A Short History of “Hack”
When is a hack a hack and when is a hacker a hacker?
Originally published March 7, 2014
Read the article at The New Yorker
Is Obama Overusing the Phrase the Wrong Side of History? Are We All?
Is it the right or the left?
Originally published April 17 2014
Read the article at Lexicon Valley
That Word for a Meme-Obsessed, Self-Aware Age
The that of it all
Originally published March 25, 2014
Read the article at Lingua Franca
How Weed Became the Hippest Slang Term for Marijuana
Whatever happened to Mary Jane?
Originally published March 5 2014
Read the article at Lexicon Valley
Do You Say Amongst Instead of Among? Here’s Why.
C’mon, you’re amongst friends
Originally published October 22, 2013
Read the article at Lexicon Valley
The Lost Art of Newspaper Copy Editing
What happens when a grammar geek reads the newspaper.
Originally published January 24, 2012
Read the article at Lingua Franca
Ih-rack or Eye-rack
Let’s call the whole thing off
Posted June 16, 2009
Y’all
The strange and contested history of a Southernism
Originally published August 06, 2007
Read the article at Stop Smiling online
You Go, Companion
What to call Paul Wolfowitz’s special lady friend.
Originally published April 20, 2007
Pardon the Interjection
The Internet, and the rise of “awwa,” “meh” and “heh.”
Originally published February 16, 2007
You Need To Read This
How “need to” vanquished “have to,” “must,” and “should.”
Originally published July 16, 2006
My Heart Belongs to ‘Mother.’
One man’s protest against mom.
Originally published May 14, 2006
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