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You'll get fun and friendly doses of writing advice in three short chunks: a Quick and Dirty Tip, a meaty middle, and a final tidbit. Grammar Girl covers everything from punctuation and gram...
1183. This week, we talk to Anna Jo Bratton about leading the committee that decides the rules for the "journalism bible." We look at how th...
1182. This week, we solve the mystery of the colon: when do you actually need to capitalize the next word? We compare AP, Chicago, and MLA s...
1181. This week, we talk to Sarah L. Kaufman about verbs. We look at why English is a "manner verb" superpower and why babies often learn pr...
1180. Why does "Ye Olde Shoppe" look old-fashioned? This week, we look at the vanished letters of English — thorn, eth, and yogh — and at wh...
1179. This week, we talk to Valerie Fridland, a linguist and professor who grew up in Memphis surrounded by Southern accents and now researc...
1178. Do you cringe when someone says "Hopefully, he'll pass the test"? This week, we look at why "hopefully" as a sentence adverb has been...
1177. This week, we look at behind-the-scenes of being a curator at Harvard's Houghton Library with John Overholt. We look at why 18th-centu...
1176. This week, we look at mind-bending words, including "semordnilap" (which spells "palindromes" backwards), "pentasyllabic" (which has f...
1175. In this bonus segment, which originally aired last October for Grammarpaloozians, we look at how AI is disrupting the freelance writin...
1174. This week, we look at why we pronounce "Iran" and "Iraq" differently and what those pronunciations reveal about our political beliefs....
1173. This week, we talk to former Merriam-Webster editor Kory Stamper to discuss her new book, "True Color." We look at the obsessive, "dic...
1172. This week, we look at "toponyms" — words named after places — and you'll discover the hidden place names in denim, jeans, sherry, cant...
1171. In the bonus segment that aired for Grammarpaloozians in November, we look at the early history of crossword puzzles and their surpris...
1170. This week, we look at "feghoots," the pun-based stories popularized by writers like Isaac Asimov, and why they are designed to make yo...
1169. In this bonus segment, originally released in November, we look at Peter Sokolowski's "Tale of Two Dictionaries," tracing the word "di...
1168. This week, we look at the word "leprechaun" and its surprisingly wild origin story involving shoemaking, ancient Rome, and wolf-men. T...
1167. In this bonus segment that originally ran for Grammarpaloozians last October, we look at the surprising true origins of words that oft...
1166. This week, we look the grammar of the Academy Awards and how to avoid an "illogical plot twist" in your sentences. Then, we look at co...
1165. Today, we talk with Joan Houston Hall to look at the monumental task of documenting how Americans speak. We look at the Dictionary of...
1164. This week, we look at the origin of the octothorpe — also known as the pound sign or hashtag — and why it has so many different names....
1163. This week, we look at what it’s like to be a "language detective" with Sali Tagliamonte and how she used her own teenagers as a resear...
1162. This week, we look at why some names just "feel right" while others don't and how vowels like "ee" create associations with smallness...
1161. Today, we look at the history of writing in all-uppercase letters. Tech historian Glenn Fleishman explains how capitals transitioned f...
1160. This week, we look at why "mogul" means both a ski bump and a powerful person. Then, we tackle when to use "awhile" versus "a while,"...
1159. This week, we look at "civic clarity" with writing instructor Roy Peter Clark in a newly edited version of our 2020 conversation. We l...
1158. This week, we go full Winter Olympics, tracing the origin of "ski," "luge," "toboggan," and more. Then, we look at why we say "Celsius...
1157. This week, we look at AI em dashes with Sean Goedecke, software engineer for GitHub. We talk about why artificial intelligence models...
1156. This week, we look at the pronunciation chaos surrounding "forte" and "pianoforte," from the French fencing term meaning "strong point...
1155. This week, we look at whether it’s actually true that Inuit languages have hundreds of words for snow with Dr. Charles Kemp. We look a...
1154. This week, we look at "headless" nouns like "scarecrow," "pickpocket," and "breakfast." We look at why these "cutthroat compounds" bre...
1153. This week, we look at the high-stakes world of Scrabble tournaments with John Chew, head of the North American Scrabble Players Associ...
1152. This week, we look at what a baker's dozen is and why it's actually 13. We also look at other "dozen" phrases, like "devil's dozen" an...
1151. This week, we look at the deep history of words with Doug Harper, creator of Etymonline. We look at the "gravitational" link between d...
1150. This week, we look at "impact" as a verb and why it's a pet peeve for so many editors and readers. Then, we look at the linguistic shi...
1149. This week, we look at the life and legacy of Samuel Johnson, the man behind the 1755 Dictionary of the English Language. We talk with...
1148. This week, we look at penny idioms that are still "legal tender" in our language even as the U.S. penny is retired. We look at the his...
1147. In this bonus segment that originally ran in October, we look at the fascinating history of the "new letters" of the alphabet — V, W,...
1146. This week, we look at the history of Braille, from the tragic accident that inspired Louis Braille's six-dot system to the "War of the...
1145. In this bonus segment from October, I talk with Ben Zimmer about "hella" and how even yearbook messages can be digitized to help prese...
1144. This week, we look at the origin of the letter X as the variable for the unknown in algebra. Then, we look at the phrase "how come," e...
1143. This week, we look at the 2025 words of the year with Jess Zafarris and Danny Hieber. We look at viral slang like "six seven" and cult...
1142. This week, we look at the history of the phrase "pride and prejudice," which was used frequently before Jane Austen’s 1813 novel. Then...
1141. We look at the controversy that caught Stefan Fatsis by surprise when he defined the word "sheeple" for Merriam-Webster, leading to pu...
1140. This week, we look at the difference between the modern phrase "hamster wheel" and the older "rat race," and why the former gained pop...
1139. In this bonus discussion with Martha Barnette back in March, we look at Martha's pivotal twelve-year journey with a polyglot tutor who...
This week, in honor of National Cookie Day, we look at the vocabulary split between British and American English, including the differences...
In this bonus conversation with Rob Drummond from back in June, he and I get into the fascinating concept of "languaging" — the idea that sp...
1136. This week, we go full Thanksgiving, talking about the origin of butter knives, forks, and more. You'll love all the tidbits you can sh...
1135. This week, we talk with Peter Sokolowski, editor at large at Merriam-Webster, about the new print 12th Collegiate Dictionary. We look...
1134. This week, we look at the poetic power of personification (the language quirk that gives human traits to nonhuman things) and why styl...