Have you noticed how many medical test acronyms start with E and end with G? I can never keep them straight, so I thought some of you might also have trouble knowing which middle letter goes with which test. These definitions are taken from the Internet, so if anyone sees a change that should be…

Misused words or mispronunciation of words can lead to misunderstandings. Here are some examples I have collected through the years. Some are words I have heard spoken; some are words I have seen written; and, of course, some are from friends who know I like this kind of ‘stuff’ 😉. Commonly Misused Words “He is…

Do any of you remember when parents told their kids that “Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me”? I know they were just trying to make us feel better, although words can hurt. The recent Oscars ceremony just emphasized that issue. I didn’t see the event in real time,…

My Adult Literacy League students ask the best questions! Here is one from my most recent ESL (English as a Second Language) student: “What is the difference between ‘fill in’ and ‘fill out’?” Of course, I gave her my usual response to these questions: “Umm . . .” I had to think about all of…

February makes me think of red – red hearts, red flowers. I also realized that a lot of phrases use the word red. What is strange is that the phrases seem to either represent positive things OR negative things. I can’t think of another word that is used for such opposite meanings! What do you…

Happy New Year, everyone. At least, I hope so! To get us started on a not-so-serious track, I am holding a contest for the funniest typo of 2021. We looked at several in October – based on the number of comments received, the winner from that post was the “Walking Closet” example. Several of you…

In honor of the amount of food we all might be enjoying during the upcoming holidays, here are some expressions that mention food. “Not worth a hill of beans.” (Not sure I want to know the meaning behind this one) “Don’t fall off of the apple cart.” (Huh? 😕) “She’s the apple of my eye.”…

I thought it was time for another Cliché Corner when I “ran” across this saying the other day – “run of the mill.” Of course, I asked our Cliché Corner contributor, Mary Pat, for her input. Here is what she found: “Run of the mill today means ordinary or average, but it originated as things…

I apologize for missing the first “Words Wednesday” for a post last week. I was in Milwaukee, attending the Property Records Industry Association conference. What a fun town! Perfect weather, lots of people out walking, running, riding bicycles. Extremely friendly folks everywhere (even the TSA check-in lady at the airport was pleasant!). We stayed downtown…

American English has so many prefixes that mean “not” or “no” – it sure would be nice if we only had one, but then, that would be too simple, wouldn’t it? We have (in no particular order): un, in, im, il, mis, dis, and de. We probably have more.  One problem with teaching prefixes is…