Boston Globe -- Jan Freeman columns

Phwoar!

Erin McKean — 2009-11-13T19:45:44Z

Oxford University Press has just published the third edition of “The F-Word” - 270 pages investigating every possible combination, situation, and divagation in which the most notorious expletive in English can be found. For a word that can’t be printed in most newspapers, it’s certainly leading a rich, full life.

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2009-11-13T19:45:44Z

Can you relate?

Jan Freeman — 2009-11-06T16:38:22Z

“RELATABLE - WHAT IS that?” demanded the subject line of Christina Thompson’s e-mail. The message itself took a calmer tone. Thompson, who edits the Harvard Review and teaches writing and editing, has been hearing the word more and more often, she said, to describe “something one can relate to, as in ‘it’s a very relatable book.’

The rules

Erin McKean — 2009-10-30T19:02:48Z

It’s nearly impossible to go through school in the United States without learning, at some point, the spelling mnemonic “i before e, except after c.” Generations of children have recited this under their breath during spelling bees and tests, clutching it like drowning victims to a lifeline, trusting it to save them.

Seeing the future

Jan Freeman — 2009-09-27T03:32:25Z

IN LAST WEEK’S NEWS, the United States was ”looking to move on” in its relations with Britain, Yahoo was looking to improve the search experience, Harrah’s was looking to dump debt, and Vladimir Sobotka was looking to make a big impression at the Bruins training camp.

Is ‘mourning’ broken?

Jan Freeman, Globe Staff — 2009-09-19T16:04:09Z

“World leaders mourn Ted Kennedy.” “Hollywood mourns Swayze.” “Friends and family mourn Michael Jackson.” All the mournful headlines got Sarah Jensen, a writer and editor, wondering about the way the verb is used. “Should this properly be ‘mourn the death of’?” she asked in an e-mail.

Mighty likely

Jan Freeman — 2009-09-13T02:38:05Z

“I may finish the project today.” “I might finish the project today.” Which one is a more optimistic prediction?

Turning up volumes

Jan Freeman — 2009-09-06T00:40:52Z

Book publishing is in trouble? You wouldn’t know it from the pile of new language books and the publishers’ promises of more to come.

More than friends

Jan Freeman — 2009-08-29T23:44:16Z

In the era of spill-it-all social networking, can we still describe a possibly amorous couple as an item , or is such discreetly winking terminology out of date? Chuck Eisenhardt of Arlington, after using the label in a Facebook posting several months ago, wrote to ask whether it was appropriate there, and where it had come from in the first ...

Fade away

Jan Freeman — 2009-08-22T15:52:12Z

What we talk about when we talk about grammar is hardly ever actual grammar - the way we put words and sentences together in English. Most of the time, it’s new words, or new meanings for old words, that grab our attention. But earlier this month, John Carroll - who teaches at Boston University and blogs at Campaign Outsider - ...

Way in

Jan Freeman — 2009-08-15T23:10:22Z

“Is Wendy’s hamburger way better than fast food?” asks reader Don Moody of Pittsburgh. “Is GoToMeeting.com way better than meeting face-to-face?” And is this advertising use of way correct English?

Vive la difference

Jan Freeman — 2009-08-08T22:15:54Z

SOMETIMES I PURPOSELY choose a usage some readers may disapprove of - an only in a position sticklers might call suboptimal, a bigger than me where some prefer bigger than I. It’s not that I’m being provocative - I’m just writing naturally - but after years as a copy editor, I tend to notice when I’m taking what some would ...

Anymore!

Jan Freeman — 2009-08-01T23:27:02Z

I SPENT LAST WEEK in Ohio, catching up with family, and the very day I arrived, my mother said something like this: “We get our fresh vegetables at Schild’s anymore.”

See-through

Jan Freeman — 2009-07-26T01:07:13Z

AT LEAST ONE reader had a problem (or maybe just an issue) with a word I used in last week’s column. I said that I preferred P-town as the short form of Provincetown, rather than Ptown or P’town, because it was conventional and also “transparent” - that is, the pronunciation was easily inferred from the spelling.

Falling short

Jan Freeman — 2009-07-19T00:45:01Z

Last week’s confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor were as bland as the pundits had predicted. But one news report did offer a bit of linguistic titillation. NPR’s Ari Shapiro, commenting on Sotomayer’s opening remarks, said, “I don’t think she went out on a limb {hellip} The statement was much shorter than it needed to be.”

Massive attack

Jan Freeman — 2009-07-11T04:00:00Z

It seems like just about anything can be massive these days, says reader Joe Walsh - even things that have no mass at all. Especially in the broadcast media, he e-mailed, he hears massive “in all manner of contexts - massive protests in Iran, massive tornadoes on the Weather Channel, massive heart attacks - having nothing to do with the ...

Aggravating!

Jan Freeman — 2009-07-05T04:00:00Z

ARMCHAIR EDITORS HAVE been hard at work over at After Deadline, the New York Times blog covering usage errors, since the latest editing quiz was posted last Tuesday. The new batch of questions includes a fairly typical range of goofs and gaffes, some subtle and some not: subject-verb agreement, whom for who, a rare instance where none really must be ...

The issue with issues

Jan Freeman — 2009-06-28T00:45:51Z

THE WORD issues bothers a fair number of people, including reader David Devore, who recently sent me a link to a language complaint in the Times of London - along with the warning, “watch out for escaping steam.” And indeed, the Times letter writer was at the boiling point. “In the media, in the pub, at the bus stop,” fulminated ...

Thou shalt not worry about it

Jan Freeman — 2009-06-07T00:01:31Z

For a while there, it looked as if the Internet's chief contribution to English usage would be misinformation, spread farther and faster than ever before. Remember "Life in the 1600s," that catalogue of just-so stories purporting to explain phrases like "raining cats and dogs" and "sleep tight"? Then we had the women-talk-more-than-men myth, and now we await the "millionth word" ...

Countdown

Jan Freeman — 2009-05-24T04:00:00Z

A couple of weeks ago, Joe Eskenazi of SF Weekly published a blog item headlined "Why Must Bike Activists Continue to Roll Over the English Language?" His beef: The T-shirt slogan "One Less Car." He thinks it should be "One Fewer Car." And even the leaders of San Francisco's bike coalition agree; yeah, we know it's wrong, they told Eskenazi.

Specious origins

Jan Freeman, Globe Correspondent — 2009-05-17T02:40:42Z

Conundrum of the week: If you hear of a language myth for the first time only when you're learning that it isn't true, have you added to your store of knowledge, or just further encumbered your already overtaxed memory?

Unusual suspects

Jan Freeman — 2009-05-03T01:11:33Z

A FEW YEARS ago, in a journalism class a friend of mine was teaching, one of the older students said he didn't get another writer's passing reference to a current movie. In the ensuing discussion, my friend said they might want to stick to allusions that were widely familiar - "You know, like 'Round up the usual suspects.' "

Hello, gobsmacked

Jan Freeman — 2009-04-26T04:00:00Z

SOME NEW WORDS are extroverts - they want to be noticed. Just look at gobsmacked, currently in the spotlight along with Susan Boyle, the singing phenom from "Britain's Got Talent," and her 100 million YouTube hits. When Boyle told reporters she was "gobsmacked" at her reception, Ben Zimmer noted last week in his column at Visual Thesaurus, lookups of the ...

Special sauces

Erin McKean — 2009-04-19T03:32:27Z

IS SOMETHING MORE awesome than a mere awesome can convey? Or, worse, more lame than can be expressed by the four little letters l-a-m-e? Something make you happier than happy? Need to proclaim that there is just too much drama going on? There's a simple, emphatic solution: just add some sauce. Something awesomesauce is just dripping with awesome, something happysauce ...

Clever horses

Jan Freeman — 2009-04-12T00:30:01Z

THIS WEEK MARKS the 50th anniversary of "The Elements of Style," the best-selling usage manual consisting of E.B. White's additions to (and revisions of) a 1918 "little book" by William Strunk Jr., once White's professor at Cornell. To celebrate, the publisher is offering a revised, updated . . .

Strait up

Jan Freeman — 2009-03-29T04:00:00Z

"I THINK I caught a word in the process of evolving yesterday," e-mailed reader John C.C. White of Arlington last week. In a talk radio discussion of shopping habits in the down economy, he heard one contributor explain that he was postponing purchases until he was "in better financial straits."

Active resistance

Jan Freeman — 2009-03-22T03:34:48Z

IN THE DECADES since Ronald Reagan's famous non-apology for the Iran-Contra scandal - "mistakes were made" - we've gotten used to treating the passive voice as a shady customer. It's shifty and craven, weak and flabby, we say. But do we have any idea what we're talking about?

Prepossession

Jan Freeman — 2009-03-15T02:14:10Z

NOT LONG AFTER the president's inauguration, I was following a trail of Webcrumbs through the online coverage when I found myself stumped by a columnist's comment on how normal the Obamas seemed:

Carrot unstuck

Jan Freeman — 2009-03-08T04:18:18Z

WHICH CAME FIRST, the donkey or the diplomat? Remember the carrot-and-stick conundrum? Of course you do; it's one of the more vexing language standoffs of our time. Some people say the proper phrase is "carrot on a stick," meaning an incentive, a carrot dangled in front of a balky donkey. Others are sure it's "carrot and stick," suggesting behavior modification ...

The unkindliest cut

Jan Freeman — 2009-01-25T05:00:00Z

The adjective kindly isn't on anyone's list of insulting words -- yet. But reader Areve Alexander has her suspicions about it. "Is the word kindly ever used to describe anyone under, say, 45?" she asks in an e-mail. Or, she wonders, is it like feisty -- a word that compliments and condescends in the same breath?

History of a cliche

Jan Freeman — 2009-01-18T05:00:00Z

WHEN IT COMES to "hit the ground running," reader Rosalie Hanson has hit the wall, and she threatens to hit the ceiling if she keeps hearing the "inane cliche."

Confirmed

Jan Freeman — 2009-01-11T05:00:00Z

WHEN HE NEEDED some blood drawn recently, Cliff Krieger found himself stuck on a language problem. "The lab technician asked me to 'confirm my birthday,' he recounts in an e-mail. "I paused, waiting for her to suggest a birthday, which I would then either confirm or deny. Of course, she wanted me to TELL her my birthday."

Warm cooler

Jan Freeman — 2009-01-04T05:00:00Z

DO YOU HOLD onto a cold beer with a koozie or a cozy? Or do you call that insulating sleeve for a bottle or can something else entirely?

The language dustbin

Jan Freeman — 2008-12-28T05:00:00Z

AS REGULAR READERS of this column know, I often turn to usage history to help put current complaints in perspective. There's a wealth of material: During the past couple of centuries, when prescriptivism really got rolling, there was an English-language authority ready to pronounce on almost any usage point, no matter how small.

Rule by whim

Jan Freeman — 2008-12-21T05:00:00Z

NOTHING COULD BE easier than finding an outlandish assertion, a baldfaced lie, a counterfactual claim on the Web, where anyone can say anything - at least temporarily.

Stoppeth, already

Jan Freeman — 2008-12-14T05:00:00Z

LAST WEEKEND, I was ready to grouse and grumble once more about my fellow journalists' weakness for misusing ye olde Elizabethan verbs.

Speaking volumes

Jan Freeman — 2008-11-30T05:00:00Z

THERE'S NO SUCH category, really, as "language books"; every year brings a collection of ambitious histories (long and short), specialized reference books, grammar grab bags, and quirky collections, in varying proportions. This year's crop is different only in its unusual abundance; all the books mentioned here deserve a look - and many can be explored online - but the list ...

Needless words

Jan Freeman — 2008-11-23T05:00:00Z

"OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS," William Strunk famously urged students in his English classes at Cornell. In fact, said E.B. White - who was one of those students long before he became Strunk's coauthor - the professor said it over and over: "Rule Seventeen. Omit needless words! Omit needless words! Omit needless words!"

We are not bemused

Jan Freeman — 2008-11-16T05:00:00Z

DURING THE PAST year of political reporting, a lot of writers have thought bemused was just the right word for Barack Obama's benign, unruffled presence, especially in the debates with John McCain.

#@!*

Jan Freeman — 2008-11-09T05:00:00Z

LAST TUESDAY, WHILE you were standing in line at the polls or tweaking your interactive electoral map, the Supreme Court took an hour to debate whether the F-word and the S-word are always and irredeemably dirty. The Federal Communications Commission was there to argue the case for its "Bono rule." The FCC used to tolerate "fleeting expletives" like Bono's F-word ...

Dem 'crats

Jan Freeman — 2008-11-02T04:00:00Z

"DEMOCRATICAL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Joe Biden blasted John McCain over the weekend for voting against raising the minimum wage," said an item last month at the Dallas Morning News website.

Don't feel badly

Jan Freeman — 2008-10-26T04:00:00Z

LAST MONTH, WHEN Bill Belichick was quoted everywhere as "feeling badly" for the injured Tom Brady, a couple of readers asked whether feel badly was good English. Shouldn't we properly be feeling bad for the Patriots' sidelined quarterback?

Singular challenge

Jan Freeman — 2008-10-19T04:00:00Z

"DOES ANYBODY IN their right mind think that the value of American business has dropped by $6 trillion?" asked investment guru John Bogle in a recent interview at Marketwatch.com.

Buzz factor

Jan Freeman — 2008-10-12T04:00:00Z

"PERHAPS YOU ROLL your eyes when your co-worker complains that he 'doesn't have the bandwidth' to finish a certain task," wrote William Weir in the Hartford Courant last week. "But if history is any indication, you'll eventually be using that phrase yourself."

The great 'scape

Jan Freeman — 2008-10-05T04:00:00Z

THE LANDSCAPES MAKING news these days aren't the kind with trees and mountains and cottony clouds. Instead, our gaze is riveted by the metaphorical landscapes - political, financial, economic - whose contours are shifting by the hour.

A girl called 'it'

Jan Freeman — 2008-09-28T04:00:00Z

THE BABY GIRL found on a doorstep in Newton earlier this month arrived just in time to contribute to an online discussion of pronoun usage.

What a mess

Jan Freeman — 2008-09-21T04:00:00Z

It's a collapse, a crunch, a slide, a plunge, a rout, a quake. In the most general and judicious term, it's a crisis - that Greek-derived word for "decision point" that carefully withholds judgment about whether the patient will recover or die.

Pause and effect

Jan Freeman — 2008-09-14T04:00:00Z

THE SEMICOLON MAY have been scorned by chest-thumping writers like Hemingway and Vonnegut, as I wrote last month, but it still has scores of vocal admirers.

Original copy

Jan Freeman — 2008-09-07T04:00:00Z

READER BOB LARKIN of Beverly was puzzled by an episode of the PBS series "History Detectives," recently re-aired, wherein the sleuths tried to discover whether they had the "original copy" of Robert E. Lee's surrender order. "Obviously they were looking for the original order," Larkin said in an e-mail. "How can a 'copy' be both an original and a duplicate?"

Can you? Yes

Jan Freeman — 2008-08-24T04:00:00Z

"DO I WISH we got better broadcast ratings?" asked Stephanie Savage, co-creator of the TV series "Gossip Girl," in a recent interview. "Yes," she answered.

Bitter edge

Jan Freeman — 2008-08-17T04:00:00Z

The news last week brought a cornucopia of cusps, with Michael Phelps "on the cusp of history," China "on the cusp of a new golden age," and Madonna on the cusp - or not! - of adopting another child.

Sex and the semicolon

Jan Freeman — 2008-08-10T04:00:00Z

IN A RECENT column inviting readers to copy-edit along with him, language maven James Kilpatrick objected to a possessive that appeared in the Washington Post: "Stephens's story."

License revoked

Jan Freeman — 2008-07-27T04:00:00Z

PHILADELPHIA'S CITY COUNCIL found out, a few weeks ago, that it isn't easy to legislate truth in tourism. A new law requiring that city tour guides pass a test on local history has been challenged by three of the guides, who claim a First Amendment right to tell their clients tall tales.

Steep thoughts

Jan Freeman — 2008-07-20T04:00:00Z

IN AN OP-ED article for the New York Times last week, Barack Obama said that his two-year timetable for redeployment of the troops now in Iraq "would not be a precipitous withdrawal."