http://smithwriting.com/blog Rebecca Smith, founder of the copywriting firm SmithWriting, blogs on grammar, language, and all things writing. Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:53:45 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en … Stylebook, that is. As in the brand spanking new Associated Press 2010 Stylebook, which just arrived at my door! For writers and editors like me, our stylebook is our bible, constantly in arm’s reach whether proofreading an official document for a client or composing a blog post. How do I ... http://smithwriting.com/blog/grammar-guide/i%e2%80%99ve-got-style/ Just because I spend most of my time dealing with the written word (writing, editing, and proofreading) doesn’t mean I’m not interested in the spoken word. In fact, I find pronunciation just as fascinating as rhetoric, grammar, and etymology. Recently, yourdictionary.com posted a list of the 100 most often mispronounced words ... http://smithwriting.com/blog/for-the-love-of-words/proper-pronunciation-please/ According to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, an oxymoron is “a figure of speech in which opposite or contradictory ideas or terms are combined.” The word comes from the Greek oxys (“sharp”) + moros (“stupid”), so “oxymoron” itself is an oxymoron (those clever Greeks). There are hundreds of oxymora (yes, the ... http://smithwriting.com/blog/for-the-love-of-words/the-oxymoron-it%e2%80%99s-wicked-good/ In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I’ve compiled a list of English words with Irish roots. Because, although we’re not all lucky enough to be Irish, we should at least be grateful for the culture’s colorful contributions to our vocabulary: banshee (n.) – In Irish folklore, a female spirit believed to ... http://smithwriting.com/blog/for-the-love-of-words/erin-go-bragh/ “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.” What? You didn’t get that? It’s a perfectly good sentence. For those of you who don’t know, “buffalo” is a very versatile word. It can be a singular or plural noun (meaning any of various wild oxen, including the American bison), a proper noun ... http://smithwriting.com/blog/for-the-love-of-words/did-you-hear-the-one-about-the-buffalo/ “Honey, we’re out of bananas.” “No problem. I’m heading to the oporopolist this afternoon.” “Great. … Huh?” Have you visited your neighborhood oporopolist lately? Maybe you have and you don’t even know it. You see, “oporopolist” means “fruit-seller”—and it’s my newly adopted word. I recently took in oporopolist from savethewords.org, a Web site sponsored ... http://smithwriting.com/blog/for-the-love-of-words/wont-you-help-save-the-words/ Oh, I just love this time of year. Snow is falling, carolers are singing, Christmas tree’s are twinkling—wait, “Christmas tree’s”? Really? Sorry to be the grammar grinch, folks, but I can’t help but feel a bit grouchy when faced with holiday-related misspellings and typos in ads, signs, and greeting cards. Just ... http://smithwriting.com/blog/grammar-guide/the-grammar-grinch/ In my last post, I wrote about how the New Oxford American Dictionary named “unfriend” its 2009 Word of the Year. Well, apparently there is more than one “Word of the Year,” and Merriam-Webster recently announced that “admonish” tops its annual Words of the Year list. This list is based ... http://smithwriting.com/blog/for-the-love-of-words/merriam-websters-2009-word-of-the-year-admonish/ This week, the New Oxford American Dictionary announced its 2009 Word of the Year: “unfriend.” Unfriend, a verb, means “to remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.” The choice points to the prevalence of social networking in our culture. In fact, a lot of the new ... http://smithwriting.com/blog/for-the-love-of-words/unfriend-named-word-of-the-year/ Ah, alliteration. One of my most loved literary devices. Whether placed in poetry or prose, alliteration is like music to my ears. Also known as “head rhyme,” alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds at the beginning of words—or in stressed syllables—in close succession. Although modern alliteration primarily uses consonants, ... http://smithwriting.com/blog/for-the-love-of-words/rebecca-writes-about-rhetorical-repetition/