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SAY (n.): one’s opinion in a matter under discussion
There are different categories of words in the American English language. Some are formal, archaic, casual, slang, or even crude. It bothers me when the use of words crosses categories. It is like...
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RAKED: inclining from the vertical or horizontal
The article I read referred to an auditorium filled with raked seating. Was it typographical error? Or was I missing something? To me, the term raked refers to my lawn after the lawn people have...
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ALL RIGHT: just fine, okay
“During an Orlando Magic game against the visiting Knicks, cheerleader Jamie Woode fell on her head on the court while attempting a trick, and had to be taken to a local hospital. The incident caused...
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VASE: Is it [veys] or [vahz] ?
It isn’t really the serious academic debate one might expect it to be. It’s all about the pronunciation of the word VASE. I’m sure you have been a part of the conversation more than once. Maybe...
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ORGANIC: all elements of a good literary work are interdependent upon each...
If you spotted the word organic and assumed that this blog was going to be about fresh carrots or whole milk, you have the wrong blog…at least for today. Instead, I want to explore the meaning of...
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OKAY: everything’s just fine
I never think about the word okay. I just use it regularly without much thought. Garner’s Modern American Usage says the term is a casualism, meaning that it’s not really an accepted word in good...
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HISTORICAL/HISTORIC: What’s the difference?
Well, it took some digging, but it turns out that there is a segment of the wordsmith population that would agree that there is no difference between historical and historic. Several resources make...
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BOOK IT: to depart quickly
Just to prove that American English is alive and growing, let’s look at a term today that just arrived on the scene in the 70’s. Book it is characterized in the dictionaries as a “student term,”...
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SUPRA: refers to something written above (in a note, letter, article, etc.)
Latin words are used regularly in the American English language as a reference to a concept that is best expressed in Latin. From such common terms as etcetera (etc.) to modus operendi (m.o.) we...
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PIDGIN: any simplified or broken form of a language, especially when used for...
You may have heard about Pidgin English, but you may not realize that there are any number of “mixed” languages which fall under the category known as Pidgin. The definition of the word Pidgin which...
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