Category: Word Watch

The world of words is like a banana republic — a scene of turmoil in which low and common entities constantly compete for power. You …

“What this country needs,” wrote Isabel Paterson in 1932, “is a lot less of all sorts of things.” She was thinking about laws – laws …

As you’ve noticed, this column has some of the attributes of a column of troops: it’s loud and destructive, its course is generally unpredictable, and …

It’s morning in America. The birds begin to sing, the sun transcends the clouds; all over the continent, readers of Liberty rise from innocent and …

Recently I had the pleasure of explaining an old expression to my young friend Liam Vavasour. We were discussing electoral predictions, and I mentioned that …

The subject for this month is linguistic mysteries – the things you hear or read that make you wonder, sometimes with amusement, sometimes with disgust, …

I know it’s a movie-house cliche, but it’s scary nonetheless – the story of the demon twin, the entity that seems identical to some nice, …

Professor Leland Yeager of Auburn University, a good friend of this column – and this column needs good friends – writes to issue a warning …

People who don’t like this column – and there are people who don’t like this column – complain about its haughty tone, its arrogant desire …

Every year, Lake Superior State University justifies its existence by issuing a Banished Words List – a list of “badly overused words and phrases” that, …