by Jamie Chavez | Jun 12, 2017 | Words & Language
I love slang as much as the next person. As a frame of reference, slang instantly conveys humor, sarcasm, or solidarity. Just think about the meaning occupy has taken on recently, and the myriad ways it’s been applied. Pop culture (that is, the world we live in) is a...
by Jamie Chavez | May 19, 2017 | Books You Might Like
‘Done!’ said my lady. ‘Oh, Rupert! I lost my big emerald at play last week! I could have cried my eyes out, and Edward could only say that it must be a lesson to me!’ ‘That’s Edward all over,’ nodded Rupert. ‘Don’t I know it!’ ‘No, you do not, tiresome boy! He will...
by Jamie Chavez | Nov 28, 2016 | Words & Language
When I get to the end of an edit, I generally make a list of the author’s “favorite” words and phrases—words he or she used over and over without realizing it. It’s quite instructive. Usually they are words like so and well used at the beginning of sentences of...
by Jamie Chavez | Oct 31, 2016 | Words & Language
I admit I’m sometimes out of the loop. (Or behind the curve. Or whatever.) I don’t watch television and it’s only me up here in the swanky second-floor office in the pink house with the blue door, so whole fads pass me by. Whole memes pass me by. But I am up on my...
by Jamie Chavez | Oct 3, 2016 | Words & Language
Words—and the way they are pronounced—can be such funny things. And people are often passionately attached to their own interpretation, even if they’re … well … wrong. (Like the pronunciation of Van Gogh. Look it up; you may be surprised.) The Irishman and I have done...
