Archive by Author
Two Friends from Cleveland, Ohio Posted by Gary Locke on Apr 18, 2018
It is now hard to imagine that there was a time without superheroes. Popular culture worldwide has lately been saturated with colorful, often caped, muscular women and men with fantastic powers and abilities. From comic books to television to movie screens, these action heroes are everywhere, and the public has made them more popular now…
All the While Posted by Gary Locke on Apr 12, 2018
There are words in the English language which are frequently abused, commonly misapplied, and often indiscriminately placed in sentences and phrases. Near the very top of that list is the word while. It is also one of the most typically argued about words among English language stylists. To understand the controversy, you need to know…
Making Polite Requests in English Posted by Gary Locke on Apr 5, 2018
Ask any parent, and they will tell you that there is one magic word in English: Please. The more often you say it in your daily life, the better your life will be. You will be regarded as polite, well mannered, poised, and mature. If you have the chance to say it in a job…
The Great American Blue Jean Posted by Gary Locke on Mar 29, 2018
Spoiler alert: It’s only partly American. They have been called the world’s most popular article of clothing. According to the latest statistics, almost 1.25 billion jeans are sold worldwide each year. They have been immortalized by cowboys, greasers, and rock stars. World leaders wear them, as do children. We know them also as dungarees and…
Story of an English Word: Bespoke Posted by Gary Locke on Mar 22, 2018
Vocabulary is fluid. Words come and go like the tide, or they may mix with others to become something else. Some vanish, as if they vaporized into the air. Some words change their spelling over time, losing a vowel like a cup that spilled but righted itself. And some words reappear after decades of disuse…
The Greatest Blog About Hyperbole Ever Written! Posted by Gary Locke on Mar 15, 2018
One of the most common figures of speech in the English language is the hyperbole, yet I suspect that it is also one of the most misunderstood. It is easy to assume that almost any form of exaggeration is hyperbole but, technically, that’s not true. Recognizing what is, and what is not hyperbole should be…
Head-First Plural Nouns Posted by Gary Locke on Mar 8, 2018
I was listening to the news on my car radio recently when I heard a reporter say that the U.S. government was being sued by a group of “states attorneys general”. I’ve heard that term before and knew that the use of the plural was correct, but it still sounded odd to me. Then, a…