I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving and for those who celebrate, I’m wishing you a happy Hanukkah.
Should I have capitalized the word happy in both instances?
No, happy (lowercase h) is correct because it’s part of a sentence. Had I made Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hanukkah standalone... (Read More)
I recently walked through a school district where I came across a street sign asking me to kindly turn off my phone.
Kindly turn off my phone? Does that mean I should refrain from beating it with a stick?
People may think kindly is extra polite—but it’s not. It makes... (Read More)
A disgruntled real estate agent in Australia is in big trouble. His former employer is suing him for defamation over a Facebook post. Here’s what he wrote:
Oh Stuart Gan!! Selling multi million $ homes in Pearl Beach but can’t pay his employees superannuation. Shame on you Stuart!!! 2 yrs... (Read More)
I recently eavesdropped on someone talking about her upcoming nuptials.
“Zack and I’s wedding is in three weeks!” she exclaimed.
Congratulations!
But the woman’s all-too-common erroneous turn of phrase—Zack and I’s wedding—made me cringe. Zack’s and my wedding is in three weeks would have been the correct thing to say.
... (Read More)I saw an ad for a new at-home gym that promises me “personalized guidance with every workout.”
The word guidance gave me pause. It sounds weird. Guidance is what the CDC issues about navigating the pandemic. It’s what companies tell their shareholders about upcoming earnings. It’s the advice college counselors... (Read More)
A friend recently resigned from her job and received a message from a colleague that said, “Hi … Just spoke with Tom and heard you’re leaving… call soon…”
My friend was confused. Was she supposed to call her colleague or was the colleague going to call her? And were those... (Read More)
We’ve reached an incredible milestone. We’ve made incredible progress. I’m incredibly proud of the team.
That word crops up everywhere, which I find amusing because incredible means something is too improbable to be believed. (Haven’t you ever said, “I don’t find that credible”?)
Yes, incredible has a secondary meaning, which... (Read More)
As you can imagine, when I send out my posts, I get a lot of out-of-office replies. More often than not, the messages say the recipient is currently out of the office until a future date, which doesn’t make much sense.
Would you say, “I’m out of the office at the... (Read More)
The panty will be open.
That sounds vaguely pornographic, but there it was in an email alerting me to some upcoming construction work in a building I frequent. Clearly the person who wrote it meant to say pantry instead.
Typos are one of many things you’re looking for when you... (Read More)
If I can’t picture it, I can’t understand it.
Albert Einstein, the physicist who developed the theory of relativity, said that. The Nobel prizewinner had a point. It’s easier to grasp something if you can visualize it, which is why it’s important to write in language you can see.... (Read More)
