Have you noticed there’s less color in our lives? Vibrant colors like bright reds, blues, and greens seem to be fading from popular use and are being replaced by more subdued grays, beiges, blacks, and neutral tones. This is happening in almost every industry – from automobiles to interior design, fashion and makeup, and even…
It might feel good when AI is a sycophant but it’s potentially dangerous. A sycophant describes a person who uses insincere praise and excessive agreement to win the favor, protection, or approval of someone, usually for personal gain. The leading AI models, including OpenAI’s GPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini, clearly have been designed to…
Yes, this is a very unique blog about redundant extra words. As a words matter guy, I’m often struck by seemingly common phrases which don’t make logical sense. The phrase ‘I could care less’ is five times more prevalent in American English than the correct phrase ‘I couldn’t care less.’ Lately, I’ve been hearing a…
As ice cream is my favorite indulgence, I’ve repeated the ice cream origin story which claims Marco Polo brought a recipe back to Italy after his travels to the Far East. I’ve heard the story from others; even an organization as reputable as the International Dairy Food Association makes that claim. It turns out it’s…
For most of our adult lives, a good friend and I have debated “best of” lists. Whether it’s the best songs to play on Halloween or the greatest movie quotes, we seemingly never get tired of revisiting previous lists and creating new ones. One of our favorite debates is songs with the best opening lines….
I recently met with a former close colleague to catch up and celebrate the birth of his first child. During a wide-ranging 4-hour (!) conversation, my friend dropped an intriguing nugget: First born girls look more like their fathers than their mothers so their fathers are more likely to accept them, as historically men have…
Does spelling matter? A young colleague recently asked me that after the two of us wondered whether to spell the word ‘collectable’ or ‘collectible’. To my eye, collectable seemed correct – able to be collected. As a counterpoint, my colleague pointed out that spellcheck accepted collectible. So, which is it? Most online sources suggest either…
As my mantra is “Words Matter,” I’m fascinated by the etymology of words, how different cultures use language, and when people misuse English. I’ve covered spelling bees, written about mondegreens and eggcorns, and advocated for the banishing of overused words. So, it’s probably not surprising I’m fascinated with jokes that contain a play on words. Here’s one I heard recently: A woman was…
According to neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, author of How Emotions Are Made, emotions aren’t hardwired in your brain but are instead “made in the moment.“ Historically, scientists believed your brain triggers an evolutionary response to external factors, causing your body to act in a predetermined way. For example, if you saw a bear in the woods, you…
Since 1976, Lake Superior State University (LSSU) has compiled an annual list of words that should be banned with the goal to… uphold, protect, and support excellence in language by encouraging avoidance of words and terms that are overworked, redundant, oxymoronic, clichéd, illogical, nonsensical—and otherwise ineffective, baffling, or irritating. Over the last 50 years, LSSU…