Insidious and insipid share the same page in the dictionary, but their meanings have nothing in common. Insidious means proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effects, while insipid means lacking flavor. Yet on account of their physical similarity—all those i’s, n’s and s’s make them look and... (Read More)
I got an email from the restaurant down the street offering me elevated comfort food in this time of crisis. I know, they were trying to make me feel better: If I order from them, I’ll feel as though I’m dining out and not standing at the kitchen counter in... (Read More)
I recently received an out-of-office reply that read, I and the whole team are at an off-site meeting this week, so checking email is going to be a little difficult.
The writer should have written, The team and I are at an off-site meeting, because you always put yourself last... (Read More)
I saw an ad for a health plan the other day that read, Our large selection of doctors is there for you.
If that doesn’t sound right to your ear, it’s because it’s not. The verb is should be are, as in, Our large selection of doctors are there for... (Read More)
Ivanka Trump was talking recently about the success of the Administration’s worker retraining program. “15 million lives impacted, 15 million families impacted,” she said.
Ouch.
Impact, traditionally a noun, as in have an impact on, has turned into a verb (one shunned by stylists everywhere), pushing aside more human-sounding verbs,... (Read More)
The velocity at which data is created means that traditional methods of analyzing it are not sufficient.
Eighty one percent of youth who use tobacco products initiate with a flavored product.
These two sentences crossed my desk recently and gave me pause. Both include multi-syllable words that could be... (Read More)
In this edition of Say It Better Say It Right, an expert opines on all the conversation at the World Economic Forum about climate change and what to do about it.
The head of our Health and Human Services department recently clocked in with a 61-word sentence about the Administration’s decision to ban certain e-cigarette flavors while keeping others. Here’s what he said. See if you can fully grasp it in one quick read:
By prioritizing enforcement against the products that... (Read More)
I was recently included in a group email that elicited a lot of responses from the people on the distribution list. One person finally wrote, “I agree with Tim and Stewart’s comments, so I am not going to add anything more to the discussion.”
The problem is that Tim and... (Read More)
In one of those two sentences, the two-letter abbreviation is incorrect.... (Read More)
