Are you ever confused about "awhile" versus "a while"? Here's how I remember the difference: "A while" (two words) is a noun phrase, so test whether you can use a different noun: ✅ It's been A WHILE = It's been A YEAR "Awhile" (one word) is an adverb, so test […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Do media moguls have anything to do with ski moguls? Nope, at least not etymologically! SKI BUMPS: From German/Norwegian for "mound." Skiers create them as they carve turns. POWERFUL PEOPLE: From "the Great Mogul" rulers of the Mughal Empire (1526). It eventually […] [Original post on zirk.us]

I've been thinking a lot about an interview I did back in 2020 with Roy Peter Clark about the importance of "civic clarity." I think it's more important now than ever, so I re-edited the piece this week. I hope you'll listen. YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/eS7bobT1XnM READ […]

The Winter Olympics are underway, and if you listen closely, you'll hear an avalanche of interesting words! → "Bobsled" got its name from riders "bobbing" back and forth. → "Athlete" comes from the same Greek root that gives us "decathlon" and "biathlon." Check out the podcast for fun details […]

Did you know ChatGPT's earlier versions barely used em dashes at all? This week, I talked with Sean Goedecke, a software engineer who's looked at *why* AI models went em-dash wild. The shift may have happened when companies started digitizing public domain books […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Listeners recently told me about an important "dozens" phrase: "the dozens," an African American game where two people trade increasingly inventive insults, usually in front of an audience. The origin of "the dozens" is surprisingly hard to find. There's the slave […] [Original post on zirk.us]

THE SLOPPER BOWL! What wonderful wordplay. I wish this would have come out a day sooner because I was on WOSU just yesterday talking about the word "slop" and how one thing that makes it special is the way people play with it to make other words like "slopaganda." […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Ever confidently use a word your whole life, only to discover you might be wrong — or that half the people don't believe you? F-O-R-T-E is TWO different words! One from French (your strong point), one from Italian (loud in music). But Americans mixed up the […] [Original post on zirk.us]

I'm going to be on All Sides with AmyJuravich on WOSU in Ohio tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern talking about familects, misheard song lyrics, and eggcorns like "windshield factor" for "windchill factor." Get your story ready and call in! https://www.wosu.org/show/all-sides 614-292-8513

I'm ASTONISHED by how many people are saying they write and ellipsis with no space on the left and a space on the right! I feel like I've never seen it before the last 6 months, but clearly, I'm mistaken. I will definitely defend your right to have a "house style," […] [Original post on zirk.us]

What's with people writing ellipses like this lately... with a space on only one side? I suspect it's an AI thing because I've never seen it before, and suddenly, it's everywhere — so much so that I doubted myself and just checked AP & Chicago. But nope, they still do a space on both sides.

Did you know there's an Inuktitut word for "noisy walking on hard snow"? And a Yup'ik word for "powdery snow that enters through cracks in a house"? This week, I talked with Dr. Charles Kemp about using big data to answer the big question "Do the Inuit really have […] [Original post on zirk.us]

You may not have noticed, but "scarecrow" is a grammatical outlaw — it describes what the object does, not what it is. Linguists call these "exocentric compounds." "Pickpocket" isn't a pocket. "Cutthroat" isn't a throat. And these words have a surprisingly dark […] [Original post on zirk.us]

I needed some books this morning, so I bought them from Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis. You could too! Just pick them as your bookstore at https://bookshop.org or buy directly from their website: https://moonpalacebooks.com/

The plurals of words that end in "o" are weird. Why is it "tomatoes" but "photos"? "Potatoes" but "pianos"? I always thought there must be a rule, but there are SO MANY exceptions! The guideline is to add "-es" after a consonant + "o" and "-s" after a vowel + "o." […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Have you ever wondered why "baker's dozen" means 13 instead of 12? It's not because bakers are generous — it comes from medieval bakers trying to avoid punishment! Bakers who sold underweight bread could face fines, flogging, and even the pillory. There's also a […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Why does grave mean both “serious” and “a hole in the ground”? Is news really just “new things”? And can AI be trusted with word history? Today, I talk with Doug Harper from one of my favorite resources — Etymonline — about word origins and how he built the site […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Is "impact" really a bad verb? And why did "empathy" quietly edge out "sympathy," except when someone dies? In this week’s Grammar Girl, I dig into the history, the data, and the emotional nuance behind these two everyday language debates. WATCH […] [Original post on zirk.us]

I know there's a lot going on, but if you need a mental health break, this morning I have an interview with one of my favorite Mastodonians: In addition to posting delightful items here, @overholt curates the Samuel Johnson collection at Harvard's Houghton library […] [Original post on zirk.us]

If you're traveling this weekend, download this interview with @bgzimmer to listen to on your trip! He has DELIGHTFUL stories about: — The origin of "hella" — Run DMC and "drop" — 1960s slang from cots in military barracks — Stephen Colbert & "truthiness" I promise […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Well, this was an exciting thing to wake up to! I'm on a list of the best podcasts from women over 50 — alongside amazing women like Amy Poehler, Katie Couric, Michelle Obama, Kara Swisher, Gretchen Rubin, Mel Robbins, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and more! I'm also […] [Original post on zirk.us]

It's word-of-the-year season! This week, I got together with Jess Zafarris and Danny Hieber to talk about all the 2025 picks. Some favorites: — Six seven (Danny made a spirited defense.) — Rage bait (Will knowing the term helps people recognize it and calm down?) — […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Grammarpaloozians on Patreon and Subtext: Don't miss today's mini-crossword that goes with yesterday's podcast! To join and get crosswords, ad-free podcasts, and fun tidbits, use these links for one month free at Patreon: — Order of the Aardvark ($5/month level) […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Check out Samuel Johnson's handwriting on this digitized piece from Houghton Library. It's swooshier than I would have expected! https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/ids:425326212?buttons=y

Have you noticed how many ads are stretching grammar lately? "Spread the happy," "Let's movie," "It feels good to Geico"? @Byagoda tracked down 60+ examples of ads using anthimeria — words shifting to different parts of speech. These could be a fun way to teach […] [Original post on zirk.us]

This email I got from Simon & Schuster yesterday feels like acknowledgement of a turning point for podcasts. I used to have to explain what podcasts are to people. I haven't had to do that for a while, but still ... a publisher using love of podcasts to try to lure […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Martha Barnette's book "Friends With Words" is packed with tidbits for word lovers, and in today's podcast we dig into some of my favorites: Why South Carolinians paint porches "haint blue" (to ward off ghosts), what a "quidnunc" is (a nosy neighbor), and the oddly […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Wow, I will pass 50K YouTube subscribers today! 😱 🎉 If you want to be among them, you can find me here: https:youtube.com/grammargirl I post quite a few Shorts there that I don't post anywhere else. (Why you might ask ... it's a workflow + perception thing. My […] [Original post on zirk.us]

If you have 45 seconds, could you listen to this audio and let me know which of the three clips you think sounds best? (First, second, or third? They're each about 15 seconds.) I'm fiddling with my audio editing, and I've listened to them so many times I've lost all perspective.

Did you know people who stammer can often sing without any difficulty? Or that bilingual friends might switch to English when they're being funny but use their native language when discussing politics? In today's episode, I talked with Rob Drummond, author of […] [Original post on zirk.us]

After today's show, you'll be the most interesting guest at dinner with *fascinating* tidbits about the history of tableware. For example, the fork was originally viewed as sinful, but then pasta got involved. 😈 And the butter knife comes from a manners scandal […] [Original post on zirk.us]

Merriam-Webster just released the first new print edition of its Collegiate Dictionary in 22 years — and it weighs five pounds! So of course, I had questions. :) In today's podcast, I talk with Peter Sokolowski about why print still matters. Watch […] [Original post on zirk.us]

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’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 […]