Several years ago, after bidding farewell to an industry in which commencing an e-mail salutation with darling, pet or love and concluding with kisses, cuddles, puppies and kittens was deemed acceptable office behaviour—perhaps with the exception of the CEO—I found myself embarking upon a brief stint in the world of bureaucratic red tape, political correctness and ugly [...]

The words ‘English grammar’ have the ability to make even the most fanatical of language pedants yawn in stultified flaccidity. Tenses, clauses and participles might sound like exercises a sadistic personal trainer instructs, yet they’re essential components of a grammatical work-out. Over the centuries, style guides have remained archaic and humdrum; rote learning an embittered English [...]

Crack open that pack of Camels and pop the cork on that bottle of Ruinart—it’s Bastille Day! The Fourteenth of July celebrates the storming the Bastille prison and the “happy conclusion” (yeah, we know what you’re thinking, dirtbag) of the French Revolution. The national holiday (or La Fête nationale as it is known in French) is [...]

Newswordy is a new site that celebrates buzzwords used in the media. Its focus is on words that don’t typically occur in normal speech but are common with the information elite like newsreaders and pundits on cable news. Updated each weekday, the site showcases one of these buzzwords with a definition as well as examples of [...]