Tag: Oxford English Dictionary
I Just Can’t Relate: February Phraseology Fix
One of the sentences I dread most when reading my students’ papers: “This character is very relatable.” Can anyone tell me what this actually means?
And the winner is…
Here in my little corner of northeastern New Jersey (the most densely populated area of the nation’s most densely populated state), I guess I live a sheltered life. This is the only explanation I can conjure for having never heard of the newly-proclaimed Oxford 2014 Word of the Year: “vape.” To add to my embarrassment, I have only ever heard of one of the … Read More And the winner is…
“To prom,” or “to the prom”—that is the question.
When I was in high school, no one I knew went “to prom”; we all went “to the prom.” It’s a subtle difference, but to me, it’s a big deal. Until a few years ago, I never heard of anyone going “to prom.” But then, before class started a few times around 2009 or so, I heard some of my students talking about when … Read More “To prom,” or “to the prom”—that is the question.
The Graceful Grammarian 