Limericks: There Once Was a Blogger from Texas
It’s another Amaze-ing Words Wednesday with a fun with language post! Who doesn’t love a good limerick? Leprechauns in the City of Limerick, Ireland Limericks are five-lined poems with the aabba rhyme scheme in which the 1st, 2nd, and 5th lines…
Can I Make Up a Word?
“I speak of the pompatus of love.” Welcome to Amaze-ing Words Wednesday! There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who believe that Steve Miller is super-cool for making up a word -“pompatus” [of love] – and those…
A Lesson with Miss Pronunciation
It’s time for AMAZE-ing Words Wednesday! Today’s word lesson will be taught by renowned language arts instructor, Miss Pronunciation. Miss Pronunciation will present the incorrect and correct ways of articulating some commonly mispronounced words in the English language. Without further…
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…
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: 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…