I went into today full of energy, thinking it was going to be "finished what you've started" day. Now that I'm a tiny bit more through one project, I remember how I got here.

You have to be naturally curious to be a science writer, so I wasn't surprised the writers at "Science" tested AI to see what it could do for them. But I was surprised by the duration and breadth of the test. — They chose ~ one article a week for a whole year for AI to summarize, and they […]

A must-listen to episode of the @grammargirl AI Sidequest podcast. Mignon chats with Josh Bernoff about a survey he and collaborators conducted via responses from almost 1,500 writers and editors about their views on AI and what they're actually using it for. Apple Podcasts […]

Remember how @bgzimmer and I talked about the origin of "Big Easy" in last week's podcast? The show was all about finding earlier uses of words. Well, it happened again! Ben emailed yesterday to say Barry Popik found even earlier uses of "Big Easy" from 1952. Antedating seems like a hobby a […]

U.S. Friends: Vote today. Learn to write better on Nov. 18. How? By joining my Essential Guide to AP Style webinar — attending should be the easiest decision you make this year! We'll learn about the latest AP Stylebook updates and make sure your writing doesn't distract your readers from your […]

I just got tricked by Gatorade. 🤢 I grabbed the only green version from the shelf, thinking it would be the original flavor, and when I got home, it was cucumber-lime. Who wants CUCUMBER? That was worse than biting into a raisin cookie thinking it was chocolate chip.

Is there anyone with access to a newspaper archive or maybe the Washington Post archive who could look something up for me? I want to see this quotation from the December 25, 1904 Washington Post: “Now, that’s enough,” interposed Maud(e), “let’s skidoo.” And they skidooed with smiles and […]

I just made an extra donation to my local food bank. It's going to be a rough time for a lot of people who suddenly aren't getting SNAP benefits, and nobody should go hungry. If you're able to help, please do.

Are you watching the World Series tonight? Well, here's a fun fact to share with your fellow fans: "jazz" started as a BASEBALL term! In this week's podcast, @bgzimmer explained how "jazz" was baseball slang from 1912. Players on the West Coast were talking about "jazz curves" and telling each […]

🎃 TREAT YOURSELF! 🎃 Forget tricks — this Halloween, give yourself the treat of better writing. On November 18, I’m hosting a live AP Style webinar packed with the latest updates, insider tips, and answers to your most pressing questions! You’ll receive: ✨ The full presentation deck ✨ Access […]

It feels early for word-of-the-year announcements, but Dictionary dot com is out of the gate with teen slang "67" (pronounced six-seven). Runners-up: * agentic * aura farming * broligarchy * clanker * Gen Z stare * kiss cam * overtourism * tariff * tradwife * and the 🧨 emoji to mean "Taylor […]

This week, I talked with the always delightful @bgzimmer about the linguistic detective work of antedating words — finding earlier usages than those published in dictionaries. Learn about the surprising origins of "Ms.," "scallywag," and the baseball history of […] [Original post on zirk.us]

I had a lot of fun writing this week's segment about ghost words (ghost kitchen, ghost train, ghost in the machine, etc.). And you can have a lot of fun telling your friends about them at Halloween parties! 🎃 Watch: https://youtu.be/swPWK2hrRB4 Listen: https://pod.link/173429229 Read […]

Shoutout to all the people who interact on Mastodon! I didn't get to all your questions in my interview with Peter this morning, but I got to a lot of them, and because people here engage quicker and at such a higher rate than my followers elsewhere, the episode will be a steady stream of […]

I'm interviewing Peter Sokolowski in a couple of hours about the new (print!) 12th edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. What do you want to know?

I’ve been to a lot of protests in Reno, and this is far bigger than anything I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen “Believe Square” full plus the bridge and the street beyond it filled with people.

Danny Bate is full of fascinating alphabet facts from his book "Why Q Needs U" in this week's Grammar Girl podcast! Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6r9mTl48f0 Read: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/danny-bate/transcript Listen: pod.link/173429229 #grammargirl #podcast

Listen to my chat with Danny Bate and dazzle your friends with alphabet trivia this weekend. :) Here's a teaser: The word "alphabet" literally means "ox house." It comes from the ancient letter names — "alp" (ox) and "bet" (house) — that come from the hieroglyphs […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Jane Friedman and I talked about the Anthropic book settlement a few days ago. She explained why you need to check the new settlement database and not rely on the old Atlantic database, and she explained why people outside the US are generally getting screwed and why authors in the U.S. have to […]

Think you know AP style? Join me Nov. 18 to put your skills to the test with live quizzes. Plus, we'll have a Q&A at the end. Use the code MACMIL for $50 off. https://www.ragan.com/raganstore/grammar-girls-guide-to-beginner-and-intermediate-ap-style/

If you love dictionaries, you'll love my chat this week with Stefan Fatsis about his new book "Unabridged." He spent years at Merriam-Webster learning how everything works, even writing definitions that made it into the dictionary. We talked about all kinds of […] [Original post on zirk.us]

I love Old English compounds. From today's @OEWordhord sand-land, n.n: the sea-shore. (SAWND-LAWND / ˈsand-ˌland)

Jess Zafarris explains how the name Pakistan was created by Muslim students at Cambridge in the 1930s who combined the names of the regions that ended up forming the country. Listen to the whole interview →https://pod.link/173429229 Get the book, "Useless […] [Original post on zirk.us]

You'll probably be as surprised as I was to learn that "outrage" doesn't actually come from "out" + "rage." Jess Zafarris explains what the heck is going on! If you find this as fascinating as I do, listen to the whole interview and get her new book, "Useless […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Dazzle your friends this weekend with fabulous tidbits from Jess Zafarris! This week, we ran through some of our favorite stories from her new book, "Useless Etymology." — “Debunk” comes from Buncombe County in North Carolina, where a politician gave a famously […] [Original post on zirk.us]

I'm hearing the judge just approved the Anthropic copyright settlement, which means the $1.5 billion payout is likely back on. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/25/judge-anthropic-case-preliminary-ok-to-1point5b-settlement-with-authors.html A detail from Publishers […] [Original post on zirk.us]

This week, I talk with illustrator and cartoonist K. Woodman Maynard about her new graphic novel adaptation of "Tuck Everlasting." She shares how she adapted this beloved book, including how she used visual elements like speech bubbles, color, and panel frames to […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Top story in the Reno Gazette-Journal this morning. I'm glad I'm in California now, but I worry for my friends and family in NV. It's all so stupid. https://www.rgj.com/story/news/health/2025/09/04/cvs-walgreens-block-covid-vaccine-appointments-in-nevada/85962833007/

Have you heard the Vonnegut quote about not using semicolons? That using one does nothing but show you've been to college? That statement has always bugged me, so I looked into it and found a lot more in the article where it appears. For example, he used a […] [Original post on zirk.us]

I'm going to go on a rant here, so please bear with me ... Yesterday, I tried to got a COVID shot and couldn't. I called four pharmacies and the Health Department and nobody has it. I knew it's already a "supplies are limited" situation in the U.S., so I wasn't surprised, but I was upset, so I […]

A couple of days ago I saw something go by my feed along the lines that the best definition of using a chatbot is trying to get the LLM to write what you already know the answer should be. I didn't save it, but now I want it and can't find it. Does that ring any bells for anyone? Can you point […]

If you've been putting off starting a newsletter (or have one and want to up your game), you'll love this week's episode because it is PACKED with author newsletter tips from the wonderful @janefriedman.com! Watch: https://youtu.be/ZLDR6tiA2H8 Listen […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Hey! June Casagrande quoted me in her LA Times piece about the "chatGPT hyphen" — in other words, the marvelous em dash, which I will continue to use along with an occasional emoji and emoticon. :) […]

My bush-sized romaine plants have bolted. I actually had to — gasp — BUY lettuce last week. But I still have a few small assorted greens to add to my salads. Left to right: baby kale, mint, dock, parsley. 🥬 #gardening #winteriscoming

English doesn’t have a handy word for “how manyth” — but Dutch and a bunch of other languages do. In Dutch you can ask, “How manyth time were you late this week?” and the answer can be simply “the third.” In this week’s #GrammarGirl episode, translator Heddwen […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Wow, Blue Apron was a huge podcast advertiser for years. I hope this strategy change means they buy a slew of ads again to get the message out. 😀 nomnom https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Food/blue-aprons-relaunch-subscription-new-menus/story?id=124143666

This week, we look at double possessives, such as "a friend of Mignon's" and whether they are grammatically correct. Then, we look at words that do double duty, including "scuttlebutt" and "beetle." Watch: https://youtu.be/V--ySsNyMaU Listen […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Emily and Kyle are amazing librarians who host the Butter No Parsnips and kindly had me on to talk about catachresis, which I had never heard of before. I learned a lot and also laughed my head off — they're a blast. Check it out! https://pod.link/1641358361

Love waking up to see that I have accidentally sent out the newsletter I worked on all weekend with part of it in 162 point font. LOVE IT <insert all the distressed emoji>

I love learning about new words! And Fiona McPherson of the Oxford English Dictionary had all kinds of delightful information about new words and words from World English in our recent conversation. Here she explains what "Rolex" has to do with eggs. Check out the […] [Original post on zirk.us]

This week, we look at how the pronouns you use can reveal your psychological state — for example, how using "I" versus "we" can signal how you are coping with a breakup or a tragic event. Then, we look at where our alphabet started, from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs […] [Original post on zirk.us]

My new favorite word is "ruelle," and I learned it from Martha Barnette, author of the fabulous new book "Friends with Words." Check out our interview in the Grammar Girl podcast to learn more words you can drop into conversations to delight your friends! Watch […] [Original post on zirk.us]

I was just doing some random reading and learned that the artwork we see for shows on Netflix is personalized by the algorithm! 🤯 https://gibsonbiddle.medium.com/a-brief-history-of-netflix-personalization-1f2debf010a1

Ritalin was named after a woman named Rita (no joke!). I learned this from Martha Barnette in the latest Grammar Girl podcast about her new book "Friends with Words." :) Check it out! Watch: https://youtu.be/F0jQwgW2nnw Read […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Why do we talk about heat WAVES but cold SNAPS? This week, we look at the history behind these common weather phrases and other quirky idioms like "raining cats and dogs" and "under the weather." Then, we look at what kind of reading is best for improving your […] [Original post on zirk.us]

I learned the most amazing fact from Anne Greene's new book "Writing Science in Plain English" — the human retina can only process about 7 letters at a time. That means you have to focus on longer words twice before you can process them. It's another good reason to […] [Original post on zirk.us]

I learned about the new discourse marker "no because" from Adam Aleksic (aka the TikToker Etymology Nerd). His new book "Algopeak" is a fascinating look at the intersection between language change and social media algorithms. I loved it, and I think you will too. Watch for the episode tomorrow!

🥤What do you call a fizzy drink: soda, pop, or coke? In this week's podcast, we look at why this drink has different names in different parts of the country. It goes all the way back to the 1800s when carbonated water was considered a health drink, which is why it […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Apparently, at least one person earns money as a "professional vows writer." 😵‍💫 From: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/12/fashion/weddings/ai-wedding-planning.html

Heading out? Listen on the go to amaze your friends with emoji trivia! Today, @shadychars.mastodon.social, author of "Face with Tears of Joy," talks about what emoji are doing in our messages. We covered: — The long history of emoji — Why Unicode approves every […] [Original post on zirk.us]