The Curious Engineer

Grammarphobia

2014–2026

1,475 posts

← 2010–2013

2026 30

September 2026

  1. Trying times
  2. Miss Pym Discomposes

August 2026

  1. Prelude and feud
  2. How ‘works’ works

July 2026

  1. The iffiness of the subjunctive

June 2026

  1. The acronym, initially speaking
  2. Performative gratitude
  3. On ‘seeing’ and ‘hearing’
  4. The sense of ‘ill-being’

May 2026

  1. ‘Cutting corners’: A horsey tale
  2. ‘My’ and ‘mine’ shadow
  3. Table talk
  4. Is this use of “on” really off?

April 2026

  1. Why a ‘rise’ can be ‘meteoric’
  2. Making the cut
  3. ‘New albums drop like leaves in the fall’
  4. ‘Thou shalt not loose by it’

March 2026

  1. A thorny question?
  2. ‘A hundred literate children’
  3. When ‘ye’ became ‘you’
  4. On ‘adult’ and ‘adultery’
  5. Let’s go down the ‘rabbit hole’

February 2026

  1. A chimerical journey
  2. How cool was Abe Lincoln?
  3. Osculation: A kiss is still a kiss
  4. On the euphemism treadmill

January 2026

  1. When ‘misery’ rhymes with ‘high’
  2. Has the verb ‘progress’ progressed?
  3. What a fetching Labrador retriever!
  4. Are ‘hopium’ and ‘copium’ nope-iums?

2025 50

December 2025

  1. How ‘super’ and ‘bowl’ touched down
  2. Gentlemen, God rest you merry!
  3. We dasn’t commit ourselves
  4. Evacuation roots
  5. ‘Went to go see a movie’

November 2025

  1. Gender issues (no, not those)
  2. Genesis: ‘you and I’ v. ‘you and me’
  3. He’s not ‘quite quite,’ you know
  4. Matriculating down the field

October 2025

  1. On fawning and fawns
  2. ‘All Sects, all Ages smack of this vice’
  3. ‘Allude’ and its playful history
  4. A pub, yclept Ye Olde Watering Hole

September 2025

  1. Are you getting antsy?
  2. The short and the long
  3. Why ‘learn by heart,’ not ‘by brain’?
  4. A tidy history of ‘spick and span’
  5. Liwans, porticos, and palaces

August 2025

  1. A ‘bad boy’ can be a good thing
  2. And now, let us digress
  3. When ‘jealousy’ met ‘envy’
  4. Why not ‘ceiling’ of the mouth?

July 2025

  1. Tales of the drawing room
  2. On the banks of the Ohio
  3. Some ‘after’ thoughts
  4. Unpacking ‘emotional baggage’

June 2025

  1. Donjons, dungeons, and dragons
  2. Let us repair to the boudoir
  3. Channeling the talking heads of yore

May 2025

  1. The death of a buddy in Vietnam
  2. On and off the cuff
  3. On criticizing and critiquing
  4. Why are clams happy?

April 2025

  1. One of the best there is
  2. Clawing back in the age of DOGE
  3. On Passover and Easter
  4. Sex, gender, and sociology

March 2025

  1. Befooled, besotted … beclowned?
  2. A horse of a different choler
  3. A ‘heart-wrenching’ sorrow
  4. The ambiguity of ‘disambiguity’
  5. Is coconut milk really milk?

February 2025

  1. ‘Preventive’ or ‘preventative’?
  2. Calling ‘in,’ ‘out,’ or ‘off’ sick?
  3. Cheersing at the pub
  4. A singular dynamic

January 2025

  1. No buts about it
  2. You can’t call me Al
  3. Are you feeling irregular?
  4. This is highway robbery!

2024 53

December 2024

  1. Uh-oh, it’s the glottal stop
  2. To unalive, or not to unalive
  3. A stink over ‘odoriferous’
  4. We’ll tell you what
  5. ‘Tuckered out’ and ‘tucked in’

November 2024

  1. ‘Generally’ speaking
  2. A new angle on an old word
  3. Cheeseparings from the moon
  4. ‘We’-ism in fact and fiction

October 2024

  1. Is a scaredy-cat scary?
  2. Why is the ‘w’ silent in ‘write’?
  3. Is this an odd use of ‘even’?
  4. Keep your pecker up

September 2024

  1. On books and bribery
  2. Cuddle, huddle, snuggle
  3. People who look like me
  4. Can ‘difficult’ be a verb?
  5. Do let’s have another drink!

August 2024

  1. If money were no object
  2. Looking into ‘leaning into’
  3. May you always walk in sunshine
  4. An accommodating detective

July 2024

  1. We thank you kindly
  2. The stylish origin of ‘tag along’
  3. Rhyme and reason in Shakespeare
  4. On the truckling arts
  5. Whence the silent ‘c’ in ‘indict’?

June 2024

  1. Playing the etymology card
  2. ‘Ever more,’ ‘ever-more,’ ‘evermore’
  3. On ‘as such’ and its ‘as-suchness’
  4. A wussy pronunciation

May 2024

  1. Beholden to a schedule?
  2. Like hell, like mad, like stink
  3. Oh, dear! Oh, deer!
  4. Footing the bill

April 2024

  1. Mixed marriage: two ways to wed
  2. The earliest English writing
  3. Left for dead
  4. Did you warsh behind your ears?
  5. ‘Dad wouldn’t have a bar of it’

March 2024

  1. Wanna look like a chumbolone?
  2. How unnatural is ‘preternatural’?
  3. ‘You had your will of me’
  4. When ‘like’ means ‘lack’

February 2024

  1. A tale of tricky endings
  2. On ‘giving’ and ‘giving back’
  3. Don’t sweat the small stuff
  4. A tale of two suffixes

January 2024

  1. The first exclamation point!
  2. Wordle fancies: ‘bezel’ vs. ‘bevel’
  3. Bookworms, in etymology & entomology
  4. Gob on a stick
  5. Speaking of the silent final ‘e’

2023 53

December 2023

  1. Some ‘randy’ thoughts
  2. A note to our readers
  3. Something wicked this way comes
  4. Dog days: Are you pooped?
  5. Happy Chanucha & Merry Xpes mæsse

November 2023

  1. When ‘stopping’ means ‘staying’
  2. Why we’re in cahoots
  3. The rustle of a print dress
  4. The purple haze of autumn

October 2023

  1. Why ‘sightseeing,’ not ‘siteseeing’?
  2. When a diet is a journey
  3. A chorus of exclamation points
  4. Caesar’s wife in Shakespeare
  5. Upon my word!

September 2023

  1. Why a ‘beef’ is a complaint
  2. How ‘chintz’ became ‘chintzy’
  3. Is this ‘which’ dead?
  4. On ‘cul de sac’ and ‘dead end’

August 2023

  1. On jays and jaywalkers
  2. Every man and every woman
  3. A double-edged sword
  4. Why ‘beggar’ isn’t spelled ‘begger’

July 2023

  1. How special is ‘especially’?
  2. Steal a march
  3. Bobby pins, bobby socks, and bobbies
  4. ‘Pit road’ or ‘pit row’?
  5. Rhetorically speaking

June 2023

  1. ‘Which, yeah. Whatever.’
  2. Was ‘it don’t’ once good English?
  3. When usage goes out the window*
  4. A riot in the garden

May 2023

  1. What is ‘which’ doing here?
  2. You’re doing what?
  3. Why ‘one’ sounds like ‘won’
  4. ‘Ask, and it shall be given you’
  5. Can a chatbot hallucinate?

April 2023

  1. ‘Time to get up, you lot!’
  2. Why we rely on a ‘go-to’
  3. Not to mention Paul
  4. The laundry list, itemized

March 2023

  1. Let’s liven things up
  2. Did ‘y’all’ originate in England?
  3. Good, best, or well wishes?
  4. I’m a riddle: Am I ridiculous?

February 2023

  1. On jurors and panels
  2. Why the ‘w’ is called a ‘double u’
  3. Why Old English looks so weird
  4. Does a plan ‘gel’ or ‘jell’?

January 2023

  1. Better half (the whole story)
  2. ‘Shot for a Jerry spy’
  3. Are you stumped?
  4. Whenever Harry met Sally
  5. What’s up, man?

2022 64

December 2022

  1. The ‘it’ in ‘lording it over’
  2. Gentlemen, God rest you merry!
  3. When ‘pomp’ met ‘circumstance’
  4. On ‘thrice’ and ‘trice’
  5. The subtleties of the silent ‘b’

November 2022

  1. A few laps at the laptop
  2. A tale of two plights
  3. Why ‘it’s’ means ‘it is’ or ‘it has’
  4. Why you can ‘malign,’ but not ‘benign’

October 2022

  1. Getting down to the bone
  2. As to ‘as to’
  3. Rock around the clock
  4. Breaking up is hard to do
  5. The invisibilized man

September 2022

  1. Imperatively speaking
  2. The pilgrimage of ‘progress’
  3. Blowing Their Cover
  4. Can you break a phrasal verb up?
  5. There, there, don’t cry

August 2022

  1. I can’t believe it’s not margerine!
  2. On claret, hock, and sack
  3. On ‘bottom,’ a fundamental thing
  4. Phee-phi-pho-phum
  5. ‘Got a screwdriver?’ … ‘I do.’

July 2022

  1. Casting a little light
  2. Weak in the knees
  3. A sticky question
  4. Speaking of grandparents …

June 2022

  1. The case of the sluggish slugger
  2. Clause encounters
  3. A singular journey
  4. Why is a coward called a ‘chicken’?

May 2022

  1. Not ‘al-’ there
  2. On Passover and Easter
  3. When Mom dies, is it your loss or hers?
  4. Bomb cyclone: A blast from the past
  5. How a clotheshorse became chic

April 2022

  1. Three degrees of separation
  2. Orthographic origins
  3. ‘Sewer,’ Uncle Matthew’s pet slur
  4. On Ralphs and Rafes

March 2022

  1. Why ‘any other’ doesn’t mean ‘any’
  2. Why ‘well-heeled’ means well-to-do
  3. Wet behind the ears
  4. Is ‘curt’ terser than ‘terse’?
  5. Is ‘lovely’ a girly word?
  6. The poop about a mass noun

February 2022

  1. Who invented the question mark?
  2. The battle for ‘Kyiv’
  3. We are met on a great battle-field
  4. Tracking the ‘daily double’
  5. ‘On the TV’ vs. ‘on TV’
  6. Did great-granddad coin ‘bloviate’?
  7. What’s normal about a ‘normal school’?
  8. When ‘nubile’ became sexy

January 2022

  1. A sod story
  2. Nuptial commotions!
  3. Comparatively speaking
  4. Waste paper
  5. A fortuitous etymology?
  6. Cut to the chase
  7. The twisted history of ‘bent’
  8. Greenwashing and pinkwashing
  9. Swear like a sailor

2021 112

December 2021

  1. A belated Christmas carol
  2. Cut, butt, skip, or ditch in line?
  3. Jeeves and the festive spirit
  4. Disparate, or merely different?
  5. A usage with legs
  6. Don’t badger me
  7. The life of a lived experience
  8. Is your Mandarin rusty?
  9. A friend of Dorothy

November 2021

  1. To beg the question
  2. A weighty look at gravitas
  3. On ‘pent’ and ‘spent’
  4. A prohibitive favorite
  5. So what’s on offer?
  6. ‘I’m by way of being a doctor’
  7. What’s ‘done’ doing here?
  8. With a grain of salt
  9. How first names became last names

October 2021

  1. The spooky season
  2. The ‘boo’ in ‘peekaboo’
  3. Pop-ups popping up all over
  4. Seamstresses, midwives, and gender
  5. The four corners of the earth
  6. Fact, fiction, or faction?
  7. Bespoke burgers and running shoes
  8. When ‘only’ is apt to be dismal
  9. Handsome is as handsome does

September 2021

  1. Let’s swap
  2. I’ll be damned if it wasn’t Jerry!
  3. Categorically speaking: in, into, by
  4. Putting English on the ball
  5. An ‘or’ … or more?
  6. Black Lives Matter
  7. Oneself or one’s self?
  8. How do you copy?

August 2021

  1. In pursuit of the quick brown fox
  2. Why a duck?
  3. A note to readers
  4. Thee bist purty, my love
  5. A questionable caticism
  6. Anent what nanny really meant
  7. Lisztomania and other manias
  8. A gentle reminder
  9. True north, literal and figurative
  10. Do you know your onions?

July 2021

  1. On Fowler and his idiosyncrasy
  2. A note to our email subscribers
  3. The coast is clear
  4. ‘Lukewarm’ and ‘lukecool’
  5. Not quite cricket?
  6. Tossing and turning
  7. About ‘around’ and ‘surrounding’
  8. Taking a spin with Yeats
  9. Let’s be negative
  10. Cut and dried … or dry?

June 2021

  1. A note to our email subscribers
  2. It’s ‘along’ story
  3. A note to our email subscribers
  4. A moment of truthiness
  5. A note to our email subscribers
  6. From ‘agog’ to ‘go-go’
  7. Why an app is called a widget
  8. A note to our email subscribers
  9. Regarding ‘in terms of’
  10. A lion, a flower, and a king
  11. Wild swimming
  12. Mixing and matching

May 2021

  1. We are met on a great battle-field
  2. A seafarer’s middle ground
  3. On mom, pop, and dad
  4. Fair enough?
  5. Rapping paper
  6. The went not taken
  7. Let’s you and him fight
  8. Plead, pleaded, and pled
  9. Got your jabs?

April 2021

  1. Is ‘graffiti’ a verb?
  2. On ‘lead’ and ‘led’
  3. The jig is up
  4. ‘Summoned’ or ‘summonsed’?
  5. A fly in the ointment
  6. The lying origins of ‘belie’
  7. No pants, let alone a jacket
  8. Are ‘vote’ and ‘veto’ related?
  9. Lie and lay: the flip side

March 2021

  1. Ask, and it shall be given
  2. Sex under the arches
  3. Girl Scout kapers
  4. Rock around o’clock
  5. Suffrage, then and now
  6. When ‘next’ is really ‘last’
  7. Congregate or congregant care?
  8. Can ‘were’ mean ‘would be’?
  9. Whoa woah

February 2021

  1. On and off the grid
  2. To welsh on a bet
  3. Who was that masked-up man?
  4. The first wordsmith in chief
  5. When maitre d’s are possessive
  6. When ‘repulsive’ wasn’t disgusting
  7. Ding-dong, ‘the which’ is dead
  8. A lost utopia
  9. Standing room at the Globe

January 2021

  1. Thank you, Mr. Collins
  2. When doom is impending
  3. ‘Ketchup’ or ‘catsup’?
  4. Prior analytics
  5. To “the,” or not to “the”
  6. When ‘damn’ became a swear word
  7. Getting our ducks in a row
  8. A mystery and a love story about words
  9. Time and again

2020 110

December 2020

  1. The “bert” in Albert, Herbert, Robert, etc.
  2. From A to &, et cetera
  3. Dapping in Vietnam
  4. Letter From Barsetshire
  5. Why ‘hoodwink’ means to deceive
  6. One of the only
  7. When an earring is an ear hanger
  8. A lapidary opinion
  9. A degenerate gambler?

November 2020

  1. How ‘debauchee’ got an ‘-ee’ ending
  2. Try and stop us!
  3. A precipitous drop for the better?
  4. Jiggs dinner
  5. Notional agreement
  6. Something wicked this way comes
  7. How Sin Buster Got a Silver Star
  8. Margaret Thatcher’s bottom
  9. On ‘willy-nilly’
  10. On Main St. and in the High St

October 2020

  1. ‘I’m so not coming here again’
  2. A few negative thoughts
  3. Hard of sleeping?
  4. Like as the waves
  5. What’s up with ‘below’?
  6. When ‘even’ looks odd
  7. Come hell or high water
  8. How to say ‘satiety’
  9. The polka in polka dots

September 2020

  1. Cue up or queue up a video?
  2. Are you teed off?
  3. On the status of status quo
  4. Can sex or gender be ‘assigned’?
  5. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  6. Dead-on balls accurate
  7. A vast minority?
  8. A slave named Smith
  9. Tawk of the Town

August 2020

  1. Let’s confer
  2. What’s a mook?
  3. Black sheep
  4. On the ‘ob-’ in ‘oblong’
  5. What’s news?
  6. Lex education
  7. How a poke became a pocket
  8. Henchmen and minions
  9. On ‘capitulate’ and ‘recapitulate’

July 2020

  1. How nasty is ‘mean-spirited’?
  2. Burgle or burglarize?
  3. Whomspun history
  4. A stare’s nest by Yeats’s window
  5. Independence ‘of’ or ‘from’?
  6. ‘Buck naked’ or ‘butt naked’?
  7. Working hard or hardly working?
  8. How inclusive is ‘including’?
  9. Running low on champagne

June 2020

  1. Shedding a little night light
  2. On ‘damage’ and ‘damages’
  3. San fairy ann: Why a duckboard?
  4. Drunk as a skunk
  5. Wrapped around the axle
  6. Depart … or depart from?
  7. Coots, feathered and otherwise
  8. Is ‘least favorite’ most disliked?
  9. When negatives collide

May 2020

  1. Did she coin ‘wuss’ and ‘wussy’?
  2. Why a black swan is a rara avis
  3. Even so, amen
  4. A needy confection
  5. Sea chantey or shanty?
  6. Is ‘butt’ short for ‘buttock’?
  7. The singularity of Mother’s Day
  8. Why fourteen isn’t onety-four
  9. Textured hair
  10. Guilty as charged

April 2020

  1. ‘The coronavirus’ or ‘coronavirus’?
  2. Why bacon strips are ‘rashers’
  3. A flight of chardonnays
  4. A little off the fringe?
  5. To internet, or not to internet?
  6. When Harry met ‘high maintenance’
  7. Link, a bendable word
  8. Is the pun in the pudding?

March 2020

  1. When walk-ins walk in
  2. From the horse’s mouth
  3. Help bake, or help to bake?
  4. Which virus is more deadly?
  5. When ‘drastically’ is too drastic
  6. Tidbit or titbit?
  7. Sticking in a knife with a smile
  8. Is the parrot willful or willing?
  9. Now I am become Death

February 2020

  1. ‘Outshone’ or ‘outshined’?
  2. Courting a honey or a heartache
  3. A ‘they’ by any other name
  4. Complementary remarks
  5. An etymological valentine
  6. All het up
  7. Not a man but felt this terror
  8. ‘Premier’ or ‘premiere’?

January 2020

  1. Knit picking
  2. Space Coast chronicle
  3. But if the husband be dead …
  4. Scrambled yeggs?
  5. Disoriented or disorientated?
  6. Doing hard time
  7. Memes, tropes, and notions
  8. How ‘tootsie’ became ‘toots’
  9. Ethos, logos, pathos
  10. Shrink, shrank, shrunk
  11. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio

2019 148

December 2019

  1. Are Normandy veggies Norman?
  2. Santa wore combat boots
  3. Pajama games for Christmas
  4. No hidebound conservative he
  5. Is your shirt boiled?
  6. A jerry-rigged etymology
  7. Nag, nag, nag
  8. You’re darn tootin’!

November 2019

  1. Why is a turkey leg a drumstick?
  2. Why don’t we use ‘farthermore’?
  3. A hwale of a story
  4. When a nudge is a noodge
  5. How possessive are you?
  6. For veterans, an old war story
  7. Shadows on the wall
  8. Lock, stock, and barrel

October 2019

  1. Hallowe’en be thy name
  2. Like more, only more so
  3. Are you a fuddy-duddy?
  4. Skid row or skid road?
  5. Why is a loo a toilet in the UK?
  6. Did muckrakers once rake muck?
  7. How susceptible are you?
  8. Petard hoisting
  9. When a rose isn’t a rose
  10. Vowel movement

September 2019

  1. A job is a job is a job
  2. In defense of ‘crispy’
  3. Abluting in the loo
  4. A ‘bury’ old usage
  5. Period furniture
  6. Inartful dodgers
  7. Fed up with feedback?
  8. Scrubbing floors and computers
  9. Do you say AH-kwa or ACK-wa?
  10. The evolution of ‘enormity’
  11. Changing times
  12. Who’s zori now?

August 2019

  1. Fancy that
  2. A ‘heartwarming story’ of love, friendship, and growing old
  3. Toilet talk
  4. Hunger pangs or pains?
  5. Punctuating a series of questions
  6. Amn’t I a smart smartypants
  7. And then there were none
  8. Ouija talk
  9. It’s Emma Woodhouse, you know
  10. Fixing the damn roads
  11. How are generic drugs named?
  12. A pasta noodle maker?
  13. Affirm or confirm?
  14. Can not, cannot, and can’t

July 2019

  1. Pat reviews 4 language books
  2. A newfangled suffix?
  3. The true truth
  4. Poaching eggs vs. poaching deer
  5. Why ‘mayn’t’ may not live on
  6. A pot to piss in
  7. Progressively more?
  8. A wretched creature
  9. An indisputable choice?
  10. On snooting and snouting
  11. Cannon fodder
  12. Watch it back
  13. A writerly and painterly subject
  14. Were it not for the grammar
  15. Screw the pooch

June 2019

  1. Happy belated birthday?
  2. Urine analysis
  3. Careering or careening?
  4. Why is a ‘square meal’ square?
  5. When a family daughters out
  6. In the weeds
  7. On ‘equity’ and ‘equality’
  8. Conceptually speaking
  9. Sick of politics? Want a break?
  10. How appropriate is ‘apropos’?
  11. Is ‘suicide’ a forbidden word?
  12. Trouble’s weird sister
  13. A snake in the Garden of Eden
  14. Can the “floor” be the “ground”?

May 2019

  1. Making sense of mixing tenses
  2. Whom again
  3. The death of a buddy in Vietnam
  4. That sinking feeling
  5. How ‘emergency’ emerged
  6. Soak the rich? Or dry them out?
  7. Do puns change word history?
  8. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  9. Can a woman be a chap?
  10. Why “granary,” not “grainery”?
  11. In the loss of your father
  12. Furbish or refurbish?
  13. Are you down on “up”?
  14. A time for timeless verbs
  15. Check out, check-out, checkout?

April 2019

  1. Crossing the bar
  2. Reconceptual analysis
  3. Bone appétit
  4. When bragging is ever so humble
  5. A contraction too far?
  6. Impactful wisdom
  7. Naughty, naughty
  8. Why foxes have fur, horses hair
  9. Foreboding or forbidding?
  10. Does water stand or sit?
  11. Hamlet in the closet
  12. A bunch of sauces?
  13. Is ‘deprioritize’ a priority?

March 2019

  1. In the lap of the gods
  2. Blah blah blah, yada yada yada
  3. A phony etymology
  4. Far and few between
  5. What’s for dessert?
  6. Is ‘Gypsy’ a slur?
  7. Self denial
  8. Our etymological chops
  9. Horticultural doppelgängers
  10. Dilly, dilly, come and be killed
  11. ‘Play’ time
  12. Rogues’ galleries and mug books
  13. Was ‘pin money’ really for pins?

February 2019

  1. ‘Jesus H. Christ,’ redux
  2. A wider view of ‘video’
  3. Why a ‘red herring’ is a false clue
  4. It takes two to quango
  5. The first wordsmith in chief
  6. When verb forms are the object
  7. Jenny Kiss’d Me
  8. Can an outcome be foregone?
  9. A new ‘Woe Is I’ for our times
  10. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  11. The raison d’être of raison d’être
  12. Why early religions are ‘pagan’
  13. The ‘H’ in ‘Jesus H. Christ’

January 2019

  1. ‘Enthralled to’ or ‘in thrall to’?
  2. The upper crust
  3. A pretty little girl
  4. Why slap + stick = slapstick
  5. How tolerant is tolerance
  6. Why ‘speedometer’ has an ‘o’
  7. Who, me?
  8. Latinx, Latino/a, Latin@
  9. Most important … or importantly
  10. Is it self-titled or eponymous?
  11. Is Shakespeare relatable?
  12. Gaslighting: The ‘in’ word?
  13. Is a smirk but a smile?

2018 156

December 2018

  1. Hair of the dog
  2. A biting commentary
  3. King Arthur … or King Artur?
  4. Christmas, 1971, Vietnam
  5. A throne for the king of the band
  6. PAINS-taking or PAIN-staking?
  7. Look ahead … or look forward?
  8. From ‘anti-vac’ to ‘anti-vaxxer’
  9. Don’t quote me
  10. Playing the bass
  11. Can ‘clear’ mean ‘clearly’?
  12. Launderers and laundresses
  13. Is ‘hithertofore’ legit?

November 2018

  1. He blued his pocket money
  2. You betcha!
  3. 2001: A speech odyssey
  4. Why a timepiece is a watch
  5. Let’s talk turkey
  6. All bombast and fustian
  7. What do you suggest?
  8. That’s why they play the game
  9. Is government the issue?
  10. On cousins and cousinesses
  11. Is it a ‘wow’ or a ‘pow’?
  12. How families got their names
  13. When English met Latin

October 2018

  1. Hallowe’en be thy name
  2. Syllables gone missing
  3. Whereabouts: singular or plural?
  4. How incidental is an incident?
  5. Stewardess and other -ess words
  6. Have a good one
  7. Are you feeling pressurized?
  8. Can a company be a ‘who’?
  9. The ivied origins of ‘Ivy League’
  10. When a bomb goes boom
  11. A verb to be suspicioned?
  12. When writing is ‘boilerplate’
  13. ‘Whatever’ or ‘what ever’?

September 2018

  1. What the rooster useter do
  2. Are you feeling cantankerous?
  3. Aurelians or lepidopterists?
  4. A technical question
  5. How factual is a factoid?
  6. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  7. Double whammy
  8. On markets and marts
  9. Why tired writing is hackneyed
  10. Lion of the season
  11. A fork in the road
  12. Getting used to it

August 2018

  1. When there’s a ‘there’ there
  2. Let’s give ‘proper’ its props
  3. Me, myself, and I
  4. All the feels
  5. In Jesus’ name or Jesus’s name?
  6. When ‘wood’ means ‘wooden’
  7. On dignity, with all due respect
  8. Multiple choices
  9. How do you do?
  10. Speaking with a forked tongue
  11. Is the ‘d’ silent in ‘adjective’?
  12. Doctor’s or doctor appointment?
  13. A question of beige
  14. A touching story

July 2018

  1. Masterminds, evil and otherwise
  2. A puny subject
  3. Good monsters and bad
  4. When ‘should’ means ‘would’
  5. Is it ‘realtor’ or ‘Realtor’?
  6. Cycles and sickles
  7. ‘More’ or ‘-er’? ‘Most’ or ‘-est’?
  8. Is that an “alum” on your bib?
  9. When ‘nor’ means ‘neither’
  10. The El Niño problem
  11. An acid test—with real acid
  12. Why apposite isn’t opposite

June 2018

  1. She’s gonna raise Cain
  2. A picayune question
  3. Going Berserk with a capital ‘B’
  4. Are you anxious or eager?
  5. Is ‘film’ classier than ‘movie’?
  6. Are families people or things?
  7. The prepositional subject
  8. ‘Hogwash’ vs. ‘claptrap’
  9. When Dickens don’t use ‘doesn’t’
  10. Birth of the conspiracy theory
  11. The cultured life of kefir
  12. How to say you’re not quite sure
  13. Are your ears burning?

May 2018

  1. Roots of the grapevine
  2. When the simple past is perfect
  3. Backstage with ‘crisis actors’
  4. Soul of discretion
  5. The truth about trees
  6. What about ‘whatnot’?
  7. Wolf tickets for sale
  8. The true history of false flags
  9. Can ‘refute’ mean ‘deny’?
  10. The life of ‘lifestyle’
  11. Did ‘beech’ give us ‘book’?
  12. When ‘I have’ becomes ‘I’ve’

April 2018

  1. Betwixt and between
  2. Making shift
  3. Why is a beeline straight?
  4. Umpteen hyperbolic numerals
  5. Are you out of it?
  6. Cays, keys, and quays
  7. General Tso’s chicken
  8. In the hopper
  9. On Eve and evening
  10. Why piece + meal = piecemeal
  11. Geezers and geysers
  12. A cock and bull story
  13. Is ‘comedic’ or ‘comic’ funnier?

March 2018

  1. Are you woke?
  2. An “&” or an “and”?
  3. How can an airhead be dense?
  4. When ‘to be’ is in question
  5. Parking lot or car park?
  6. Does Betsy DeVos need a rethink?
  7. Heavens to Good Queen Bess?
  8. Got a chip on your shoulder?
  9. Brownie points and brown-nosing
  10. Why a pet peeve is an uggie
  11. Is ‘what’ singular or plural?
  12. Here you go
  13. Visiting fireman

February 2018

  1. The birds and the bees
  2. ‘Underway’ or ‘under way’?
  3. Breaking wind
  4. Misgivings about ‘misgiving’
  5. With malice toward none
  6. Can a ‘regime’ be a ‘regimen’?
  7. Checkmates and roommates
  8. When biscuits were baked twice
  9. Comparatively speaking
  10. Prostitute or sex worker?
  11. A dog in this race?
  12. Companion piece

January 2018

  1. The bitterness of wormwood
  2. A defiling moment
  3. Is GM an “it” or a “they”?
  4. The lights of our lives
  5. How to turn into a driveway
  6. The ‘mare’ in ‘nightmare’
  7. Can ‘so don’t I’ mean ‘so do I’?
  8. Black (or African) American?
  9. A great eye for art
  10. Mary and me at the Eiffel Tower
  11. Are you dumbfounded?
  12. Merry or happy Christmas?
  13. The Reader Over Your Shoulder
  14. Dreaming of a white sale
  15. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  16. On holy days and holidays

2017 157

December 2017

  1. In line, on line, and online
  2. Running amok
  3. Does Santa have a gender issue?
  4. Wallflowers and shrinking violets
  5. The corporate ‘we’
  6. A rapist or a raper?
  7. Book ‘depository’ or ‘repository’?
  8. Three faces of ‘even’
  9. On sneakers and plimsolls
  10. The missile link
  11. Kicking down the ladder
  12. ‘I bet’ or ‘I’ll bet’?
  13. We were sat … or were we?

November 2017

  1. The ‘hey’ in ‘heyday’
  2. My plastic blue new nice truck
  3. Not on my watch
  4. Nonbinary thinking
  5. When commas are uncommon
  6. FLAS-id or FLAK-sid?
  7. Is ‘trialed’ a trial?
  8. All fixed for some pie
  9. Who put the ‘dis-’ in ‘dissent’?
  10. Pre-, post-, and ante- position
  11. There, their, they’re
  12. Is Angelina a celeb or a sleb?
  13. Iteration and its iterations

October 2017

  1. Thou lily-livered boy
  2. I came, I seen, I conquered
  3. Mother, can I?
  4. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  5. On teens and teenagers
  6. How unique is ‘unique’?
  7. The noisome origins of ‘noisy’
  8. Biggity: too big for one’s britches
  9. Is it all relative … or academic?
  10. Seedy endings
  11. Is ‘ungrateful’ the new ‘uppity’?
  12. One of a kind
  13. A political groundswell

September 2017

  1. The ‘newfangled’ iPhone X
  2. As bad or worse than?
  3. Green thumbs and green fingers
  4. On nobs and snobs
  5. Days of our lives
  6. Run the gambit?
  7. Snob appeal
  8. An ‘utter’ and an ‘utter’
  9. Months of our lives
  10. Leery of leers?
  11. Is flyering the new leafleting?
  12. On sloth, human and arboreal

August 2017

  1. Mrs. Elton’s ridicule
  2. That’s all, ffoulkes!
  3. Do you give good meeting?
  4. Supremacist or supremist?
  5. “Valet”: VA-lay, VA-let, va-LAY?
  6. To each their own
  7. A last-ditch attempt
  8. Locked and loaded
  9. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  10. An uncommon courtesy
  11. Either or neither of three?
  12. She Who Must Be Obeyed
  13. Hit right on the screws
  14. Sense and synthesis

July 2017

  1. Henry the Fifth or Henry Five?
  2. A lesson in pornolinguistics
  3. A rising sophomore?
  4. Let’s pick a few nits
  5. Why ‘spay’ her, but ‘neuter’ him?
  6. The convinced and the persuaded
  7. Nonfiction before ‘nonfiction’
  8. Digital footprint
  9. Turning state’s evidence
  10. Good grief!
  11. Is ‘few’ fewer than ‘a few’?
  12. Pots to cook in, pee in, melt in
  13. It’s all about ‘we the people’
  14. ‘We the people’ v. ‘us the people’

June 2017

  1. When past perfect is just perfect
  2. Literal minded
  3. The beginning of an ending
  4. The lowdown on ‘crescendo’
  5. Common day occurrence
  6. Flaunting and flouting
  7. Our slant on ‘bias’
  8. Trepid, trepidant, trepidatious
  9. Ego trip: “egoist” vs. “egotist”
  10. When ‘to have’ is ‘to allow’
  11. No traffic in both directions?
  12. When roads squeaked
  13. Is ‘kaput’ a loanword?

May 2017

  1. An “ough,” already
  2. From Mrs. and Miss to Ms.
  3. A ‘post-’ post
  4. Fifty shades of ‘they’
  5. What’s the matter?
  6. Believe you me
  7. On digesting food and fact
  8. Is it a fray or an affray?
  9. How ‘Mrs.’ became ‘missus’
  10. Fits and starts
  11. A decadent chocolate cake
  12. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  13. A saboteuse? A chanteur?
  14. How ‘master’ became ‘mister’

April 2017

  1. Another thing (or think?) coming
  2. Hello, Minnie!
  3. The poop about pooped
  4. Compounding the problem
  5. Batten down the hatches
  6. Was Elizabeth Bennet blowsy?
  7. A ‘fount’ or ‘font’ of knowledge?
  8. Does your grandma suck eggs?
  9. Can ‘across’ mean ‘around’?
  10. A lawyer walks into a bar
  11. A plethora of notions
  12. A blown rose, by any other name

March 2017

  1. Is might (v.) a kin of might (n.)?
  2. It’s medieval, albeit still with us
  3. Muffs, mufflers, and muffed
  4. When “mortify” meant to kill
  5. The emperor’s cold feet
  6. Is “monthslong” a word?
  7. “Intend on” vs. “intend to”
  8. Little Buttercup, disassembled?
  9. Coming for to carry me home
  10. Suck, sucker, and sucking up
  11. Can a ‘run-on’ sentence run on?
  12. Shards or sherds?
  13. Adjectives galore
  14. ‘Interested in’ vs. ‘interested to’

February 2017

  1. Which egg came first?
  2. Lay waste to Carthage?
  3. Fatal or mortal?
  4. Jane Austen’s “Fanny”
  5. Like a death’s head at a feast
  6. Elder vs. older: an eald story
  7. Scratch made
  8. A mite interesting?
  9. An adverb, forsooth!
  10. Here’s to hoppiness
  11. Arrival time
  12. Why surgery is an operation

January 2017

  1. When “and that” means “etc.”
  2. “Mammalogy” or “mammology”?
  3. Why the racket sport is “squash”
  4. Needs must when the devil drives
  5. When “we” is “you”
  6. Keeping up with the Joneses
  7. The light and dark of language
  8. Breaking the ice
  9. Drones, bees and otherwise
  10. Does a doorway need a door?
  11. How French is “Des Moines”?
  12. When “old chestnut” was new
  13. Is red beautiful?

2016 160

December 2016

  1. Getting to the bottom of pants
  2. Munch on, crunch on, nuncheon!
  3. Pay her a call? Or call her up?
  4. Does your sweetheart stink?
  5. Toothsome dishes
  6. Isn’t that a coinkydink?
  7. How hip is a hippie?
  8. The whole nine yards, again
  9. The circularity of dials
  10. December nine: A cardinal sin?
  11. How the C-section got its name
  12. Off-putting and down-putting
  13. You dirty, yellow-bellied rat

November 2016

  1. Fractious or fractured?
  2. Grass widow or grace widow?
  3. Congradulations!
  4. Why is a turkey leg a drumstick?
  5. Emigrate or immigrate?
  6. Is “posse” racist?
  7. Dial A for anachronism
  8. A copper’s nark
  9. A Melican man
  10. A richly woven tapestry
  11. It’s powwow time
  12. Testing the waters
  13. When “tract” is off track
  14. Couples therapy

October 2016

  1. The roll of the dice
  2. How “awk” lost its way
  3. Are the Clintons a dynasty?
  4. Why the dead are “late”
  5. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  6. Graphic language
  7. Relational therapy
  8. When chairmen carried chairs
  9. When “my wife” is “the wife”
  10. Melania’s pussy bow
  11. Needlework: sewer or sewist?
  12. Is “pussy” a dirty word?
  13. What is a con-see-AIR?
  14. A stiff upper lip
  15. Make no bones about it

September 2016

  1. The “potter” in “potter’s field”
  2. A note to our readers
  3. Does Sam Weller speak cockney?
  4. When horses stalked
  5. Is “one” the one?
  6. The awkwardness of “awkward”
  7. Priority: the highs and the lows
  8. Jerk, jerky, and jerking off
  9. On rifling and riffling
  10. Is “bumblebee” a buzz word?
  11. How tolerant is tolerance?
  12. On “unchartered” waters?
  13. Words of prey

August 2016

  1. Can a number be a pronoun?
  2. Pissy language
  3. Pudding and other ing-lish words
  4. What’s in a word?
  5. Prix fixe or prefix menu?
  6. Why verb a noun? Why not?
  7. “Shoulder,” a term with legs
  8. On dentists and dontists
  9. To be or not to be a question
  10. And, voilà, “wallah”!
  11. An old usage risen from the dead
  12. On dysphemism and euphemism
  13. We can’t help but change
  14. Rabbits!

July 2016

  1. Old-fashion or old-fashioned?
  2. Faux French: un oeuf, already?
  3. Why is “have to” so needy?
  4. G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time)
  5. A guerrilla of France
  6. A reactionary usage
  7. The singular life of “they”
  8. When “bourgeois” became bull
  9. When out of your home is in it
  10. Shining a light on candles
  11. Unconsciously? Subconsciously?
  12. Watkins, catkins, and other kin

June 2016

  1. Does “concertize” sound odd?
  2. When a contraction won’t do
  3. Ye olde bookshoppe
  4. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  5. What with one thing and another
  6. Did you vigil for Orlando?
  7. Why is it “went,” not “goed”?
  8. Bombshells, blonde & otherwise
  9. A lexical epidemic
  10. A hole that swallows things
  11. Mixed feelings
  12. When “it” isn’t fit
  13. Why “lucky me,” not “lucky I”?
  14. From “housewife” to “hussy”

May 2016

  1. Participle physics
  2. Sex, gender, and rock ’n’ roll
  3. “Word” is a word is a word
  4. A slave named Smith
  5. A midwife’s tale
  6. Are two hoods better than one?
  7. Passive resistance
  8. He should’ve stood in bed
  9. Follows the subject
  10. Unimagined and unimaginable
  11. Scales get in your eyes
  12. Is “based off” off base?

April 2016

  1. School days, school days
  2. Dribs and drabs
  3. Druggist or chemist?
  4. Color us plural
  5. Page references
  6. The well-tempered reply
  7. Don’t sweat it
  8. Snacks and refreshments
  9. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  10. Fold like a cheap X
  11. Why a canard?
  12. Dribbling, on court and on bib
  13. Lexical pageantry
  14. Sizing up YOOGE

March 2016

  1. The truth about truism
  2. A sneak peek
  3. When an omen isn’t ominous
  4. A progressive future
  5. Paying your dues
  6. Neat and tidyish
  7. A “bona fide” pronunciation?
  8. Is “if you will” a verbal tic?
  9. When “I don’t care” means “Yes”
  10. In kilter or out of it?
  11. Baby, it’s cold outside
  12. How permission is expressed
  13. Why “children,” not “childs”?

February 2016

  1. Like father, like son
  2. Why do the English drop aitches?
  3. On chicks and chickens
  4. When push comes to shove
  5. The 3 “ch” sounds: sh, tch, k
  6. How traditional is a tradition?
  7. Why do we con-VICT a CON-vict?
  8. Phobias, inside and out
  9. A risky preposition
  10. Strove Monday
  11. When “less” is “minus”
  12. Apostrophic illnesses
  13. Quite frankly

January 2016

  1. Is “wussy” milder than “pussy”?
  2. PEE-a-nist or pee-A-nist?
  3. Is there evil in Eve?
  4. Hats off to the boggins
  5. ¿Why isn’t English like Spanish?
  6. The light and dark of language
  7. Here’s how!
  8. Does that bikini still fit?
  9. Extrovert or extravert?
  10. Can “once” mean “when”?
  11. Are your socks breathing?
  12. What’s in a nameplate?
  13. New Year’s daze

2015 165

December 2015

  1. When “bad” means “good”
  2. Is “pussy” a dirty word?
  3. Who put the “X” in “Xmas”?
  4. One mustache or two?
  5. Is “me neither” legit?
  6. When the postman came twice
  7. Are your duds a dud?
  8. As the passive progressed
  9. Whole lotta trepidatin’ goin’ on
  10. We are met on a great battle-field
  11. Lexical summitry
  12. Holiday dressing
  13. On the Pequod, and under weigh

November 2015

  1. Yankees fleeced! Mets licked!
  2. Oust, ouster, oustered?
  3. Turkey Day
  4. On tilling and tills
  5. Enniched, inurned, and entombed
  6. On ignorance and stupidity
  7. Brighton Rock fixes
  8. Brighton Rock slang
  9. Is the “s” in “pants” out of style?
  10. Plantation mentality
  11. The thing about thing
  12. Can you listen askance?
  13. When a waiter waits
  14. A timely hyphen
  15. Between two stools

October 2015

  1. Hallowe’en be thy name
  2. So … as, so … that, so what?
  3. Words with a checkered past
  4. When “for sale” isn’t “on sale”
  5. At the instance of a reader
  6. Spinning a yarn
  7. Laudy, Laudy!
  8. Where are all the apostrophes?
  9. Happy quinquennial
  10. Character analysis
  11. On dogs and dogcarts
  12. A usage to diary for?
  13. Is a chant enchanting, or cant?
  14. When Pomicide isn’t cricket

September 2015

  1. Ing-lish spoken here
  2. When the present is past
  3. Do we doff only hats?
  4. Instead of … what?
  5. Master piece
  6. Are these dates of-putting?
  7. Two chips off an old block
  8. Slash talk
  9. Is a ranking a rating?
  10. Had I but known …
  11. They sore what they seen
  12. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  13. Appositively speaking

August 2015

  1. A forbidden usage?
  2. Publicly vs. publically
  3. Smart talk
  4. A usage to hate on?
  5. Miser, miserly, and miserable
  6. This usage is legit, no?
  7. This boot’s not made for walkin’
  8. A kiss, a slap, and a padiddle
  9. A blindingly obvious oxymoron?
  10. A pronouncing primer
  11. When “mow” rhymes with “cow”
  12. Nonplussed about “nonplussed”
  13. A hamlet by any other name

July 2015

  1. Full, fuller, fullest
  2. To honor or to celebrate?
  3. A happy ending
  4. A first-generation American?
  5. Did Stella die?
  6. Out of the question
  7. Is ubiquitousness ubiquitous?
  8. An anonymous artery?
  9. Judgment (or Judgement) Day
  10. Up and at ’em!
  11. Are two head better than one?
  12. The rub of the green
  13. My foot!
  14. Can “since” mean “because”?

June 2015

  1. We have some ideas to share
  2. Why “disastrous” isn’t a disaster
  3. Not every “uu” is a “double-u”
  4. Happy hour
  5. A bad yegg
  6. When “stay” means stop
  7. When participles are perfect
  8. How French is your onion soup?
  9. Plovers lane
  10. Well, look
  11. “Threap” show
  12. Is your spouse possessed?
  13. A lowering sky

May 2015

  1. A disruptive spelling
  2. “Hunker” or “bunker” down?
  3. Round about sennight
  4. Something shocking
  5. Fish or cut bait
  6. Why is the color green off-color?
  7. Seoul searching
  8. Curses! Foiled again.
  9. She gave him the air
  10. A “sell-through” date
  11. How fake is a fakir?
  12. Do we know the ropes?

April 2015

  1. Thanks a millions
  2. The third degree
  3. A septuagenarian girlfriend?
  4. Canada (or Canadian?) geese
  5. Comparison shopping
  6. Parenthetical plural(s)
  7. Comprised, revised
  8. Editing the Editors
  9. Consider the Comma
  10. “Fast” times
  11. Inside “outside”
  12. An existential question
  13. Iffen ya brung a gun
  14. That’s not us—it’s nature!
  15. A “thank-you,” and an appeal
  16. Several senses

March 2015

  1. A conspiracy or an intrigue?
  2. If only …
  3. “Accede” vs. “concede”
  4. Beside yourself? Where’s that?
  5. Bragging rights
  6. Let there be light
  7. Hear Pat live today on WNYC
  8. Pat on writing
  9. Is “redouble” to quadruple?
  10. Pay attention!
  11. Cultural learnings of America?
  12. By Jove, here comes the coroner
  13. Comma relief
  14. Do you party hardy or hearty?
  15. Is a “nor’easter” full of hot air?

February 2015

  1. Nothing but the truth
  2. Is it loo-TEN-ant or lef-TEN-ant?
  3. Noseblind spot
  4. English via Facebook
  5. When words change their spots
  6. The times they are a changin’
  7. Is “close proximity” redundant?
  8. Paralinguistically speaking
  9. Why not “one headquarter”?
  10. When the subject is a dummy
  11. How “colonel” became KER-nel
  12. A message from Pat and Stewart

January 2015

  1. Was the storm a shoo-shoo?
  2. Can’t win for losing
  3. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  4. No problem at all
  5. In our humble opinion
  6. On brooch, broach, and broccoli
  7. Hear Pat live today on WNYC
  8. Why wine drinks well
  9. Goody goody
  10. REZ-oo-may or RAY-zoo-may?
  11. When “inept” is inapt or unapt
  12. Is “basis” loaded?
  13. A hit and a lick
  14. When “George” was “Geo.”
  15. A hand in the game

2014 217

December 2014

  1. Ruminations on chewing the cud
  2. The original tiger mother?
  3. Is there a disconnect here?
  4. Who put the “X” in “Xmas”?
  5. Bogus origins
  6. Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
  7. Bread and dripping
  8. Deconstructing “it”
  9. Have you got rhythm?
  10. Why shavers are little
  11. How educated is your English?
  12. An interview with Pat
  13. How pie became à la mode
  14. How wonderful is wonderment?
  15. Getting along famously
  16. Craven images

November 2014

  1. One never knows, do one?
  2. Let’s talk turkey
  3. Queues and lines
  4. How healthy is “healthcare”?
  5. Aunt-ing and uncle-ing
  6. Hear Pat live today on WNYC
  7. A little black dress
  8. A doozy of an etymology
  9. How to capitalize food names
  10. The “c” word in fact and fiction
  11. Is it “shined” or “shone”?
  12. Overwhelm, underwhelm, whelm
  13. Fulsome and then some

October 2014

  1. Hallowe’en be thy name
  2. “Body” or “bodily” fluids?
  3. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  4. The compleat dangler
  5. The imperative’s new clothes?
  6. The genitive wars
  7. The “worse” case
  8. Ongoing concerns
  9. The rise and fall of capital letters
  10. The product in your hair
  11. A hydra-headed question
  12. Grammar term limits
  13. Getting involved
  14. Do fish have tongues?

September 2014

  1. If grammar be the food of love
  2. A medieval mystery
  3. How do you say “long-lived”?
  4. What’s “flat” about “flatware”?
  5. Transitive, intransitive, or both?
  6. Lobbies where lobbyists lobby
  7. Mr. Black, Ms. White, Mr. Purple?
  8. Did clams give us “clammy”?
  9. Can “such as” be separated?
  10. Did froggie go a-wooing, or no?
  11. Is that officer a police?
  12. Calculus class

August 2014

  1. Do you sleep in your contacts?
  2. Close encounters
  3. Did World War I give us cooties?
  4. A moving appreciation
  5. The “basket case” myth
  6. How to shorten a child
  7. A half-dollar vs. 50 cents
  8. Are “loath” and “loathe” related?
  9. When the future is present
  10. Does “daresay” have a past?
  11. Dot-commentary
  12. Learner driver or student driver?
  13. These ones and those ones

July 2014

  1. Garage sailing, in knots or mph?
  2. Chardonnay facts and fictions
  3. Is “so fun” ready for prime time?
  4. How dim is dimunition?
  5. Because and effect
  6. “Rather than” is rather puzzling
  7. The original martinet
  8. How sick is this usage?
  9. Hear Pat live today on WNYC
  10. In the nick of time
  11. The divoon comedy
  12. Some words about the N-word
  13. It’s no yoke—or is it?
  14. Can a woman be testy?
  15. Negative thoughts
  16. When “thanks to” is thankless
  17. Speaking of dumb
  18. Are you a wonk?
  19. A method to the methodology?

June 2014

  1. Business agnostic?
  2. Is a customer a guest?
  3. Why villains are vilified
  4. When “Euro” met “skeptic”
  5. Pulling one’s leg
  6. How do you pronounce “err”?
  7. Tricky “nick”
  8. Translated from the …
  9. Hear Pat on Iowa Public Radio
  10. An etymological fiasco
  11. On “football” and “soccer”
  12. Monetizing “dough” and “bread”
  13. On dents, indents, and dentists
  14. Missed Connections
  15. Troops, troopers, and bloopers
  16. Are scare quotes scary?
  17. When “I’m good” is “no, thanks”
  18. Habitus forming
  19. Memento mori
  20. Speechifying therapy
  21. The demon drink
  22. A trash “chute” or “shoot”?
  23. The T sound

May 2014

  1. Possessed by saints
  2. Is “operationalize” operational?
  3. Is Berkshire’s approach scalable?
  4. Hear Pat live today on WNYC
  5. Somewhen over the rainbow
  6. The Kardashians of the world
  7. Methinks, therefore meseems
  8. Is “change up” redundant?
  9. Here’s looking at you, kid
  10. How well of a test taker?
  11. Are you riven about “rived”?
  12. Is one wisteria a wisterium?
  13. Thank you so much
  14. Is “logisticate” a word?
  15. Just suppose
  16. The spirited life of “alcohol”
  17. Hue and cry
  18. Is your foot out of step?
  19. Immediately, if not sooner
  20. Is Justin Bieber a twerp?
  21. The skills in your skill set
  22. I left my heart in … Frisco?

April 2014

  1. Don’t dis “disinterest”
  2. Voir dire
  3. Booty treatment
  4. Vape gets in your eyes
  5. Are you down on “escalate”?
  6. Mogo on the gogo
  7. “Healthy” vs. “healthily”
  8. Soul searching
  9. A canine ripple effect
  10. Few and far between
  11. Did “ta” beget “ta-ta”?
  12. Pour English
  13. Embarrassment of prepositions
  14. Graduate school
  15. Kicks in the closet
  16. Is “not that” a no-no?
  17. The saucy source of “liaise”
  18. In the catbird seat
  19. A euphemism of a certain age
  20. Deconstructing sports talk
  21. Why is a shaft a rod or a hole?
  22. How diverse is diversity?

March 2014

  1. Bullies and bulldogs
  2. “I’m afraid” (aka “I’m sorry”)
  3. Does “Sr.” outlive the senior?
  4. Taking George Clooney to task?
  5. How funny is facetious?
  6. The geography of the apostrophe
  7. When fewer is less
  8. It’s a big ask
  9. Is “expat” domesticated?
  10. Hear Pat live today on WNYC
  11. Is “caring” a noun?
  12. Can cluelessness be betrayed?
  13. When “ditto” was an original
  14. You who, Mrs. Goldberg?
  15. May I help who’s next?
  16. Big-time spenders
  17. Like to read? Or like reading?
  18. Toilet training
  19. Steady, the Buffs!
  20. Ante meridiem or antemeridian?
  21. Why is a ship’s toilet a head?
  22. Kick the can down the road

February 2014

  1. When a woman was a WOW!
  2. Taking candy from a baby
  3. How effective is effectual?
  4. Rescue dog: rescuer or rescuee?
  5. An octopus by any other name
  6. Why is a cakewalk easy?
  7. The Latin beat
  8. Why is a dead ringer a double?
  9. Jibe, gibe, and jive
  10. Don’t bruise the gin
  11. The Rockies? Not the Rainier?
  12. When a cordwainer made shoes
  13. The pork in “pork barrel”
  14. Is it bad to discriminate?
  15. Why did Johnny walk the line?
  16. Who’s vs. who’s
  17. When a blockbuster was a bomb
  18. Mastheads, afloat and in print
  19. Tosser & Twee LLP

January 2014

  1. Pardon my French, revisited
  2. Thready or not
  3. A senior moment
  4. Highest minded
  5. How fast is Godspeed?
  6. On smarm and snark
  7. Words of passage
  8. On naming names
  9. Not that big of a deal?
  10. Hairsplitting: blonde vs. brunette
  11. Pedal to the mettle?
  12. Is fun infectious or contagious?
  13. Hear Pat live today on WNYC
  14. Get me rewrite!
  15. A foregone conclusion
  16. How canny are canines?
  17. Plural prose
  18. Are you in our wheelhouse?
  19. When a mess wasn’t messy
  20. Crash blossoms
  21. Why is a blond kid a towhead?
  22. An Aramaean at the bar

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