From the category archives:

Language Lab

A spoonful of sarcasm helps the medicine go down

January 1, 2010

From Cracking the GRE, a test-prep manual by Doug Pierce:
You will also see a fourth, unidentified, experimental section on the GRE. This section will either be Math or Verbal and will look exactly like the real Math or Verbal section . . ., but it won’t count toward your score. ETS [the company that administers [...]

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Exit left, pursued by an English teacher

June 21, 2009

British government opposes “i before e, except after c.”
To be honest, I don’t know where I stand on such a dangerous and controversial topic. In my head, “i before e, except after c” is most often processed as “e before i after c. Usually.”
ETA: Husband has informed me of a mnemonic for some of the [...]

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Hand homonyms: victory or peace?

June 16, 2009

A language question that has baffled me since I was a child (I blame Nixon): how do you know if this two-fingered hand gesture shown below means victory or peace?
Written/spoken homonyms are generally understood by their context, but without other words forming a sentence around it, how should this isolated sign be read?
The country or [...]

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Man, ignorance really is bliss.

June 11, 2009

Full pun intended.
Texas town says goodbye to ‘hello’
KINGSVILLE, Texas (AP) – In this friendly little ranching town, “hello” is wearing out its welcome. And Leonso Canales Jr. is happy as heck.
At his urging, the Kleberg County commissioners on Monday unanimously designated “heaven-o” as the county’s official greeting. The reason: “hello” contains the word “hell.”
Guess they’ll [...]

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