So, just in case anybody here would miss me (though it hardly seems likely), I'll be leaving on Sunday morning for about a week. Probably won't be doing any internetting during that time, because I'll be in VEGAS, Baby! Gettin' married and havin' a good ol' time! Ping-pong all day, Party all night! Okay, actually I'm lying about that party bit. It's quite a bit of effort playing ping-pong all day, and usually we sack out pretty quickly. But it's still a lot of fun, and we usually tr...

I have a lovely little office. It's only 8x12, but it's a corner office with a window. Two bookshelves, a table, a desk, two chairs,and my collection of Dilbert plush dolls (the 6" variety) on top of my monitor, and it's quite a cozy nook. Except that it's November, and our heating unit isn't working right. My desk is right next to the window. My mouse is on the side of the desk that is right next to the window. The window is not a very efficient window and leaks cold air like a fro...

Can it already be time for another post about some of the writing mistakes people make? I guess it can.... Today it's all about homophones. No, that's not people who sound gay when they're calling long-distance. It's words that sound alike, but are spelled differently (and, I hope obviously, have different meanings). It's not that you spelled the word wrong, it's that you spelled the wrong word. 1) undo/undue "Undo" is a verb. You undo something that was done, take it back, reve...

Okay, so most of you are pretty interesting folks and you're generally fairly nice, and I enjoy reading about your lives and your thoughts on a wide variety of subjects. But as I have mentioned in a few previous articles ( "Argh! Don't SAY that!" , "How to annoy me" , and "More ways to annoy me ), sometimes you write things that are just so blatantly wrong that I have to suppress the urge to grab my taser and hunt you down. You've got to stop that, okay? Here are some more of the hideo...

Today I did something I can honestly say I never thought I would do. In a million years, the very idea of doing this thing would probably never have crossed my mind if the need for it had not stared me smack in the face as it just did a little while ago. I would be willing to wager that it's something that you have never needed to do either.... Today I dusted my vacuum cleaner.

Here is the third in my very occasional series of ways people write that really bother me. Today we are focusing on misused phrases. 1) Should of (and could of, would of, etc.), or "Brother, can you help a verb?" I mostly see this hideous abomination from the younger crowd. Apparently grammar is no longer a requirement in today's elementary schools, or they would have learned that "of" is NOT A VERB, DAMMIT! It's "have". As in "I have used a helping verb correctly." Only in thi...

In another blog's comments, I mentioned something about "he not only didn't know it, he didn't know that he didn't know it." Here I will take the opportunity, for those of you who are unaware of it, to expound upon the theory behind that statement. Basically this theory (whose source, unfortunately, I do not recall) breaks things into 4 levels of competence, which is further refined into two levels of awareness and two of knowledge, linked together thus: Ignorant Educated ...

"Vitriolic." Yes, it's a good word. Interesting, eye-catching even. But I've seen it an awful lot in the last few days and I think it's time we collectively exercised our vocabulary to come up with a few good alternatives. Something like: Nasty. Mean. Caustic. Hateful. Antagonistic. Hostile. Rancorous. Acerbic. Acidic. Acidulous. Antipathic. Full of Animosity. Vindictive. Loatheful. Malignant. Bitter. Spiteful. Bile-laden. Malevolent. With malice. Come on, peo...

I found these quotes earlier today... they seem extremely applicable to the current US situation.... If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be. --Thomas Jefferson Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction. --Thomas Jefferson

If you aren't already signed up for the "A Word A Day" mailing, you should sign up immediately. It's a great service for increasing your vocabulary, and it's got lots of fun and interesting words. Visit Link to get on the mailing list. The word of the day for today was: philodox (FIL-uh-doks) noun Someone who loves his or her own opinion; a dogmatic person. [From Greek philodoxos, from philo- (love) + doxa (glory, opinion). Ultimately from Indo-European root dek- (to tak...

I am a nitpicky person by nature; I like things to be exactly correct. This is somewhat of a curse when reading stuff written by less persnickety authors who don't have professional editors or proofreaders. Having been involved in online communities for somewhere around 20 years, I have learned to ignore most minor errors. However, there are a few common writing faults that still really irritate me: 1) the overcorrectional "I", or as I like to yell at the screen, "Nominative vs. Objective...

A long time ago I was pondering the nature of "cute", probably in response to some woman asking me why guys don't generally like things that women call cute. (As opposed to cute women, which we generally like quite a bit.) I came up with five key characteristics of cuteness: 1) Short or Small. 2) Round. 3) Fuzzy or Soft. 4) Large-eyed. 5) High-pitched voice. Now you can still be cute without having ALL of these characteristics, but having the opposite of a characteristic will...