?
- [Whenever Harry met Sally](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/01/whenever.html) - The use of "when" and "whenever" in standard and dialectal English.
- [Sporting the oak](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/02/sporting-the-oak.html)
- [Better half (the whole story)](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/01/better-half.html) - The use of "better half" for a spouse showed up in the late 16th century.
- [Does a plan ‘gel’ or ‘jell’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/02/gel-jell.html) - “Gel” and “jell” are two different words with two different etymologies, though they mean the same thing when used figuratively as verbs.
- [The ploy's the thing](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/05/deploy.html) - Are troops "ployed" before they're "deployed"?
- ['Shot for a Jerry spy'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/01/shot-for-a-jerry-spy.html) - The origin of the use of "for" in phrases like "taken for," "mistaken for," and "shot for."
- ["Nobody dast blame this man"](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/10/nobody-dast-blame-this-man.html)
- ['I dasn't scratch'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/06/i-dasnt-scratch.html)
- [The ‘it’ in ‘lording it over’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/12/lord-it-over.html) - The verb “lord” is used three ways to mean act superior: (1) “He lorded over them,” (2) “He lorded it over them,” and (3) “He lorded himself over them.”
- [Man oh man!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/03/man.html) - What is the origin of male interjections like "man oh man," "man alive," "oh boy," and "oh brother"? Are there female equivalents?
- [Andirons and firedogs](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/06/andirons-and-firedogs.html)
- [Almond joy](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/02/almond-joy.html)
- [Which hunting](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/04/which-hunting.html)
- [The "which" (or "that") trials](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/09/the-which-or-that-trials.html)
- [All the best whiches](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/11/all-the-best-whiches.html)
- [A which’s brew](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/08/a-whichs-brew.html)
- [The whiching hour](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/01/the-whiching-hour.html)
- [Ye olde knickknack shoppe](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/12/ye-olde-knickknack-shoppe.html)
- [When ‘pomp’ met ‘circumstance’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/12/pomp-and-circumstance.html) - An archaic meaning of “circumstance” refers to a ceremony or public display at an important event, a usage that survives in the phrase “pomp and circumstance.”
- [Backhanded criticism](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/03/backhanded-criticism.html) - What do you call a backhanded statement like “Don't take this wrong way, but ...”?
- [Just sayin’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/04/just-sayin.html) - Does adding “Just sayin’ ” at the end of a nasty comment make everything all right?
- [Wooly Bully](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/10/wooly-bully.html)
- [On  ‘thrice’ and ‘trice’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/12/thrice-trice.html) - The adverb “thrice” is an old way of saying three times, while the phrase “in a trice” means in a moment or very quickly.
- [Don't forget to write, y'all](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/11/dont-forget-to-write-yall.html)
- [Doc in a box](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/03/doc-in-a-box.html)
- [The subtleties of the silent ‘b’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/12/silent-b.html) - The “b” is now silent in “doubt,” “debt,” and “subtle, ” but it was neither seen nor heard when the words first appeared in English hundreds of years ago.
- [The language of gay marriage](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/07/husband-wife.html) - Gay marriage: Can a man be a wife? Can a woman be a husband?
- [A few laps at the laptop](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/11/lap.html) - How did the word "lap" get these three different meanings: (1) the “lap” one swims, (2) the “lap” a baby is held on, and (3) the “lap” of a cat drinking milk?
- [A tale of two plights](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/11/plight.html) - “Plight” is usually a noun for an unfortunate condition, but some dictionaries include it as a rare noun for a pledge and a rare verb meaning to pledge.
- [A black perfect little dress?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/07/a-black-perfect-little-dress.html)
- [An etymological fiasco](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/06/fiasco.html) - How did "fiasco," Italian for "bottle," come to mean an utter failure?
- [“Good-paying” or “well-paying”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/10/good-paying.html) - Which is better English: a "good-paying" job or a "well-paying" job?
- [Why 'it's' means ‘it is’ or ‘it has’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/11/it-is-or-it-has.html) - How both ‘it is’ and ‘it has’ became ‘it’s.’
- [Why you can ‘malign,’ but not ‘benign’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/11/benign-malign.html) - Why is "benign" just an adjective and not also a verb like "malign"?
- [Getting down to the bone](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/10/bone-deep.html) - On "bone deep," "skin deep," and "to the bone."
- [As to ‘as to’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/10/as-to.html) - Despite objections by some usage writers, “as to” has been used since the 14th century by noted writers, including Samuel Johnson, Jane Austen, and Henry James.
- [How “terror” gave us “terrific”](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/08/terror-terrific.html) - If "horror" gave us "horrific," why did "terror" give us "terrific"?
- [Rock around the clock](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/10/rock.html) - English has two distinct words “rock”— a noun for a large stone, derived from colloquial Latin, and a verb of Germanic origin meaning to sway from side to side.
- [Breaking up is hard to do](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/10/hyphenation.html) - The rules of hyphenation—splitting a word that breaks at the end of a line of print or writing—have little or nothing to do with how a word splits when spoken.
- [The invisibilized man](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/10/invisibilize.html) - Are "invisibilize" and "invisibilization" legit?
- [Somewhen over the rainbow](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/05/somewhen.html) - Why did “somewhen” fall out of favor while “somewhere,” “sometime,” and “somehow” flourished?
- [From "izzard" to "zed" to "z"](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/06/from-izzard-to-zed-to-z.html)
- [Why is an "h" called an "aitch"?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/03/why-is-an-h-called-an-aitch.html)
- [Imperatively speaking](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/09/imperatively-speaking.html) - Three ways to demand something, one of them less common and somewhat iffy.
- [I can’t believe it’s not margerine!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/08/margarine.html) - Why is “margarine” pronounced as if it were spelled “margerine”? The letter “g” is usally hard when followed by an “a” and soft when followed by an “e.”
- [The pilgrimage of ‘progress’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/09/progress.html) - The verb "progress" fell out of favor in Britain in the 18th century because of the mistaken belief that it was an Americanism.
- ["Me" first?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/12/me-first.html)
- [Blowing Their Cover](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/09/literary-review.html) - Patricia T. O'Conner's review in the Literary Review, London, of "Blurb Your Enthusiasm," Louise Willder’s homage to the persuasive end of publishing.
- [Can you break a phrasal verb up?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/09/phrasal-verb.html) - Some writers, probably influenced by the old “split infinitive” myth, are reluctant to break up a phrasal verb, and this sometimes leads to contorted sentences.
- [Is “to” part of the infinitive?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/02/infinitive-2.html) - No, "to" isn't part of the infinitive, and it doesn't accompany every infinitive.
- [There, there, don't cry](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/09/there-there.html) - When did English speakers begin using "there, there" to comfort someone?
- [Funny you asked](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/12/funny-you-asked.html)
- [Funny you asked](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/02/funny-you-asked-2.html)
- [On claret, hock, and sack](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/08/claret-hock-sack.html) - The intoxicating history of “claret,” “hock,” and “sack.”
- [On 'bottom,'  a fundamental thing](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/08/bottom-2.html) - When did "bottom" come to mean the buttocks?
- [Phee-phi-pho-phum](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/08/phi.html) - The letter ϕ (phi) in ancient Greek, spelled "ph" in many English words of Greek origin, didn't originally have an "f" sound.
- [‘Got a screwdriver?’ ... ‘I do.’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/08/have-got-2.html) - Is it correct to use “I do” in reply to “have you got”?
- [Casting a little light](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/07/cast.html) - The verb “cast,” a Scandinavian migrant that replaced an Old English word, has now been largely replaced in turn by "throw,” a term of Old English origins.
- [Problem child](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/09/problem-child.html)
- [No problemo?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/01/no-problemo.html)
- [Weak in the knees](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/07/weak-in-the-knees.html) - The expression "weak in the knees" (being indecisive or afraid, lacking faith, not standing firm) came into English from ancient biblical writings.
- [I'm glad you axed](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/05/im-glad-you-axed.html)
- [You axed for it!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/06/you-axed-for-it.html)
- [Tense and tense ability](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/12/tense-and-tense-ability.html)
- [A sticky question](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/07/stick-stuck.html) - How the verb "stick" evolves when it becomes "stuck."
- [The beginning of an ending](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/06/en-suffix.html) - How the suffix "-en" came to be used in nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
- [Get on the stick](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/08/get-on-the-stick.html)
- [Speaking of grandparents ...](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/07/grandparents.html) - The words “grandparents,” “grandparent’s,” and “grandparents’ ” are pronounced the same. The listener has to judge from the context which form is meant.
- [The case of the sluggish slugger](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/06/slug-slugger.html) - On slugs, sluggers, and sluggishness.
- [A singular journey](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/06/singular.html) - In grammar, singular refers to a single entity. But in ordinary usage, it can mean remarkable, uncommon, or unique. And this wider usage appeared first.
- [Clause encounters](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/06/clause-encounters.html) - The use of “whoever,” “whatever,” and other “wh-” words in modifying clauses.
- [Are two hoods better than one?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/05/hood.html) - Is the "hood" that's short for "neighborhood" related to the "hood" in "hoody"?
- [From A to &, et cetera](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/12/ampersand-2.html) - The history of the ampersand.
- [Why is a coward called a ‘chicken’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/06/chicken.html) - The cowardly sense of “chicken” ultimately comes from the use of “hen” for a fainthearted person, contrasted with “cock” (rooster) for a dominant person.
- [No money in the till](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/04/till.html) - The origin of the expression "no money in the till."
- [Confused, until now](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/03/confused-until-now.html)
- [On 'til and till and until](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/09/on-til-and-till-and-until.html) - Which is correct, 'til, till, or until?
- [No problem at all](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/01/no-problem-at-all.html) - What does the phrase "at all" mean in "no problem at all" and other expressions?
- [It’s medieval, albeit still with us](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/03/albeit.html) - Is “albeit” archaic? Nope, it's alive and well today.
- [Not ‘al-’ there](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/05/its-not-al-there.html) - “Although” originated as a compound of “all” plus “though,” while “albeit” originated as a compound of “all” plus “be” plus “it.”
- [Why Alice has got to grow up again](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/07/why-alice-has-got-to-grow-up-again.html)
- [Scot, Scotch, or Scottish?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/09/scot-scotch-scottish.html)
- [When Mom dies, is it your loss or hers?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/05/genitive-2.html) - In a usage like “we mourn her loss,” the pronoun “her” is a genitive adjective, not a possessive.
- [Bomb cyclone: A blast from the past](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/05/bomb-cyclone.html) - Although the term “bomb cyclone” is relatively new in popular journalism, meteorologists have been using it in scientific writing since the 1980s.
- [The NOO-kya-lur family](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/03/the-noo-kya-lur-family.html)
- [They sore what they seen](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/09/saw-sore-seen.html) - Why is "saw" sometimes pronounced as "sore or confused with "seen""?
- [You have no idear!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/10/you-have-no-idear.html)
- [An ideal pronunciation](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/02/an-ideal-pronunciation.html)
- [How a clotheshorse became chic](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/05/how-a-clotheshorse-became-chic.html) - The fashionable meaning of “clotheshorse” is derived from the term’s original sense of a frame for hanging wet or musty clothes inside a house.
- [Cultured plurals](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/04/cultured-plurals.html)
- [Three degrees of separation](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/04/three-degrees-of-separation.html) - The degrees of English adjectives and adverbs are (1) positive, (2) comparative, and (3) superlative.
- [Orthographic origins](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/04/orthographic-origins.html) - What is the connection between “orthography” and “orthographic projection”?
- [Needlework: sewer or sewist?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/10/sew-sewer-sewist.html) - What is the proper word for someone who sews: a "sewer" or a "sewist"?
- [Environmental standards](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/03/environmental-standards.html)
- [Why is a loo a toilet in the UK?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/10/why-is-a-loo-a-toilet-in-the-uk.html) - How did "loo" come to mean a toilet in British usage?
- [‘Sewer,’ Uncle Matthew’s pet slur](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/04/sewer.html) - “Sewer,” literally a channel for wastewater and refuse, has also been used nonliterally in reference to places and people.
- [How the Bard and Cicero spoke](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/09/pronunciation.html) - How do we know the way English and Latin were pronounced in the past?
- [Making love, then and now](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/12/making-love.html) - How the verbal phrase to “make love” has evolved, along with attitudes about lovemaking.
- [On Ralphs and Rafes](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/04/ralph-rafe.html) - Why do some Ralphs in the UK pronounce their name as if it were spelled “Rafe”?
- [Why ‘any other’ doesn't mean ‘any’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/03/any-other.html) - The illogical use of "any" in place of "any other."
- [Seating arrangements](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/02/seating-arrangements.html)
- [Why ‘well-heeled’ means well-to-do](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/03/well-heeled.html) - The use of “well-heeled” for well-to-do comes from using “heel” to mean provide a fighting cock with sharp artificial spurs.
- [A gentle reminder](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/08/gentle-reminder.html) - The origin of “gentle reminder,” a phrase that makes one brace oneself for something unpleasant.
- [Wet behind the ears](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/03/wet-behind-the-ears.html) - The expression "wet behind the ears" is believed to be an allusion to a wet newborn, but it first appeared in a negative version, “not yet dry behind the ears.”
- [Is ‘curt’ terser than ‘terse’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/03/terse-curt.html) - When used to describe language, “terse” and “curt” can both mean brief, but “curt” often has the negative senses of brief to a fault or rudely brief.
- ["Disc" vs. "disk"](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/12/disc-vs-disk.html) - In technical usage, "disc” refers to optical media and "disk” to magnetic media. But in ordinary usage, many people don’t follow those distinctions.
- [¿Why isn’t English like Spanish?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/01/english-spanish.html) - Why does the question mark and exclamation point appear at the end of an English sentence, not at the beginning?
- [Is ‘lovely’ a girly word?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/03/lovely.html) - Some linguists have said that the word "lovely" is primarily used by women, but others have disagreed and the evidence is inconclusive.
- [An adjective in sheep’s clothing](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/06/an-adjective-in-sheeps-clothing.html)
- [The Rockies? Not the Rainier?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/02/the.html) - Why do some geographical nouns require the definite article “the” while others don't.
- [The battle for ‘Kyiv’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/02/kyiv-kiev.html) - Why the name of the Ukrainian capital changed from Kiev to Kyiv in English.
- [The poop about a mass noun](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/03/waste.html) - When “waste” refers to an unwanted byproduct, like “bodily waste” or “industrial waste,” it’s usually a mass noun, one that doesn’t typically have a plural.
- [We are met on a great battle-field](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/02/presidents-day-2.html) - “We are met,” a usage that dates back to the Middle Ages, is an archaic and poetic present-perfect construction, parallel to “we have met.”
- [Did I decimate the language?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/03/did-i-decimate-the-language.html)
- [O death, where is thy sting?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/10/decimate.html) - Has the original sense of "decimate" been decimated?
- [We are not bemused](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/07/bemused.html) - Does "bemused" now mean amused?
- [Tracking the ‘daily double’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/02/daily-double.html) - The history of "daily double," at the track and on Jeopardy!
- [Is she smarter than him?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/12/is-she-smarter-than-him.html)
- ["I" anxiety](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/03/i-anxiety.html)
- [More than meets the eye](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/08/more-than-meets-the-eye.html)
- [Did Mencken coin “bloviate”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/11/bloviate.html) - The word "bloviate" showed up in the mid-19th century in Ohio.
- [Did great-granddad coin 'bloviate'?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/02/bloviate-2.html) - The verb "bloviate" first showed up in print in 1845 in an Ohio newspaper.
- ['On the TV' vs. 'on TV'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/02/on-the-tv.html) - The phrase "on TV" is more popular than "on the TV," but both are considered standard English.
- [An etymological valentine](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/02/valentine-2.html) - The history of "Valentine's Day" and the "valentines" we send.
- [An etymological valentine](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/02/valentine.html) - The history of "Valentine's Day" and the sending of valentines.
- [Is “bloatation” a word?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/09/bloatation.html)
- [With malice toward none](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/02/lincoln-memorial-2.html) - The peculiar punctuation in speeches quoted at the Lincoln Memorial.
- [What’s normal about a ‘normal school’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/02/normal-school.html) - Many colleges and universities got their start in the 19th century as "normal schools” or “normal colleges”—that is, teacher training schools.
- [When ‘nubile’ became sexy](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/02/when-nubile-became-sexy.html) - “Nubile” meant marriageable when it showed up in English in the 17th century, but it came to mean sexy in the 20th century.
- [A sod story](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/01/sod.html) - The word “sod” used to be the past tense of "seethe," which once meant to boil or cook.
- [Nuptial commotions!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/01/nuptial.html) - Do you pronounce "nuptial" with two syllables or three?
- [Comparatively speaking](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/01/comparatively-speaking.html) - Why English doesn't have a word that means “more average.”
- [A pronouncing primer](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/08/primer-2.html) - How "primer," the textbook, came to be pronounced one way in the US and another in the UK?
- [Waste paper](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/01/waste-paper.html) - Cotton Mather on the medicinal uses of human excrement.
- [A fortuitous  etymology?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/01/fortuitous.html) - “Fortuitous” originally meant accidental, not fortunate, but it now describes a fortunate accident as well as a mere accident.
- [Suggestive language](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/08/suggestive-language.html)
- [When the love-light is fading](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/01/when-the-love-light-is-fading.html)
- [Lurve affair](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/12/lurve.html)
- [Greenwashing and pinkwashing](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/01/greenwashing-pinkwashing.html) - The use of "wash" or "washing" in terms like “greenwashing,” “pinkwashing,” "rainbow washing,” “straightwashing,” and so on.
- [Why did the Emperor of Russia rusticate?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/02/rusticate.html) - etymology of rusticate
- [Throatwobbler Mangrove](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/09/throatwobbler-mangrove.html)
- [A quixotic appeal](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/10/a-quixotic-appeal.html)
- [An ulterior motive](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/08/an-ulterior-motive.html)
- [Gaslighting: The ‘in’ word?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/01/gaslighting.html) - The dramatic origins of the trendy word "gaslighting."
- [Swear like a sailor](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2022/01/swear-like-a-sailor.html) - The X-rated history of the expression “swears (or curses) like a sailor (or trooper, soldier, marine).”
- [A belated Christmas carol](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/12/hookey-walker.html) - How Dickens came to use the exclamation “Walk-ER!” in "A Christmas Carol."
- [Cut, butt, skip, or ditch in line?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/12/cut-in-line.html) - The various ways that Americans refer to unfairly getting in front of people who are standing in line.
- [Jeeves and the festive spirit](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/12/christmas-wodehouse.html) - A Christmas essay by Patricia T. O'Conner in the December 2021 issue of the Literary Review, London.
- [Budget wise](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/08/budget-wise.html)
- [“Valet”: VA-lay, VA-let, va-LAY?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/08/valet.html) - What is the proper pronunciation of "valet"?
- [What’s the difference?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/09/different.html) - How do "different than," "different from," and "different to" differ?
- [Differences, differences](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/02/differences-differences.html)
- [Christmas, 1971, Vietnam](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/12/christmas-1971-vietnam.html) - Christmas in Vietnam, 1971, and dreams of home.
- [The death of a buddy in Vietnam](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/winky.html) - Stewart Kellerman reports for UPI in 1971 on the death of an American soldier in Vietnam.
- [Santa wore combat boots](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/12/santa-3.html) - An American Christmas party for Vietnamese children, 1971, by Stewart Kellerman.
- [How Sin Buster Got a Silver Star](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/11/sin-buster.html) - For Veterans Day, a war story from Vietnam.
- [For veterans, an old war story](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/11/veterans-day.html) - For Veterans Day, an article that Stewart Kellerman wrote 48 years ago as a UPI war correspondent in Vietnam.
- [Disparate, or merely different?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/12/disparate-different.html) - Why “disparate” is generally a much stronger word than “different.”
- [A usage with legs](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/12/leg.html) - The noun “leg” and its many metaphorical senses.
- [Don’t badger me](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/12/badger.html) - How did the verb "badger" come to mean to pester?
- [The life of a lived experience](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/12/lived-experience.html) - The term “lived experience” has been used since at least the late 19th century to mean an experience lived through as opposed to one learned about secondhand.
- [Is your Mandarin rusty?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/12/rusty.html) - The many figurative senses of "rusty" derived from the adjective's original use to describe the coating on oxidized iron and its alloys.
- [Is the temp hot or high?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/06/is-the-temp-hot-or-high.html)
- [A friend of Dorothy](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/12/friend-of-dorothy.html) - When did the expression “a friend of Dorothy” come to mean a gay man?
- ["Begging the question"](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/08/begging-the-question.html)
- [A weighty look at gravitas](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/11/gravitas.html) - The word "gravitas" has been worked to death lately, but there are signs that its use may have peaked.
- [To beg the question](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/11/beg-the-question.html) - Like it or not, “beg the question” has more meanings in modern English than the one it started out with.
- [Blazing saddles](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/12/blazing-saddles.html)
- [On ‘pent’ and ‘spent’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/11/pent-spent.html) - Are "spent" (a letting go) and “pent” (a holding in) related?
- [“Instantly” vs. “instantaneously”](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/08/instantly-vs-instantaneously.html) - Is there a difference between “instantly” and “instantaneously”?
- [So what’s on offer?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/11/on-offer.html) - The use of the expression "on offer" to mean offered or available.
- [‘I’m by way of being a doctor’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/11/im-by-way-of-being.html) - The construction “I’m by way of being" a doctor, a writer, an actor, etc., is a mainly British colloquialism that isn’t seen or heard much these days.
- [What’s ‘done’ doing here?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/11/done.html) - The many ways "done" is used in American regional English.
- [With a grain of salt](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/11/with-a-grain-of-salt.html) - Why "salt" when we take something "with a grain of salt"?
- [Which egg came first?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/02/egg.html) - Did the noun "egg" give birth to the verb?
- [How first names became last names](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/11/how-first-names-became-last-names.html) - Why surnames like Williams, Roberts, and Stevens look like plurals but aren't.
- [Watkins, catkins, and other kin](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/07/kin.html) - Is the "kin" that means one's relatives related to the "kin" in “pumpkin,” “catkin,” and “Watkins”?
- [How do you pronounce “err”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/06/err.html) - Does “err” rhyme with “her” or “hair”?
- [The spooky season](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/10/spooky-season.html) - When Halloween time came to be called the "spooky season."
- [The ‘boo’ in ‘peekaboo’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/10/peekaboo.html) - Is the scary “boo” of Halloween related to the “boo” in “peek-a-boo”?
- [On gifting and regifting](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/02/on-gifting-and-regifting.html)
- [Pop-ups popping up all over](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/10/pop-up.html) - How "pop" became "pop up," and how a temporary business became a "pop-up."
- [Seamstresses, midwives, and gender](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/10/seamstress-midwife.html) - The original word for someone who sews was “seamster,” and “midwife” was never a gendered term.
- [The four corners of the earth](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/10/four-corners-of-the-earth.html) - The ancient origins of the expression “four corners of the earth.”
- [How factual is a factoid?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/09/factoid.html) - Is a factoid a questionable "fact" or an actual fact that's trivial?
- [Factoid checking](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/02/factoid-checking.html)
- [Nonfiction before 'nonfiction'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/07/nonfiction.html) - How did we refer to nonfiction before the word "nonfiction" showed up in the 19th century?
- [Facts and damn facts](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/01/facts.html)
- [Fact, fiction, or faction?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/10/faction.html) - The origin of the genre known as “faction,” a blend of “fact" and “fiction."
- [Eye of the storm](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/05/eye-of-the-storm.html)
- [Bespoke burgers and running shoes](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/10/bespoke.html) - The word “bespoke” is more common in the UK than in the US, but it's evolving in both American and British English.
- [A robust wine with leafy overtones](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/05/robust-leafy.html)
- [When ‘only’ is apt to be dismal](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/10/only-2.html) - The use of “only” as an adverb indicating something inevitable and likely bad.
- [Handsome is as handsome does](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/10/handsome-2.html) - The origins of the expression "handsome is as handsome does."
- [How families got their names](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/11/family-names.html) - When did inherited family names develop in Europe?
- [Let’s swap](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/09/swap.html) - How "swap" evolved from striking a blow to striking a deal.
- [I’ll be damned if it wasn’t Jerry!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/09/damned-if.html) - How "damned if" changes the meaning of a statement to its opposite.
- [Categorically speaking: in, into, by](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/09/in-into-by.html) - Why are things organized "in categories," but "by category"?
- [The borne conspiracy](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/07/born-borne.html) - Why do we have "born" and "borne"?
- [Putting English on the ball](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/09/english-side-spin.html) - Why do Americans use the word “English” to describe the spin on a ball?
- [An ‘or’ ... or more?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/09/an-or-or-more.html) - The use of "or" in a complicated list of things.
- [A few facts about nonfiction](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/09/a-few-facts-about-nonfiction.html)
- [A usage to hate on?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/08/hate-on.html) - Is it OK to use the verbal phrase "hate on"?
- [Wha’ happen?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/12/what-happen.html)
- [Jibe, gibe, and jive](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/02/jibe-gibe-jive.html) - Three little words: the mixed-up history of "jibe," "gibe," and "jive."
- [Hyphenated Americans](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/01/hyphenated-americans.html) - Should terms like "African American" or "Asian American" be hyphenated?
- [Wolf tickets for sale](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/05/wolf-tickets.html) - What is the origin of the expression "to sell wolf tickets"?
- [The light and dark of language](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/01/light-and-dark.html) - How did the color black gets its negative associations?
- [Black (or African) American?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/01/black-or-african-american-2.html) - Which is the proper term: "black American" or "African American"?
- [Black with a capital B](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/01/black-capitalize.html)
- [Black Lives Matter](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/09/black-lives-matter.html) - How a Facebook post inspired the Black Lives Matter movement.
- [Is “civilised” more “civilized”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/09/civilise-civilize.html) - Are verbs ending in “-ise” more civilized than those ending in “-ize”?
- [Multiple choices](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/08/multiple-choices.html) - The use of "multiple" as a substitute for any inexact number: "several," “few,” “many,” "numerous," etc.
- [Multiple choice](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/07/multiple-choice.html) - Is the word "multiple" being overused?
- [User friendly](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/01/user-friendly.html)
- [On “ilk” and its ilk](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/12/ilk.html) - The history of the word "ilk."
- [Black (or African) American?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/03/black-or-african-american.html) - Which is the proper term: "black American" or "African American"?
- [Oneself or one's self?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/09/oneself-or-ones-self.html) - How "one's self" came together as "oneself."
- [How do you copy?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/09/copy-2.html) - How the verb "copy" came to mean receive or understand a message.
- [Substitute teaching](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/11/substitute.html) - Do you substitute one thing “for” or “with” another?
- [In pursuit of the quick brown fox](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/08/pangram.html) - How "pangram" came to mean a sentence containing all 26 letters of the alphabet.
- [Why a duck?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/08/why-a-duck.html) - How the word "duck" got so many meanings.
- [A note to readers](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/08/a-note-to-readers.html)
- [Ducks in a row](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/02/ducks.html)
- [What kind of abbreviation is K-9?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/01/k-9.html) - Is K-9 an acronym, an initialism, or something else?
- [Cotton picking](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/07/cotton-picking.html) - The literal and figurative evolution of "cotton" from its origins in Arabic.
- [What’s buttery about butterflies?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/02/butterfly.html) - How did the butterfly get its name?
- [Thee bist purty, my love](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/08/thee-bist.html) - The Old English origin of the dialectal use of “bist” and “bistnt” for “be” and “be not” in southwestern England.
- [A questionable caticism](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/08/skin-a-cat.html) - Did "there's more than one way to skin a cat" originally refer to literally skinning cats?
- [Side effects](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/11/side-effects.html) - The history of the word "side" as British slang for pretentiousness, swagger, or conceit.
- [Anent what nanny really meant](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/08/anent.html) - Some usage writers consider “anent” archaic, but it isn’t quite as dead as the dodo. In fact, its use has increased a bit in recent years.
- [Lisztomania and other manias](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/08/mania.html) - The combining form "-mania" has been used since the 17th century for various obsessions and crazes, such as “tulipomania” (1710) and “bibliomania” (1734).
- [On the ‘ob-’ in ‘oblong’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/08/oblong.html) - What does the prefix "ob-" mean in the word "oblong"?
- [True north, literal and figurative](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/08/true-north.html) - The geographic and religious senses of the expression "true north."
- [Does “duck and cover” have fowl origins?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/10/duck.html) - Does the phrase "duck and cover" have anything to do with ducks?
- [Skid row or skid road?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/10/skid-row-skid-road.html) - Which is correct: skid row or skid road?
- [Do you know your onions?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/08/onions.html) - What is the origin of the expression “know one’s onions” (to be very knowledgeable or experienced about something)?
- [A note to our email subscribers](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/07/email-notice-5.html)
- [On Fowler and his idiosyncrasy](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/07/idiosyncrasy.html) - How “idiosyncrasy” evolved from one's overall makeup to a peculiar trait.
- [Should we watch our language?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/04/grammarphobia.html) - The Grammarphobia Blog isn't just about grammar.
- [Grammarphobia or grammarphilia?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/04/grammarphobia-or-grammarphilia.html)
- [The coast is clear](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/07/the-coast-is-clear.html) - When "the coast is clear" literally meant the seashore is free of enemies.
- [Let the cat out of the bag](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/04/cats-2.html) - What is the origin of the expression "let the cat out of the bag"?
- [When a cat has your tongue](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/12/when-a-cat-has-your-tongue.html)
- [A cat’s-paw in fable and law](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/04/cats-paw.html) - The history of the term "cat's-paw," from a fable to a Supreme Court footnote.
- [Cat got your tongue?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/02/cat-tongue.html)
- [Taking a spin with Yeats](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/07/perne.html) - How Yeats transformed an Irish dialectal word for a spool to mean spin in his poetry.
- [‘Lukewarm’ and ‘lukecool’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/07/lukewarm-lukecool.html) - Why isn't "lukecool" an accepted antonym for "lukewarm"?
- [Not quite cricket?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/07/cricket-croquet.html) - Is the sports term “cricket” related to the “cricket” that’s an insect? And what about “croquet”? Is it a cousin?
- [Tossing and turning](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/07/toss-and-turn.html) - When "toss" met "turn" and gave English "toss and turn."
- [About 'around' and 'surrounding'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/07/around-surrounding-about.html) - The use of “surrounding” or “around” for "about" when it means “in reference to.”
- [Let’s be negative](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/07/let-us-not.html) - There are three ways of making the contraction of “let us” negative: (1) “let’s not,” (2) “don’t let’s,” and (3) “let’s don’t.”
- [Among or between?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/10/among-between.html) - When describing three people working together, is it a collaboration among or between them?
- [Honey, I sunk the boat](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/01/honey-i-sunk-the-boat.html) - Is "I sunk the boat" proper English?
- [That sinking feeling](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/sink-sank-sunk.html) - Is "sunk" a legitimate past tense of "sink"?
- [Cut and dried ... or dry?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/07/cut-and-dried.html) - “Cut and dried” is the original version of the expression, but most dictionaries accept "cut and dry" as a less common variant.
- [How ‘master’ became ‘mister’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/05/mister.html) - Title search: From "master" to "Mr." to "mister."
- [A slave named Smith](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/09/surnames.html) - Why is “Smith” more common than “Cooper,” “Potter,” “Weaver,” and other names derived from occupations?
- [Rock around o’clock](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/03/oclock.html) - The history of "o'clock" and some other unusual contractions.
- [A note to our email subscribers](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/06/email-notice-4.html) - One of the companies that manage our email subscriptions will discontinue the service in July. If you stop getting posts, go to our website and subscribe again.
- [It's ‘along’ story](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/06/along.html) - English has had two different “along” words, though one is now archaic and survives only in regional dialects.
- [A note to our email subscribers](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/06/email-notice-3.html)
- [A moment of truthiness](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/06/truthiness.html) - Is it true or truthy to say Stephen Colbert coined the word “truthiness.”
- [A note to our email subscribers](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/06/email-notice-2.html)
- [From ‘agog’ to ‘go-go’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/06/agog.html) - The etymological trail leading from “agog” to “go-go” dancing and “go-go” boots.
- [A note to our email subscribers](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/06/email-notice.html)
- [Why an app is called a widget](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/06/widget.html) - How "widget" evolved from a mechanical gadget to a digital app.
- [Regarding ‘in terms of’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/06/regarding-in-terms-of.html) - The mathematical origin of the expression "in terms of."
- [A lion, a flower, and a king](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/06/leonotis.html) - Is Leonotis, the plant genus, related etymologically to Leonidas, the Spartan king?
- [What’s the skinny on “skinny”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/11/skinny.html)
- [What’s the skinny?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/01/skinny-2.html)
- [Wild swimming](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/06/wild-swimming.html) - The phrase “wild swimming”— swimming outdoors in natural waters—originated as a British usage in the late 1990s.
- [We are met on a great battle-field](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/05/we-are-met-2.html) - “We are met,” an old present-perfect expression in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address that means "We have met," dates back to the Middle Ages,
- [We are met on a great battle-field](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/12/we-are-met.html) - Is this sentence from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address grammatically correct: “We are met on a great battle-field of that war”?
- [A seafarer's middle ground](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/05/middle-ground.html) - How the expression “middle ground” has evolved from a nautical and cartographic term to one primarily used figuratively.
- [How diverse is diversity?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/04/diversity.html) - Is "diversity" now a code word for nonwhite or nonmale?
- [Can you cut the mustard?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/09/can-you-cut-the-mustard.html)
- [On mom, pop, and dad](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/05/mom-dad.html) - The various “mom,” “pop,” and “dad“ words probably come from “ma,” “pa,” and “da” sounds infants utter and parents mistakenly think refer to mother and father.
- [Fair enough?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/05/fair-enough.html) - The conversational origins of the expression "fair enough."
- [The only one](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/02/the-only-one.html)
- [Rapping paper](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/05/rap.html) - How "rap" evolved in battle, speech, and music.
- [The went not taken](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/05/went-2.html) - When a "went" was a path or a road.
- [Let’s you and him fight](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/05/lets-you-and-him-fight.html) - The love song of J. Wellington Wimpy.
- [Why can't Americans learn to speak?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/04/why-cant-americans-learn-to-speak.html)
- [Is it “pleaded” or “pled”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/10/is-it-pleaded-or-pled.html)
- [Plea agreement](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/03/plea-agreement.html) - What is the proper past tense and past participle of "plead"?
- [Is ‘graffiti’ a verb?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/04/graffiti.html) - Can "graffiti" be a verb as well as a noun?
- [Plead, pleaded, and pled](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/05/plead-pleaded-pled.html) - What's the proper past tense and past participle of the verb "plead"?
- [Which virus is more deadly?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/03/deadly.html) - Is coronavirus more deadly than influenza?
- [On 'willy-nilly'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/11/willy-nilly.html) - What is the origin of the expression "willy-nilly"?
- [Two-sided words](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/08/two-sided-words.html)
- [On ‘lead’ and ‘led’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/04/lead-led.html) - Why some people spell the past tense of "lead" like the present.
- [The jig is up](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/04/jig.html) - The tricky origins of "the jig is up."
- [‘Summoned’ or ‘summonsed’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/04/summoned-summonsed.html) - Would you rather be summoned or summonsed?
- ["Yous" or "youse"](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/08/yous-or-youse.html)
- [Is 'Gypsy' a slur?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/03/gypsy.html) - Is the use of "Gypsy" in the popular quilting design “Gypsy Wife” inappropriate?
- [A fly in the ointment](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/04/fly-in-the-ointment.html) - The biblical source of "a fly in the ointment."
- [Extrovert or extravert?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/01/extrovert-extravert.html) - Is someone with an outgoing or gregarious personality an "extrovert" or an "extravert"?
- [Capital punishment](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/04/capital-punishment-2.html)
- [The lying origins of ‘belie'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/04/belie.html) - Does strength belie age, or age belie strength?
- [No pants, let alone a jacket](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/04/let-alone-2.html) - When “let alone” emphasizes something by contrasting it with something less likely.
- [Are ‘vote’ and ‘veto’ related?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/04/vote-veto.html) - Despite their resemblance, “vote” and “veto” come from different Latin verbs, one meaning to vow and the other to forbid.
- [The 'lie' or 'lay' of the land?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/09/lie-or-lay-of-the-land.html)
- [Lie and lay: the flip side](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/04/lie-lay-3.html) - When the nouns "lie" and "lay" are interchangeable.
- [Ask, and it shall be given](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/03/ask.html) - Is it proper to "ask forgiveness" or does one have to "ask for forgiveness"?
- [Scrambled yeggs?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/01/scrambled-yeggs.html) - The origin of "yegg" as slang for a burglar or safecracker.
- [Sex under the arches](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/03/fornicate.html) - How "fornication" evolved from prostitution under the arches of arenas in ancient Rome.
- [Girl Scout kapers](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/03/kapers.html) - "Kaper," a Girl Scout term for a chore, probably comes from “KP,” short for “kitchen police.”
- [More about caring less](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/12/more-about-caring-less.html) - "I could care less" versus "I couldn't care less."
- [Is "off of" so awful?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/12/is-off-of-so-awful.html)
- [On to-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/02/on-to-morrow-and-to-morrow-and-to-morrow.html)
- [Suffrage, then and now](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/03/suffrage.html) - The religious and political history of "suffrage."
- [When ‘next’ is really ‘last’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/03/next-last.html) - Is something actually “more [better, larger, etc.] than the next”?
- [I could care less](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/i-could-care-less.html)
- [Can ‘were’ mean ‘would be’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/03/were-would-be.html) - The use of "were" for "would be" is outdated now, but would have been at home in Shakespeare's day.
- [Are you woke?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/03/are-you-woke.html) - The figurative use of the adjective "woke" to mean alert to racial or social discrimination.
- [Whoa!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/03/whoa-woah.html) - The surprising, admiring, and commanding history of "whoa."
- [On and off the grid](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/02/grid.html) - How “grid” evolved from “gridiron,” originally a medieval instrument of torture.
- [To welsh on a bet](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/02/welsh.html) - Is the use of “welsh,” meaning to renege on a bet, a slur against the people of Wales?
- [A comma, too?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/10/a-comma-too.html)
- [Who was that masked-up man?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/02/mask-up.html) - On masks and masking up.
- [The first wordsmith in chief](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/02/presidents-day.html) - George Washington coined or popularized dozens of words.
- [When maitre d’s are possessive](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/02/maitre-d.html) - The singular and plural possessives of “maitre d’.”
- [When ‘repulsive’ wasn’t disgusting](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/02/repulsive.html) - The word “repulsive” had a positive medical sense when it first showed up in the early 15th century.
- [Ding-dong, ‘the which’ is dead](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/02/the-which.html) - The use of “the which” In older English in place of “which” alone.
- [An eye-opening plural](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/08/cyclops.html) - What is the plural of "Cyclops"?
- [Standing room at the Globe](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/02/pleb-plebe-plebeian.html) - The standees who paid a penny to see Shakespeare's plays at the Globe.
- [Thank you, Mr. Collins](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/01/collins.html) - A "Collins," or thank-you note, an old term inspired by Jane Austen’s obsequious clergyman.
- [When doom is impending](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/01/impending.html) - Is an "impending" event always negative?
- [‘Ketchup’ or ‘catsup’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/01/ketchup-catsup.html) - Which is the preferred spelling, “ketchup” or “catsup”?
- [Trolling and Trawling](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/12/trolling-and-trawling.html)
- [Prior analytics](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/01/prior-analytics.html) - Has the use of “prior” by itself gained acceptance as an adverb? Or is "prior to" still preferred?
- [To “the,” or not to “the”](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/01/the-2.html) - The use of "the" before a high title, as in "the Grand Duke Michael" or "the Empress Josephine."
- [Article physics](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/06/article-physics.html)
- [When ‘damn’ became a swear word](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/01/damn.html) - Was the word "damn" always an expletive?
- [Getting our ducks in a row](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/01/ducks-in-a-row.html) - What is the origin of the expression "to get one's ducks in a row"?
- [A mystery and a love story about words](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/01/liars-dictionary.html) - Patricia T. O'Conner's review in the New York Times Book Review of "The Liar's Dictionary," a comic novel about love and lexicography.
- [What’s the plural of maitre d’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/whats-the-plural-of-maitre-d.html)
- [A possessive maitre d'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/10/a-possessive-maitre-d.html)
- [Time and again](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/01/time-and-again.html) - Which came first, “time and again” or “time and time again”?
- [Overwhelm, underwhelm, whelm](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/11/whelm.html) - The history of "overwhelm," "underwhelm," and plain old "whelm."
- [Can not, cannot, and can’t](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/08/cannot.html) - Is there a linguistic reason why "can not" is usually written as "cannot"?
- [The “bert” in Albert, Herbert, Robert, etc.](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/12/bert.html) - The history of the "bert" in names like Albert, Herbert, and Robert.
- [An “&” or an “and”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/03/ampersand.html) - Should you use "and" or an ampersand in writing dialogue that mentions a company with the “&” character in its name?
- [Scrubbing floors and computers](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/09/scrub.html) - How the verb "scrub" has evolved since the Middle Ages, from grooming horses to cleaning computers.
- [Dapping in Vietnam](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/12/dap.html) - What is the origin of “dap,” the term for the black power handshake in Vietnam?
- [Letter From Barsetshire](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/12/thirkell.html) - A grumpy Christmas with Angela Thirkell.
- [Grandfather clause](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/01/grandfather-clause.html)
- [Prior considerations](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/10/prior-considerations.html)
- [Why 'hoodwink' means to deceive](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/12/why-hoodwink-means-to-deceive.html) - The Anglo-Saxon roots of "hoodwink."
- [One of the only](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/12/one-of-the-only.html) - Is "one of the only" a legitimate usage?
- [When an earring is an ear hanger](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/12/earring.html) - How different languages may describe the same thing in different ways.
- [A lapidary opinion](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/12/lapidary.html) - How the word "lapidary" came to describe writing that's clever, concise, accurate, elegant, and so on.
- [A degenerate gambler?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/12/degenerate.html) - Is a habitual gambler an inveterate, unregenerate, or degenerate one?
- [How 'debauchee' got an '-ee' ending](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/11/ee-suffix.html) - The history of the "-ee" suffix in English.
- [Try and stop us!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/11/try-and.html) - The use of "try and" instead of "try to" in a construction like "try and make me."
- [A precipitous drop for the better?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/11/precipitous.html) - Can a "precipitous" decline be positive?
- [Jiggs dinner](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/11/jiggs-dinner.html) - How corned beef and cabbage came to be known as a “Jiggs dinner.”
- [A judgment call](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/07/a-judgment-call.html)
- [The great divide](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/03/the-great-divide.html) - Patricia T. O'Conner's review of two books on the clash between descriptivists and prescriptivists over the English language.
- [Collective bargaining](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/08/collective-bargaining.html) - How to determine whether "percent" is singular or plural.
- [Notional agreement](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/11/notional-agreement.html) - How notional agreement may determine whether "percent" is singular or plural.
- [Something wicked this way comes](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/11/ed-suffix-2.html) - How the "-ed" suffix has been pronounced (or not) over the years.
- [An article of faith](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/02/an-article-of-faith.html)
- [Missing articles](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/12/missing-articles.html)
- [A crowning moment](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/09/a-crowning-moment.html)
- [Margaret Thatcher’s bottom](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/11/bottom.html) - The old use of "bottom," chiefly in British English, to mean courage and strength of character.
- [What's the origin of “willy-nilly”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/10/whats-the-origin-of-willy-nilly.html)
- [Rule of thumb](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/04/rule-of-thumb.html) - Domestic violence and the "rule of thumb."
- [On Main St. and in the High St](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/11/main-street-high-street.html) - Why a British tea shop is “in the High Street” and an American coffee shop is “on Main Street.”
- [‘I'm so not coming here again’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/10/so-not.html) - The use of "so not" to mean "certainly not" in a statement like "I'm so not coming here again."
- [A few negative thoughts](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/10/negative-constructions.html) - How to interpret negative constructions with “or” and “and.”
- [Hard of sleeping?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/10/hard.html) - Why do we say "hard of hearing" but not "hard of seeing"?
- [Like as the waves](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/10/like-as.html) - Why Shakespeare uses "like as" in this passage from Sonnet 60: “Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore.”
- [Look out below!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/12/below.html) - Is it OK to put the word "below" in front of a noun or at the head of a sentence?
- [What’s up with ‘below’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/10/below-2.html) - Is "below" an adverb, a preposition, or both?
- [What do you call a monthly anniversary?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/01/monthly-anniversary.html) - Is there a word like “anniversary” for a monthly event?
- [Come hell or high water](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/10/come-hell-or-high-water.html) - What is the origin of the expression "come hell or high water"?
- [How to say ‘satiety’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/10/satiety-2.html) - How the pronunciation and spelling of "satiety" have evolved over the years.
- [The polka in polka dots](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/10/polka-dot.html) - Is the "polka dot" pattern related to the "polka" dance?
- [Cue up or queue up a video?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/09/cue-queue.html) - The history of "cue" and "queue."
- [Are you teed off?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/09/teed-off.html) - How "teed off" came to mean angry or annoyed.
- [Nerds of America](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/08/nerds-of-america.html) - Did the word "nerd" come from the sitcom "Happy Days"?
- [On the status of status quo](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/09/status-quo.html) - The history of the expression "status quo."
- [Can sex or gender be 'assigned'?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/09/sex-gender-assignment.html) - The use of the terms “sex assignment” and “gender assignment” to designate the sex of a newborn child.
- [Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/09/hear-pat-on-iowa-public-radio-11.html) - The language maven Patricia T. O'Conner will be on Talk of Iowa today from 10 to 11 AM Central time (11 to 12 Eastern) to discuss words of the pandemic.
- [A vast minority?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/09/vast-minority.html) - Is "vast minority" a new expression?
- [Tawk of the Town](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/09/tawk-of-the-town.html) - Patricia T. O'Conner's review of "You Talkin’ to Me? The Unruly History of New York English," by E. J. White, in the Literary Review, London.
- [Let’s confer](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/08/confer.html) - The two different ways to "confer."
- [What’s a mook?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/08/mook.html) - What is the origin of the term "mook" in the film "Mean Streets"?
- [In search of the wild kudo](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/10/in-search-of-the-wild-kudo.html) - Is 'kudo' the singular form of 'kudos'?
- [When nice wasn't nice](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/11/when-nice-wasnt-nice.html)
- [The light and dark of language](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/01/the-light-and-dark-of-language-2.html) - How did the color black gets its negative associations?
- [The light and dark of language](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/12/light-and-dark-2.html) - How did the color black get its negative associations?
- [Black sheep](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/08/black-sheep.html) - How "black sheep" came to be a negative term.
- [Questionable marks](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/09/questionable-marks.html)
- [What’s news?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/08/news.html) - Why does the word "news" look plural but act singular?
- [High satiety](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/11/satiety.html)
- [Lex education](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/08/lexophile.html) - On logophiles and lexophiles.
- [How a poke became a pocket](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/08/pocket.html) - When pockets were small bags tied around the waist.
- [Henchmen and minions](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/08/henchmen-minions.html) - How the once-positive terms "henchman" and "minion" became negative.
- [A contraction too far?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/04/contractions.html) - How many words can be contracted into one?
- [On 'capitulate' and 'recapitulate'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/08/capitulate-recapitulate.html) - Why does "capitulate" mean to surrender while "recapitulate" means to summarize?
- [How nasty is 'mean-spirited'?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/07/mean-spirited.html) - How "mean" evolved from describing a minor person to a nasty one.
- [Burgle or burglarize?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/07/burgle-burglarize.html) - Burgle or burglarize? Is one a felony?
- [Whomspun history](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/07/who-whom-4.html) - The history of "who," "whom," "whoever," "whomever," "whosoever," and so on.
- [A stare’s nest by Yeats’s window](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/07/stare-starling.html) - How a "stare" became a "starling."
- [Independence 'of' or 'from'?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/07/independence.html) - Is it "independence of" or "independence from" someone or something?
- [Is it "butt naked" or "buck naked"?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/is-it-butt-naked-or-buck-naked.html)
- [‘Buck naked’ or ‘butt naked’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/07/buck-butt-naked.html) - ‘Buck naked’ or ‘butt naked’? Which came first and which is correct now?
- [Working hard or hardly working?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/07/hard-hardly.html) - When "hard" and "hardly" went their separate ways.
- [How inclusive is ‘including’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/07/include.html) - Do the words "include" and "including" refer to some or all of the items on a list?
- [Running low on champagne](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/07/run-low-on.html) - Why do we say we're “running low on” something that is running out?
- [Shedding a little night light](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/06/nightlight.html) - From moonlight to candlelight to the nightlight plugged into an electrical outlet.
- [On 'damage' and 'damages'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/06/damage-damages.html) - “Damage” now means loss or harm, and “damages” compensation for loss or harm, but that wasn't always the case.
- [Any way the wind blows](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/04/any-way-the-wind-blows.html)
- ['Anyways,' said the damsel](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/08/anyways.html) - Is it "anyway" or "anyways"?
- [Drunk as a skunk](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/06/skunk.html) - The history of "drunk as a skunk" and other skunkish expressions.
- [San fairy ann: Why a duckboard?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/06/san-fairy-ann.html) - The history of the expression “san fairy ann” and its variations.
- [Take a listen, please!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/07/take-a-listen-please.html) - Is it OK to use "listen" as a noun, as in "take a listen" or "have a listen"?
- [Why not “one headquarter”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/02/headquarters.html) - How "headquarters" came to be singular and plural.
- [Wrapped around the axle](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/06/wrapped-around-the-axle.html) - The history of the expression "wrapped around the axle."
- [Depart ... or depart from?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/06/depart.html) - Do you "depart from" a location or do you "depart" it?
- [Can one make a concerted effort?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/04/concerted.html) - Is a "concerted effort" a strenuous effort or a collective one?
- [Coots, feathered and otherwise](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/06/coot.html) - The use of “coot” for an old man, especially an oddball, seems to have evolved from the early use of “coot” as an informal name for various seabirds.
- [Is ‘least favorite’ most disliked?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/06/least-favorite.html) - Does "least favorite" refer to someone or something at the bottom of a list of favorites or at the top of a most-disliked list?
- [When negatives collide](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/06/when-negatives-collide.html) - Why English speakers usually understand when too many negatives don't make literal sense.
- [Why a black swan is a rara avis](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/05/black-swan-rara-avis.html) - The history of the terms "black swan" and "rara avis."
- [A jerry-rigged etymology](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/12/jerry-rigged.html) - The origins of the expressions "jury-rigged," "jerry-rigged," and "jerry-built."
- [Even so, amen](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/05/even-so.html) - Although “even so” means “nevertheless” or “in spite of that” today, it had several other meanings in the past.
- [A needy confection](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/05/need.html) - How "need" works as main verb and as a modal auxiliary.
- [Sea chantey or shanty?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/05/chantey-shanty.html) - Is a sailor's song a "sea chantey" or a "sea shanty"?
- [An inkling of medieval times](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/11/an-inkling-of-medieval-times.html) - Yes, "inkle" was once a word.
- [The singularity of Mother’s Day](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/05/mothers-day-2.html) - The history and punctuation of Mother's Day.
- [The singularity of Mother’s Day](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/05/mothers-day.html) - How do you punctuate Mother's Day? Is it Mother's, Mothers', or Mothers?
- [Is 'butt' short for 'buttock'?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/05/butt-buttock.html) - Which came first, "butt" or "buttock"?
- [Why fourteen isn’t onety-four](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/05/the-ty-suffix.html) - How the “-ty” suffix came to be used for multiples of ten.
- [Textured hair](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/05/textured-hair.html) - What is textured hair?
- [Is it the floor or the ground?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/04/is-it-the-floor-or-the-ground.html) - Why do people use "floor" and "ground" interchangeably?
- [Guilty as charged](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/05/guilty-as-charged.html) - The history of the expression "guilty as charged."
- [What may (or might) have been](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/06/may-might.html) - What's the difference between "may" and "might"?
- [Why is 'she' the cat’s mother?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/04/cats-mother.html) - What is the origin of the catchphrase “Who's she—the cat's mother”?
- [Suck, sucker, and sucking up](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/03/suck.html) - How "suck" evolved from what a baby does at its mother's breast.
- [Why we suck](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/03/why-we-suck.html) - The history of the word "suck."
- [The elephant in the room](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/05/elephant-in-the-room.html) - What is the origin of the expression "elephant in the room"?
- [‘The coronavirus’ or ‘coronavirus’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/04/coronavirus.html) - Why do people add "the" to "coronavirus"?
- [Assure, ensure, and insure](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/11/assure-ensure-and-insure.html) - How to use the verbs "assure," "ensure," and "insure."
- [Why bacon strips are ‘rashers’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/04/rasher.html) - How a strip of bacon came to be called a "rasher."
- [A flight of chardonnays](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/04/flight.html) - The use of “flight” as a restaurant term for a sampling of foods or drinks.
- [On heroes, edible and otherwise](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/06/on-heroes-edible-and-otherwise.html) - Is the word "hero" used indiscriminately?
- [A little off the fringe?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/04/fringe-bangs.html) - Why "bangs" in the US are called a "fringe" in the UK.
- [Why verb a noun? Why not?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/08/verbing.html) - Verbing through the ages.
- [When Harry met ‘high maintenance’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/04/high-maintenance.html) - The use of "high maintenance" and "transitional person" in the film "When Harry Met Sally."
- [Is the pun in the pudding?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/04/pudding-3.html) - Where pudding is concerned, the proof is in the etymology.
- [Link, a bendable word](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/04/link.html) - How the word "link" evolved from a prehistoric term for to bend or turn.
- [Hyphenating rhythms](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/07/hyphenating-rhythms.html)
- [When walk-ins walk in](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/03/hyphens-3.html) - How to punctuate terms like “check in,” “check out,” and “walk in” when they're verbs, adjectives, and nouns.
- [From the horse’s mouth](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/03/dialect.html) - How Kipling puts regional American dialects in the mouths of horses.
- [Help bake, or help to bake?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/03/help.html) - Help: Is it help do something or help to do it?
- [Is there a cat in the corner?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/09/is-there-a-cat-in-the-corner.html) - The origin of "catty-corner," "cater-corner," "kitty-corner," "cattywampus," and others.
- [When ‘drastically’ is too drastic](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/03/drastic-drastically.html) - The drastic history of "drastically."
- [Tidbit or titbit?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/03/tidbit-titbit.html) - Why do Americans use “tidbit” for a word that the British spell “titbit”?
- [Sticking in a knife with a smile](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/03/sneaky-criticism.html) - The deceptive practice of sneaky criticism.
- [Numbo jumbo](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/12/numbo-jumbo.html) - Why it's incorrect to use phrases like "x times less than" or "x times fewer than."
- [Is the parrot willful or willing?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/03/willfully-willingly.html) - What is the difference between willfully and willingly?
- [Why "one-off" is one of a kind](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/11/one-off.html) - Why does "one-off (not "one-of") mean one of a kind?
- [Now I am become Death](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/03/now-i-am-become-death.html) - Why “Now I am become Death" means "Now I have become Death."
- [‘Outshone’ or ‘outshined’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/02/outshone-outshined.html) - Which is the correct past tense and past participle of the verb "outshine"—"outshone" or "outshined"?
- [An uncommon courtesy](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/08/courtesy.html) - The use of "courtesy" as a verb by broadcasters.
- [A ‘they’ by any other name](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/02/they-6.html) - The use of “they” for someone who doesn’t identify as either male or female.
- [A murderous mob of crows](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/12/a-murder-of-crows.html)
- [Courting a honey or a heartache](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/02/court.html) - The incredibly adaptable life of the word "court" in law, romance, diplomacy, sports, and so on.
- [Trepid, trepidant, trepidatious](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/06/trepid-trepidant-trepidatious.html) - The history of three timid adjectives: "trepid," "trepidant," and "trepidatious."
- [Whole lotta trepidatin’ goin' on](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/12/trepidated.html) - On "trepidated," and its cousins “trepidate,” “trepidating,” and “trepidatious.”
- [Is “trepidatious” a word?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/06/is-trepidatious-a-word.html) - The history of the adjective "trepidatious."
- [Complementary remarks](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/02/adjectives-complements.html) - Why can some adjectives be complemented by gerund phrases, others by infinitive phrases, and still others by both?
- [All het up](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/02/all-het-up.html) - Is "all het up" a colloquial way of saying "all heated up"?
- [Sympathy strike](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/09/sympathy-strike.html) - What's the difference between "sympathy" and "empathy"?
- [A little so-and-so](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/04/a-little-so-and-so.html)
- [So why not?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/06/so-why-not.html) - Is it OK to begin a sentence with the word "so"?
- [‘Premier’ or ‘premiere’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/02/premier-premiere.html) - Is it the “premier” or “premiere” episode of a TV series?
- [How to turn into a driveway](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/01/turn-into.html) - The phrase "turn into" has two correct meanings: to enter ("the driver turned into my lane"), and to become ("the prince turned into a frog").
- [Knit picking](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/01/knit-picking.html) - Which is the correct past tense—"I knit a sweater” or “I knitted a sweater”?
- [Space Coast chronicle](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/01/swan-song-2.html) - Read Chapter 1 of Swan Song, a comic novel by Stewart Kellerman (with a foreword by Patricia T. O’Conner) about a New York couple who retire to Florida.
- [Chain language](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/10/chain-language.html)
- [A moving appreciation](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/08/a-moving-appreciation.html) - What does it mean when a motion is "so moved"? And does "I want to appreciate her" mean the same as "I appreciate her"?
- [But if the husband be dead ...](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/01/subjunctive-4.html) - The use of "be" in Romans 7:2, KJV: “but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law.”
- [Lest-wise](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/02/lest-wise.html)
- [Subjunctive matter](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/01/subjunctive-matter.html)
- [To “be,” or not to “be”](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/11/be-or-not.html)
- [Suffice it to say](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/07/suffice-it-to-say.html)
- [Is it “shined” or “shone”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/11/shined-shone.html) - What is the correct past tense and past participle of the verb "shine"?
- [Orientation day](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/01/orientate.html) - Zeroing in on "orient," "orientation," and "orientate."
- [Disoriented or disorientated?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/01/disoriented-disorientated.html) - 'Disoriented' and 'disorientated' in the US and the UK.
- [Doing hard time](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/01/doing-hard-time.html) - What's the difference between “doing time” and “doing hard time”?
- [Memes, tropes, and notions](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/01/meme-trope-notion.html) - Is there a distinction between a meme, a trope, and a notion?
- [How 'tootsie' became 'toots'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/01/tootsie-toots.html) - Does the slang use of “toots” to address a woman come from the colloquial use of “tootsie” for a foot?
- [Ethos, logos, pathos](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/01/ethos-logos-pathos.html) - Should English speakers pronounce "ethos," "logos," and "pathos" as the ancient Greeks did?
- [Our changing language](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/04/changing-language.html) - How do we know when language has changed?
- [Shrink, shrank, shrunk](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/01/shrink-shrank-shrunk.html) - Is it OK to use “shrunk” as the past tense of “shrink,” as in the movie "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids"?
- [Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/01/hear-pat-on-iowa-public-radio-10.html) - The language maven Patricia T. O'Conner will be on Talk of Iowa today from 10 to 11 AM Central time (11 to 12 Eastern) to discuss Iowa place names.
- [When golf was banned in Scotland](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/12/golf.html) - A rough history of the word "golf."
- [Are Normandy veggies Norman?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/12/normandy-vegetables.html) - Do frozen Normandy vegetables come from Normandy? Are they typical of the veggies grown there?
- [Is your shirt boiled?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/12/boiled-shirt.html) - How did a man's dress shirt come to be called a "boiled shirt"?
- [Pajama games for Christmas](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/12/pajamas.html) - Is "pajamas" abbreviated as "PJs," "PJ's," "pj's," or otherwise?
- [No hidebound conservative he](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/12/subject-verb-inversion.html) - The Anglo-Saxon roots of the expression “no hidebound conservative he.”
- [A jerry-rigged expression?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/08/a-jerry-rigged-expression.html)
- [Nag, nag, nag](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/12/nag.html) - Is the “nag” who’s constantly scolding people related to the “nag” that’s a tired old horse?
- [You’re darn tootin’!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/12/darn-tootin.html) - The Wild West origins of the expression "You’re darn tootin’!"
- [Why is English a Germanic language?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/01/why-is-english-a-germanic-language.html)
- [Holiday dressing](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/12/dress-dressing.html) - The evolution of the words "dress" and "dressing" over the years.
- [Why is a turkey leg a drumstick?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/11/drumstick.html) - How did a turkey leg come to be called a “drumstick”? Why not a “club” or a “bat” or a “bowling pin”?
- [Why don't we use ‘farthermore’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/11/furthermore-farthermore.html) - Why do we use “furthermore” but not “farthermore”?
- [A hwale of a story](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/11/whale.html) - How the pronunciation of "whale" has evolved over the centuries.
- [When a nudge is a noodge](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/11/noodge-nudge.html) - “Noodge” or “nudge”? Which is the correct spelling of the English word of Yiddish origin for a nag or whiner?
- [When did “Venus’s beauty” get a second “s”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/12/possessive.html) - When did we begin putting a second "s" in a possessive word like "Chris's"?
- [How possessive are you?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/11/possessives.html) - How to make a possessive of a singular noun that ends in a sibilant like “s,” “x," or “z.”
- [Is pronunciation your forte?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/02/is-pronunciation-your-forte.html) - How do you pronounce the word "forte"?
- [Forte knocks](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/05/forte-knocks.html)
- [Shadows on the wall](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/11/due-to.html) - Is it OK to use "due to" adverbially to mean “because of” or “on account of”?
- [Lock, stock, and barrel](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/11/lock-stock-and-barrel.html) - How an old joke gave us the expression "lock, stock, and barrel."
- [Due date](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/04/due-date.html) - Is it OK to use "due to" when you mean "because of"?
- [Hallowe’en be thy name](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/10/halloween.html) - The history of Halloween and the spooky words associated with it.
- [Halloween tricks](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/12/halloween-tricks.html)
- [Hallowe’en be thy name](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/10/halloween-3.html) - The history of the word "Halloween" and the spooky terms associated with it.
- [Hallowe’en be thy name](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/10/halloween-2.html) - The history of "Halloween" and the spooky words associated with it.
- [Hallowe’en be thy name](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/10/halloween-4.html) - The history of Halloween and familiar Halloween words.
- [In Jesus’ name or Jesus’s name?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/08/jesus-2.html) - What is the possessive of "Jesus"?
- [Are you a fuddy-duddy?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/10/fuddy-duddy.html) - Is "fuddy-duddy" a negative term?
- [Did muckrakers once rake muck?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/10/muckraker.html) - Did the word "muckraker" originate as a literal term for someone who cleaned stables, latrines, etc.?
- [How susceptible are you?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/10/susceptible.html) - Is it "susceptible to" or "susceptible of"?
- [G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time)](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/07/goat.html) - How "G.O.A.T." became Greatest of All Time: #etymology #sports
- [How are generic drugs named?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/08/generic-drug-names.html) - Why are the brand names of drugs often catchy, while the generics are usually forgettable?
- [Petard hoisting](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/10/petard-hoisting.html) - Are you hoist "with," "by," or "on" your own petard?
- [Vowel movement](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/10/vowel-movement.html) - Why do we say "zig-zag," not "zag-zig," and “wishy-washy,” not “washy-wishy”?
- [When a rose isn't a rose](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/10/rose-of-sharon.html) - Is it "rose of Sharons" or "roses of Sharon"?
- [A job is a job is a job](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/09/job.html) - The many meanings of the word "job."
- [In defense of ‘crispy’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/09/crisp-crispy.html) - Why "crisp" was joined by "crispy" in the Middle Ages.
- [Abluting in the loo](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/09/ablute.html) - Is there a verb "ablute" as well as a noun "ablution"?
- [A ‘bury' old usage](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/09/bury.html) - The history of the use of "bury" in place names.
- [Period furniture](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/09/period-furniture.html) - The history of the furniture terms "ottoman," "divan," "settee," "sofa," "davenport," and "couch."
- [Inartful dodgers](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/09/inartful.html) - Is "inartful" a legitimate word?
- [Fed up with feedback?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/09/feedback.html) - How "feedback" evolved from a technical electrical term to the reaction of people to a product, service, etc.
- [Vowel change](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/10/vowel-change.html)
- [Do you say AH-kwa or ACK-wa?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/09/aqua.html) - “Aqua” was probably pronounced AH-kwa when it showed up in English in the Middle Ages, a pronunciation revived in American English in the 1970s.
- [The evolution of 'enormity'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/09/enormity.html) - Can "enormity" mean bigness as well as badness?
- [Changing times](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/09/change.html) - Why “change” once meant a stock exchange in the UK.
- [Who’s zori now?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/08/zori.html) - How thong sandals became flip-flops, zoris, and go-aheads.
- [Who’s zori now?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/09/zori-2.html) - The history of the beach terms "flip-flops," "zori," "go-aheads," and "thongs."
- [On “farther” and “further”](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/02/on-farther-and-further.html)
- [Fancy that](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/08/fancy.html) - How the word "fancy" is used in the US and the UK.
- [A 'heartwarming story' of love, friendship, and growing old](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/08/swan-song-review.html) - Compulsive Reader's review of Swan Song, Stewart Kellerman’s humorous novel about the adventures of three unforgettable couples.
- [Toilet talk](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/08/toilet-talk.html) - Why are some public toilet labeled "Mens" and "Ladies"? Why the extra "s," minus the apostrophe, in "Mens"?
- [Hunger pangs or pains?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/08/pain-pang.html) - What is the difference between “hunger pangs” and “hunger pains”?
- [Punctuating a series of questions](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/08/series-of-questions.html) - How to punctuate a series of questions in the middle of a sentence.
- [And then there were none](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/08/none.html) - "None" has been both singular and plural since Anglo-Saxon times, though it has usually been plural.
- [Ouija talk](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/08/ouija.html) - What is the origin of the word “Ouija,” as in “Ouija board”?
- [It’s Emma Woodhouse, you know](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/08/you-know.html) - English speakers have been using “you know” for emphasis since the Middle Ages.
- [Parenthetical plural(s)](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/04/parenthetical-plurals.html) - When to use parenthetical plurals, like (s), and when not to use them.
- [Fixing the damn roads](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/08/damn-damned.html) - When did “damned” shrink to “damn,” "waxed" to "wax," and "popped" to "pop," as in "damn roads," "wax paper," and "popcorn"?
- [Why does “fridge” have a “d”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/11/fridge.html) - Why isn't "fridge" spelled "frig"?
- [A pasta noodle maker?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/08/pasta-noodle.html) - Is it redundant to call a pasta machine a “pasta noodle maker”?
- [Affirm or confirm?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/08/affirm-confirm.html) - When you assert something originally, you "affirm" it. When you corroborate an assertion, you "confirm" it.
- [Pat reviews 4 language books](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/book-reviews.html) - Patricia T. O'Conner reviews four new books about the English language in the New York Times Book Review.
- [The true truth](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/true-truth.html) - Is “true truth” a new concept in the era of “fake news”?
- [Poaching eggs vs. poaching deer](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/poach.html) - Why are poaching a deer and poaching an egg such different activities?
- [Why ‘mayn’t’ may not live on](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/may-not.html) - As more English speakers use "can't," "mayn't" becomes rare.
- [A pot to piss in](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/a-pot-to-piss-in.html) - What is the origin of the expression "a pot to piss in"?
- [Progressively more?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/progressively.html) - Does the adverb “progressively” have a built-in sense of “more”?
- [A wretched creature](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/wretch.html) - The monstrous and miserable life of the word "wretch."
- [Are we losing “-ed” adjectives?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/10/ed-suffix.html) - Is English losing adjectives with an "-ed" suffix?
- [On snooting and snouting](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/snoot-snout.html) - The use of "snoot" and "snout" to express disdain for someone.
- [Cannon fodder](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/cannon-cannons.html) - What is the plural of "cannon"? Three "cannon" or three "cannons"?
- [Watch it back](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/watch-it-back.html) - What is the origin of the expression "watch it back"?
- [A writerly and painterly subject](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/writerly-painterly.html) - The history of the words "writerly" and "painterly."
- [Noodling with words](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/05/noodles.html)
- [Were it not for the grammar](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/conditional.html) - How to use "Were it not," "If it were not," "Had it not been," and "If it hadn't been" to begin a conditional sentence.
- [Screw the pooch](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/07/screw-the-pooch.html) - How did "screw the pooch" become another way to say "screw up"?
- [Happy belated birthday?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/06/happy-belated-birthday.html) - Why do many people find it more natural to say “happy belated birthday” even though "belated happy birthday" is more logical?
- [Urine analysis](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/06/pee.html) - How "pee" came to mean to urinate.
- [Careering or careening?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/06/career-careen.html) - Does a reckless driver "career" or "careen" off the road?
- [Why is a 'square meal' square?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/06/square-meal.html) - How did a well-rounded meal come to be called a “square meal”?
- [When a family daughters out](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/06/daughter-out.html) - The use of "daughtered out" to describe the loss of a family name.
- [In the weeds](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/06/in-the-weeds.html) - How "in the weeds" came to mean deeply involved (or bogged down) in the the details of an issue.
- [On ‘equity’ and ‘equality’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/06/equity-equality.html) - The history of the words "equity" and "equality."
- [Line drawings](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/08/line-drawings.html)
- [Sound bites: “envelop” vs. “envelope”](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/04/envelop-envelope.html) - Why does the verb "envelop" have one pronunciation while the noun "envolope" has two?
- [Why do we con-VICT a CON-vict?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/02/heteronym-2.html) - Why does a word such "convict" have one pronunciation as a verb and another as a noun?
- [Conceptual arts, part 2](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/10/conceptual-arts-part-2.html)
- [Conceptual arts](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/07/conceptual-arts.html)
- [The birth of a notion](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/12/the-birth-of-a-notion.html) - Is it OK to use “concept,” “solution,” or “stakeholder” as a verb?
- [Reconceptual analysis](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/04/reconcepted.html) - The origins of "concept," "concepted," and "reconcepted."
- [Conceptually speaking](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/06/conceptually-speaking.html) - How to pronounce words that can be either nouns or verbs.
- [Sick of politics? Want a break?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/06/swan-song-chapter.html) - Turn off the news and read the first chapter of Swan Song, a comic novel about a real estate scam on the Space Coast of Florida.
- [How appropriate is 'apropos'?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/06/apropos.html) - How to use "apropos" as a preposition, an adverb, or an adjective.
- [Is 'suicide' a forbidden word?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/06/suicide.html) - Why some people in the news media avoid the expression "commit suicide."
- [A question of authority](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/11/authority.html)
- [Trouble’s weird sister](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/06/trouble.html) - The ambiguous use of the verb "trouble" in literary criticism and academic writing.
- [Who put the “feck” in “feckless”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/10/feckless.html) - The curious history of the words "feckless" and "diffident."
- [A snake in the Garden of Eden](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/06/swan-song.html) - Swan Song, a comic novel by Stewart Kellerman (with a foreword by Patricia T. O'Conner), about the perils of a retirement paradise in Florida.
- [Can the “floor” be the “ground”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/06/floor-ground.html) - Why do some people use "ground" for the "floor" inside a building?
- [Making sense of mixing tenses](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/mixed-tenses.html) - Mixing tenses in reported speech.
- [Whom again](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/who-whom-3.html) - Is it OK to use "who" for "whom" to avoid sounding like a stuffed shirt?
- [How ‘emergency’ emerged](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/emerge-emergency.html) - Is there an etymological connection between “emerge” and “emergency”?
- ["Career" vs. "careen"](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2006/08/career-vs-careen.html)
- [Soak the rich? Or dry them out?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/soak-the-rich.html) - What does the word "soak" mean in the expression "soak the rich"?
- [Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/hear-pat-on-iowa-public-radio-9.html) - The language maven Patricia T. O'Conner will be on Talk of Iowa today from 10 to 11 AM Central time (11 to 12 Eastern).
- [Do puns change word history?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/wordplay.html) - Does wordplay influence etymology or vice versa?
- [Why “granary,” not “grainery”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/grain-granary-grainery.html) - Why is a grain storehouse called a "granary" instead of a "grainery"?
- [A ‘post-’ post](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/05/post.html) - Is the prefix “post-“ (as in "post-electon" and "postmodern") being used more now than in the past?
- [In the loss of your father](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/in-the-loss.html) - Which is correct in a sympathy card: "in" or "on" the loss of a relative?
- [Furbish or refurbish?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/furbish-refurbish.html) - Both "furbish" and "refurbish" can mean renovate. Although "furbish" used to be more popular, "refurbish" is far more common today.
- [Are you down on “up”?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/heat-up.html) - Is the "up" redundant in "heat up," and the "on" in "early on"?
- [A time for timeless verbs](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/timelesss-verbs.html) - When either an infinitive or a gerund will do.
- [On teens and teenagers](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/10/teen.html) - Which word came first: "teen" or "teenager"?
- [Check out, check-out, checkout?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/05/checkout.html) - Which is correct: check out, check-out, or checkout?
- [Crossing the bar](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/04/crossing-the-bar.html) - What does "across the bar" mean in the hymn “Brighten the Corner Where You Are”?
- [Uppity language](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/12/uppity-language.html) - Is "up" redundant in a phrase like "clean up"?
- [When the present is past](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/09/is-was.html) - When the principal verb is in the past, what is the tense of a subordinate verb that refers to the present or an eternal truth.?
- [Bone appétit](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/04/bone-appetit.html) - What is the origin of the proverb “the nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat”?
- [When bragging is ever so humble](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/04/humblebrag.html) - How a boast disguised as self-criticism became a "humblebrag."
- [The earwig in fact and fiction](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/02/earwig.html) - Did earwigs get their name because of the belief they crawl into people’s ears to lay their eggs?
- [Does your sweetheart stink?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/12/stink.html) - Was "you stink" ever a compliment?
- [A blown rose, by any other name](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/04/blown.html) - Why does the phrase “blown rose” refer to flowering?
- [Pots to cook in, pee in, melt in](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/07/pot.html) - The many uses of the word "pot" in English.
- [Leery of leers?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/09/leer-leery.html) - The innocent origins of "leery" and "leer."
- [He blued his pocket money](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/11/blue-blow.html) - The slang use of both “blow” and “blue” to mean squander.
- [Naughty, naughty](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/04/naughty-naughty.html) - Is the first decade of the 2000s the "aughts" or the "noughties"?
- [The many ways to say nothing](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/11/zero.html) - How the number "0," letter "O," word "oh," and "zero" came to mean nothing in English.
- [2001: A speech odyssey](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2018/11/speech-odyssey.html) - How to pronounce "1901" and other years that end in a number from 01 to 09.
- [Why foxes have fur, horses hair](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/04/fur-hair.html) - Why do we call the covering on some animals "hair" and on others "fur"?
- [Foreboding or forbidding?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/04/foreboding-forbidding.html) - Why it's hard to keep "foreboding" and "forbidding" straight.
- [A few kernels of truth](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/10/a-few-kernels-of-truth.html)
- [Does water stand or sit?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/04/standing-water.html) - What is the proper phrase for water that's not flowing: "standing water" or "sitting water"?
- [Hamlet in the closet](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/04/closet.html) - When etymology is in the closet.
- [Like father, like son](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/02/like-father-like-son.html) - The history of the expression "Like father, like son."
- [In the lap of the gods](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/03/in-the-lap-of-the-gods.html) - The ancient Greek origins of the expression "in the lap of the gods."
- [Blah blah blah, yada yada yada](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/03/blah-blah-yada-yada.html) - The history and use of "blah blah blah" and "yada yada yada."
- [A phony etymology](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/03/phony.html) - How a slang term for a ring gave English the word "phony."
- [Far and few between](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/03/far-and-few-between.html) - "Few and far between" or "far and few between"?
- [What’s for dessert?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/03/desert-dessert.html) - “Desert” in its various forms, not forgetting “dessert.”
- [Self denial](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/03/self-denial.html) - When to use "myself" in a sentence.
- [Our etymological chops](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/03/chops.html) - How did “chops” come to mean skill? Is the usage related to the “chop” you eat or the “chop” that cuts?
- [Horticultural doppelgängers](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/03/doppelganger.html) - Can “doppelgänger” refer to a lookalike plant as well as a lookalike person?
- [Dilly, dilly, come and be killed](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/03/dilly.html) - When "dilly" was a duck call and a name for a duck.
- [‘Play’ time](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/03/play.html) - Do you or "play" music "for" or "to" an audience?
- [Rogues’ galleries and mug books](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/03/rogues-gallery.html) - The felonious history of the expressions "rogues' gallery" and "mug book."
- [Was ‘pin money’ really for pins?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/03/pin-money.html) - How "pin money" evolved from a substantial to a trivial amount of money.
- [‘Jesus H. Christ,’ redux](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/02/jesus-h-christ-2.html) - Myths about the monogram IHS that's seen in Roman Catholic, Anglican, and other churches.
- [A wider view of 'video'](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/02/video.html) - Can the word "video" be used to describe a moving image on celluloid?
- [Why a ‘red herring’ is a false clue](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/02/red-herring.html) - How did the phrase "red herring" come to mean a false clue?
- [It takes two to quango](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/02/quango.html) - How "quango" has evolved since it was coined in the 1970s as an acronym for "quasi nongovernmental organization."
- [The first wordsmith in chief](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/02/george-washington.html) - George Washington's contributions to the English language.
- [When verb forms are the object](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/02/verb-forms.html) - Some verbs take a gerund as a direct object, some take an infinitive, and some take both.
- [Jenny Kiss'd Me](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/02/jenny-kissed-me-2.html) - A point of grammar in Leigh Hunt’s poem “Jenny Kiss'd Me.”
- [Jenny Kiss'd Me](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/07/jenny-kissed-me.html) - Why did Leigh Hunt take liberties with his grammar in the poem "Jenny Kiss'd Me"?
- [Can an outcome be foregone?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/02/foregone.html) - Can "foregone" modify nouns other than "conclusion"?
- [A multiplication bee with a sting](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/09/multiplication-bee.html)
- [A new 'Woe Is I' for our times](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/02/woe-is-i.html) - The new Preface to the fourth edition of Patricia T. O’Conner’s bestselling grammar and usage classic "Woe Is I," which was published this week.
- [Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/02/hear-pat-on-iowa-public-radio-8.html) - The language maven Patricia T. O'Conner will be on Talk of Iowa today to discuss the new, fourth edition of her bestselling grammar book "Woe Is I." 
- [Are you myth informed?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/05/are-you-myth-informed.html)
- [The raison d'être of raison d'être](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/02/raison-detre.html) - Is it OK to use "raison d’être" to mean merely a reason, rather than a reason for being?
- [Why early religions are ‘pagan’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/02/pagan.html) - How a "pagan" evolved from a rustic to a heathen.
- [We can’t help but change](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/08/cant-help-but.html) - Is there anything wrong with the expression "can't help but"?
- [The ‘H’ in ‘Jesus H. Christ’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/02/jesus-h-christ.html) - What is the origin of the "H" in the expletive or exclamation "Jesus H. Christ"?
- ['Enthralled to’ or 'in thrall to’?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/01/enthralled.html) - Is "enthralled to" a legitimate way of saying "in thrall to"?
- [The upper crust](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/01/upper-crust.html) - How did the phrase "upper crust" come to mean the highest social class?
- [A pretty little girl](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/01/pretty.html) - Is "a pretty little girl" rather little or pretty and little?
- [Is it forego ... or forgo?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/02/forego-forgo-2.html)
- [A foregone conclusion](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/01/forego-forgo.html) - "Forego" versus "forgo."
- [Why slap + stick = slapstick](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/01/slapstick.html) - Where does “slapstick” come from?
- [How tolerant is tolerance](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/01/tolerance-2.html) - The history of the word "tolerance."
- [Why ‘speedometer’ has an ‘o’](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/01/meter-ometer.html) - Why is there an "o" in the middle of the word "speedometer"?
- [Who, me?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/01/who-me.html) - Is Michelle Obama correct in her memoir "Becoming" when she refers to herself and her brother as "me and Craig"?
- [Latinx, Latino/a, Latin@](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/01/latinx.html) - The search for a gender-neutral or nonbinary term for someone of Latin American origin.
- [Is noon 12 a.m. or 12 p.m.?](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/noon.html) - On noon, midday, a.m., and p.m.
- [“Ditto,” a word with a past](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/03/ditto-a-word-with-a-past.html)
- [More "bone" mots](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/03/more-bone-mots.html)
- [What a shambles!](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/09/what-a-shambles.html)
- [Choices, choices](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/07/choices-choices.html)

## Pages

- [For our spin on English,](https://grammarphobia.com/) - Grammar, etymology, linguistics, usage, and more from the bestselling language writers Patricia T. O\'Conner and Stewart Kellerman
- [Language Links](https://grammarphobia.com/links-html)
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- [Language Myths](https://grammarphobia.com/grammar-html) - Myths about the English language.
- [Q&A](https://grammarphobia.com/qa)
- [Book Review: Speech Crimes](https://grammarphobia.com/book-review-speech-crimes) - Patricia T. O'Conner reviews two books about the battle between descriptivists and prescriptivists over the English language.
- [Soul session in Vietnam](https://grammarphobia.com/soul-session)
- [Origins of the Specious](https://grammarphobia.com/books-html/books_specious-html)
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- [Read Chapter 1 of Swan Song](https://grammarphobia.com/books-html/swan-song/swan-song-chapter)
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- [You Send Me](https://grammarphobia.com/books-html/you-send-me)
- [Woe Is I Jr.](https://grammarphobia.com/books-html/books_woe_jr-html)
- [Pat talks with WritersWrite.com](https://grammarphobia.com/interviews-html)
- [The Authors: Pat & Stewart](https://grammarphobia.com/authors-html)
- [For Raymond Carver, a Lifetime of Storytelling](https://grammarphobia.com/raymond-carver)
- [On Language: Welcome to the email combat zone](https://grammarphobia.com/on-language-email)
- [On Language: "Like"](https://grammarphobia.com/on-language-like)
- [Write Us](https://grammarphobia.com/ask-html)
- [On Language: All-Purpose Pronoun](https://grammarphobia.com/on-language-pronoun)
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## Tags

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- [Sex](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/tag/sex)
- [Gender](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/tag/gender)
- [Easter](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/tag/easter)
- [Passover](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/tag/passover)
- [Football](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/tag/football)
- [dogs](https://grammarphobia.com/blog/tag/dogs)