Jan Freeman

Not to be a killjoy, but isn't that what we all learned to call "first person plural" in our school days?

Wow, actual stick stamps! But the article was referring to the marks on the floor, not the implement that made them.

Oops I mean “stick stamps,” which sounds even less plausible

But have you ever heard them called sticker stamps? I haven’t, here in Boston.

Yes, some Americans say ROOT and some say ROWT (for highways) and it’s impossible to tell which commenters know this and which have no idea

Day

Just looking at the photo makes my knees go watery…

Had a similar thought when I noticed the subtitles for “Outrageous,” in which Hitler is a major player, consistently spelled the salute “Seig Heil.”

COCHLEA is no better

Folks who won't be fooled by politicized official economic statistics:
- The Fed
- The bond market
- The stock market
- Foreign investors

Folks who will be flying blind in the absence of reliable econ data:
- All of the above
- Small biz
- Big biz
- Voters

If you want the rest of the DARE volumes, I can let you have them for whatever they cost to ship. (Trying so hard to start deaccessioning. Did you know that the older you get, the heavier your books are?)

I too thought that was the problem with "the hoi polloi." 🤔

'Sneaked' or 'Snuck': Which is correct? It's a Modern English Mystery

Oh it totally is, and one with an unusual history. www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/snuc...

Watching "Outrageous," about the Mitfords and Mosley, and the characters have uttered (versions of) "Want to come with?" 4 times in 3 episodes. Seriously doubt the Mitfords and their set ever used that locution, but willing to hear otherwise from Brits & linguists. (Does BrE do it even today?)

Those were generally called "garter belts" where I was. A girdle could have straps for attaching stockings, but was definitely meant to constrict (mainly) the hips/butt.

I hope we are all enjoying Justin Wolfers, one of my favorite economists (I know a few), who for some reason is allowed to say true things on TV. Watch him use the word "lying" three times about government debt claims.

This drove me nuts when "Moulin Rouge" was a current movie. I don't think I ever once heard the correct vowel at the end of "Moulin." (Not really qualified to nitpick in French, but this one really stood out.)

I am old enough to have worn an actual girdle (for a brief historical moment before we said goodbye to all that), and shapeware is definitely not a synonym for girdle. Though, granted, “girdle“ is an old word for many kinds of garments.

I would guess many of your readers have heard this word in “Some Like It Hot.”

Good call. I've spent the heat wave rereading "Parade's End," or rather mostly listening to an excellent audio version while occasionally consulting my shabby 1979 Vintage paperback.

OH has loosened up a lot, but in my formative years you bought liquor at the state store from a guy at a single little window.

Moved to CA from OH, can still picture the stunning sight of a shopping cart full of discount vodka bottles first time I walked into the Safeway.

The OED's subscription notice tells me: "If you'd not want to renew it you can untick the 'Auto renew' option." Would love comment from BrE speakers — the cites I've found use "you'd not" to mean "you hadn't" or "you didn't," neither of which fits here. @lynneguist.bsky.social

I share your love of the newels and risers, but one caution: if you’re old enough to declare that this is your last house, you are definitely old enough for the rule that you never go up or down without a hand on the banister. I realize that can’t apply to moving day, but it’s a life-saving habit.

Also the audio versions with Patrick Tull narrating are amazing. I loved them despite having no special interest in either seafaring or the Napoleonic wars.

That’s not just for contronyms like “nonplussed,” now taken to mean its opposite, but also means usages that are popular but disapproved of by segments of the population.

Bryan Garner, author of the big usage books of our era, calls them “skunked terms.”

And then there's "collop" as well ... or rather, there it isn't.

I tried it and was not thinking of it as BrE, but who knows? It might be a word I learned in childhood from Winnie-the-Pooh.

Her dance card?