by Jamie Chavez | Jun 14, 2016 | Words & Language
Not long ago I posted a photograph of the Irishman and my (er, his? our?) cat on Facebook with this caption: Just now, in the man cave. And a friend of mine remarked that she wasn’t fond of the term man cave. It was just a little banter among friends, but I was...
by Jamie Chavez | Apr 23, 2016 | Words & Language
We’ve just been talking about indefinite articles, and here’s another conversation about word use that points out the important choice involved (between definite and indefinite). It’s also about slang, and about how language changes. Is that a thing? It is. The word...
by Jamie Chavez | Apr 4, 2016 | Words & Language
A writer friend of mine posted a little meme* on Facebook the other day: Never make fun of someone if they mispronounce a word. It means they learned it by reading. I doubt there’s any data to support this but I feel the truth of it in my bones, having been a child...
by Jamie Chavez | Jan 25, 2016 | Words & Language
I grew up the child of two Midwesterners of modest means, so I knew from an early age about pudding—it was that powder Mom mixed with milk on her old Kenmore mixer until it thickened, then put in the fridge to cool and thicken a little more. You know—like a soft...
by Jamie Chavez | Dec 12, 2015 | Words & Language
I love slang but am less enamored of hyperbole, especially the kind that makes you sound like a thirteen-year-old (unless you’re writing fictional dialogue for young teens, in which instance go for it). In fact, I’m on record when it comes to the use of amazing, the...
