Category Archives: Language

Less vs. fewer

Posted on April 6, 2004 by nickromney

Via Mark Pilgrim, another site covering misused expressions: Less refers to quantity, fewer to number. “His troubles are less than mine” means “His troubles are not so great as mine.” “His troubles are fewer than mine” means “His troubles are … Continue reading →

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100 Most Often Mispronounced Words

Posted on March 25, 2004 by nickromney

yourDictionary.com has an article on 100 Most Often Mispronounced Words, which is from an American perspective, but interesting to see some of the back-formations (e.g. interpretate for interpret), metathesis (place-switching of sounds e.g. revelant for relevant)

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Ordering food in America

Posted on March 25, 2004 by nickromney

Dunstan’s tale about being a Brit ordering food in the States made me smile a great deal. Seemingly a study was done about people believing the printed word (Holiday Inn used to have problems with guests staying past check-out time, … Continue reading →

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250 words a day

Posted on March 19, 2004 by nickromney

During the BBC’s Big Read series, Phil Jupitus commented on the fact that Winnie the Pooh is only 15,000 words long. I found on Leon Fletcher’s page, “How Long”, that Hemingway wrote 2,000 words a day, and Robinson Jeffers just … Continue reading →

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Grammar Führer

Posted on March 11, 2004 by nickromney

Phew! That’s a relief. I read Eric Meyer’s thoughts on Textual Healing, in which he was described as a grammar “Fuhrer” (sic). So, the gauntlet was thrown down, the stakes were high, and I headed over to Quizilla’s grammar quiz. … Continue reading →

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Phrase Finder

Posted on March 9, 2004 by nickromney

From “Daisy Roots” to “Vorsprung durch Technik”, a very useful site reminiscent of Brewer’s Phrase and Fable: Meanings and Origins of Phrases, sayings, cliches and quotes I discovered this whilst browsing Roger Johansson’s site – 456 Berea Street