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Pam Nelson: The Grammar Guide

 

Archive for December 2009

Number of comments in parentheses

21: Book review: "I Laid an Egg on Aunt Ruth's Head"

Joel Schnoor, who lives in Apex, sent me a copy of his book, "I Laid an Egg on Aunt Ruth’s Head." (Author House, 2009) Here is how he describes the book: "The book contains 43 short stories featuring a tough, lovable Aunt Ruth character who struggles with proper English usage. Her nauseating nephew helps her get on the right track. Some stories are heavy on the grammar and some are light, but they all are intended to be funny and to leave the audience chuckling." Indeed, the stories are humorous in a gentle and G-rated way, and they do[.....]

14: Every time a cliche rings, a copy editor gets her wings

An editor urged copy editors at The News & Observer to avoid seasonal cliches such as "’Tis the season" and "Deck the halls." I am all in favor of writers coming up with interesting new turns of phrase, but sometimes one man’s cliche is another man’s cultural lifebuoy. John McIntyre’s list is the source for my colleague’s self-declared "war on Christmas." This article was originally posted by the Raleigh News & Observer, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Co.; is posted here to provide continuity; and is copyright © 2011 The News & Observer Publishing Company, which reserves the right[.....]

12: A phrase that might sound dirty but isn't

One copy editor duty is to keep vulgar words and phrases out of the newspaper — or at least, to alert a decision-making editor about an off-color reference, even in a direct quote.Last week, I edited a story that included a quote with the phrase "balls to the wall." I thought that reference that might not be proper for the newspaper. I looked it up.It turns out that "balls to the wall," which means an all-out, full-speed-ahead effort, does not have anything to do with male anatomy. Instead, it comes from pilots, according to several sources.From WordOrigins.org. "The phrase[.....]