You Can’t Censure a Censor for Doing His Job
Three words that are often confused, and that have little to do with each other: censor, censure, sensor, and censer. Let’s get the censer out of the way first, as it bears no conceivable relation to the other two, except in approximate pronunciation. A censer (/SEHN sur/) is an incense burner that can be swung […]
People, Please! Use Your Dictionary!
Or, if not your actual, hardback, unabridged, at least type things into dictionary.com before you post a spelling that makes you look like a sloppy, uneducated wanna-be writer. In flipping through blog titles this morning — just titles, mind you — I came across at least a dozen misspellings. Most of these might have simply […]
Keep Your Mitts Off My …
Mettle…Metal…Meddle…Medal? This is where poor pronunciation gets us … pure confusion. These four words are so often mispronounced (well, okay, pronounced sloppily) that their misuse in writing is almost as certain as death and taxes. So here’s the easy way to remember how to use them: Metal (/meh-tuhl /) is a noun meaning a substance […]
Help Stamp Out Apostrophe Abuse!
Never use the apostrophe (that’s the little mark like this ‘ ) to make words plural. It’s wrong; it’s annoying, and it makes your writing look amateurish. The plural of apple is not apple’s—it’s apples! When you see ‘s at the end of a word, you should automatically think one of two things: possession or […]