Copy editors are often accused of being borderline neurotic about mistakes. We wake up in the middle of our sleep… Read more »
Posts By: Pam Nelson
FANBOYS and commas
It’s funny what an odd comma will set off. I saw a comma after a coordinating conjunction on the front… Read more »
Decider, divider, uniter
President Bush’s statement that he is the “decider” has received a great deal of play. I thought of his assertion… Read more »
Careening and careering
Writers have used the word careen for years to describe something that is moving fast and recklessly. For years, some… Read more »
Donuts at the drive-thru?
English spelling is weird, I know, but I will keep changing these words to their acceptable spellings. doughnuts and drive-through… Read more »
Beat that not-quite-dead horse
Maybe baby boomers can identify with this simile: I feel like an old 45 of the Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar” with… Read more »
Prepositions at the end
Some colleagues asked me how I feel about sentences that end with prepositions. The truth is, as I told them,… Read more »
Why cool is still cool
A few months ago, we published a wire service story about why the slang word cool is still in wide… Read more »
Proceed, please
I’ve seen precede used for proceed two times lately — on a sign in a restaurant and on a blog… Read more »
Slinging slang, part 2
My colleague Craig D. Lindsey, The N&O’s movie writer, has a funny post on his Uncle Crizzle blog about a… Read more »