Category: Grammar Club

Miss Understanding, Sir Charge and other unfortunate pageant titles

~ nickc324 ~ 8 Comments

It is always impressive when someone is honored with a title such as Miss America, Mr. Universe or Sir Something-Or-Other.

But those titles always make me think of other contests that would be an honor to win, but might also be confusing. Here are a few examples:

Miss Demeanor – The pageant winner who is pleasant and whose crimes aren’t too serious.

Sir Round – He’s everywhere!

Miss Print – Is this correct? Is this a Miss Print?

Sir Lee– The winner of the most unfriendly contest.

Continue reading “Miss Understanding, Sir Charge and other unfortunate pageant titles” →

Swab, swagger and other swanky “swa” words

~ nickc324 ~ 5 Comments

While getting a COVID-19 test recently, I started thinking about what a weird word “swab” is.

Say it out loud a few times.

Swab. Swab. Swab.

It doesn’t even seem like an actual word.

Swab.

It is, though, and when you take a stab at examining swab, you’ll see that there are more “swa” words than you thought possible

So, here is some information for you on swab and several other “swa” words.

Continue reading “Swab, swagger and other swanky “swa” words” →

My utmost thoughts on nethermost, outermost and other -most words

~ nickc324 ~ 7 Comments

Nethermost is among the topmost of words that I want to use more often.

Upmost is at the bottommost of that list.

While thinking about the utmost importance of –most words today, I realized that I had no idea there were so many of them. I knew there were a lot, but never in the hindermost parts of my brain had I imagined there were so many.

So, after a little research and way too much time thinking about this, here are a few of the –most words that I found interesting. Continue reading “My utmost thoughts on nethermost, outermost and other -most words” →

It’s time we had a talk about &

~ nickc324 ~ 12 Comments

ampersandI don’t care for the ampersand.

I’m sorry to disappoint all of the amper-fans out there, but it’s time that someone took a stand, an amper-stand.

The fancy symbol for a rather ordinary word does have a few good points, but it is also confusing & is often used incorrectly

Now before you accuse me of conjunction conjecture, let me say that I did a little research before writing my prose on pros and cons of our squiggly little friend. Continue reading “It’s time we had a talk about &” →

Which words do you consistently misspell?

~ nickc324 ~ 10 Comments

No matter how many times I use a few certain words, I always seem to spell them incorrectly.

Spellcheck usually helps me, but it’s frustrating that I keep typing these words wrong. Our judges also have certain words that give them trouble, so they put together this list of the “Top 5 Words I Always Spell Incorrectly.”

I am hoping that by making this list, it will help me spell these words correctly in the future. I’m also curious about the words that you run into that give you problems. Continue reading “Which words do you consistently misspell?” →

An important study on time-related words that have second meanings

~ nickc324 ~ 9 Comments

While working earlier this week, I was struck by the thought about how many words related to time have double meanings. This shocking discovery cost me a few hours of productivity, but it also left me with this important study to share with you today.

Please don’t tell my bosses, but here are a few of the surprising examples about how words that we use to describe time nearly always have second meanings, or at least similar words that sound roughly the same: Continue reading “An important study on time-related words that have second meanings” →

Top 5 Words That Look Funny To Me Right Now

~ nickc324 ~ 8 Comments

Every once in a while, a word looks funny to me because the spelling seems weird, it is used in different ways or if I just focus on it for a moment, it seems like a strange word.

Our judges say that this happens to nearly everyone, so they helped me put together this list of the Top 5 Words That Look Funny To Me Right Now. Continue reading “Top 5 Words That Look Funny To Me Right Now” →

I. Don’t. Like. This. Trend.

~ nickc324 ~ 13 Comments

It’s interesting to see how certain trends become popular in our culture today. At the same time, though, it’s also frustrating if I am not a big fan of some of the trends.

For example, I am constantly seeing people using periods in order to create emphasis in a sentence. I understand why they do it and I suppose it is working for them, but it’s still annoying.

Someone may write “This. Needs. To. Stop.” or something like that to try to cleverly emphasize what they are saying, but what I see is “Sen. Tence. Frag. Ment.” Continue reading “I. Don’t. Like. This. Trend.” →

What’s the deal with rhetorical questions? Read on for the answer (and additional pointless thoughts)

~ nickc324 ~ 5 Comments

Life is filled with many great questions, such as “Why are we here?”, “Where is the restroom?” and “Can I really put three question marks in one sentence?”

I may not have the answers to all of those questions, but I do have some important information to share with you today.

Continue reading “What’s the deal with rhetorical questions? Read on for the answer (and additional pointless thoughts)” →