Wednesday Words
Town Names: Welcome to Hell
In a former post, I talked about the importance of our own names. But today, I want to highlight fascinating names of towns around the good ol’ U.S.A. While only two people are typically involved in naming a child, I…
Wednesday Words: What is Lorem Ipsum?
While looking through templates for my blog, I read the words Lorem Ipsum perhaps 4,622 times – or at least it felt like it. Have you seen them? What is Lorem Ipsum? Well, it’s dummy, or placeholder, text historically used…
Wednesday Words: Euphemistically Speaking
When someone dies, we often say something like, “We lost Uncle Eddie.” In my quirky little mind, I always think, Lost? Like our car keys, an umbrella, or what? If you lose something, you look for it. But we aren’t…
Wednesday Words: Rock Band Names
If you want to have a lot of fun with words, learn to play a musical instrument, form a band, and then name it! One of the interview questions I want asked of bands is how they chose their name.…
Prickly Pronunciations
These words all rhyme: New Cue Lieu Woo Do So how do you spell the “oo” sound in English? Um, it depends. The English language represents a mixing of cultures because it has borrowed words from many other tongues and…
Word Weaver, Sandra Boynton
Sandra Boynton with her chickens If you’ve never heard of Sandra Boynton, you are missing out. Most parents have either seen Boynton’s children books or heard her CDs. She has also designed numerous greeting cards. What I love most, though,…
Wednesday Words: Tongue Twisters
You had to know eventually I would get around to mentioning the TONGUE TWISTER! My father was a speech and preaching double-major in college, and apparently one of his professors used tongue twisters to help students enunciate better. My dad…
Wednesday Words: What’s Your Pet Peeve?
No, not that! Anything but THAT! What is your greatest pet peeve in common language usage? I polled some friends and here are a few I heard: Confusing words like your and you’re; to, too, and two; idea and ideal…
What’s Your Handle? I Mean, Twitter Username?
So you finally decide to jump into the deep end of social media and sign up for a Twitter account! And then you are asked what your username will be? Hmmm. There are so many possibilities! Should you use your actual name – or…
Speaking the Queen’s English (Or At Least Her Servant’s Bloody English)
“England and America are two countries separated by a common language.” George Bernard Shaw If you’ve watched BBC comedies or attempted to look for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in a British bookstore, you quickly discover that there are…