http://smithwriting.com/blog Rebecca Smith, founder of the copywriting firm SmithWriting, blogs on grammar, language, and all things writing. Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:05:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en “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/ Well, here it is, one of my favorite days of the year: National Punctuation Day (NPD). Now in its sixth year, NPD has a mission to cure the “epidemic of poor punctuation in the United States,” according to founder Jeff Rubin. How can you observe NPD? Go around town and point out all ... http://smithwriting.com/blog/grammar-guide/let%e2%80%99s-celebrate/ Last night, Kim and I participated in our second straight CreateAthon—and we had a great time doing so! What is CreateAthon, you ask? It’s a 24-hour creative blitz during which advertising agencies and design firms around the country work on a pro bono basis for nonprofit organizations. The event was hosted ... http://smithwriting.com/blog/copywriting/creative-blitz/ OK, I admit it: Sometimes I break the rules—grammar rules, that is. You may find this hard to believe (coming from a self-proclaimed grammar guru), but, in some cases, I think that disobeying certain rules results in better copy. Here are some common grammar regulations and my thoughts on when it’s acceptable ... http://smithwriting.com/blog/grammar-guide/breaking-the-rules/ As a copy editor, I often find myself correcting the misuse of the terms i.e. and e.g. These seemingly harmless letter combinations can actually do a lot of damage when used improperly: Not only can they change the meaning of your work, they can also make you look stupid—and no one ... http://smithwriting.com/blog/grammar-guide/is-it-ie-or-eg/