Category Archives: grammar

California passes law to test prospective cops for both explicit and implicit bias: a poorly written article in The Washington Post

October 29, 2020 – 10:45 am

This law sounds good in principle, but seems impossible to use as a way of detecting racism in potential hires. The law and its problems are described in a long and poorly-written article in the Washington Post; I’ll have more to say about the writing later. Click on the screenshot to read: Here’s the skinny, […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Get off my lawn!, grammar and language, journalism, journalists behaving badly, law enforcement | Comments (23)

Words and phrases I detest

March 31, 2020 – 12:45 pm

You’d think that during the pandemic, people might be at home brushing up on their grammar; but of course you’d think wrongly. I never seem to run out of phrases that I detest, and, in this latest installment, all of them come from HuffPost, a reliable source of bad writing by eager but unlettered and […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Get off my lawn! | Comments (92)

More odious words and phrases

March 8, 2020 – 3:00 pm

It’s sunny outside, the ducks are being frisky, and I have no business trying to brain today. Here: enjoy three words and phrases I have grown to hate. It’s amazing that I rarely repeat these; I suppose that makes me a curmudgeon.  Click on the screenshots to see the source of these irritating usages. The […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Get off my lawn!, grammar and language | Comments (180)

Words and phrases I hate

February 6, 2020 – 1:30 pm

Yes, it’s time for another chance to blow off steam about words and phrases that irritate you. I have three today: all, of course, are from HuffPo—the source of everything risible and reprehensible. You’re invited to contribute your favorites in the comments. 1.) “Sick” meaning “cool” or “great.” This is another neologism which means the opposite of […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Get off my lawn!, grammar and language | Comments (129)

Words and phrases I hate

December 26, 2019 – 12:30 pm

The dreadful neologisms just keep pouring in, almost as if I were a bad boy this year and get these things instead of lumps of coal at Christmas. In just a few days I’ve accumulated four words that should be ruthlessly expunged from the literature and from the vocabulary of thinking people. Three of them […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Get off my lawn!, grammar and language | Comments (64)

HuffPo needs the grammar police

September 12, 2019 – 4:00 pm

. . . for headlines like this one (click if you want to go to the story): No, the troll wasn’t an expert in insulting hands. . .

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in PuffHo :-( | Comments (12)

Words and phrases I hate

August 28, 2019 – 12:30 pm

Beyond the depressing news from Britain (and Matthew has promised to write us a daily summary during the “troubles”), there’s not much I feel compelled to write about today. So let’s return to a favorite curmudgeonly pastime: describing words and phrases that rankle us. I have three today: A.) “This. Just this.” This phrase is […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (167)

Words and phrases I hate

August 15, 2019 – 2:30 pm

The list keeps growing so fast that I can barely contain my bile.  Here are a few stinkers that have bothered me lately. (And of course, add your own in the comments.) All examples come from that bastion of grammatical degeneracy: HuffPost. 1.) “noms” for nominations. This is one of those “look cool” truncations like […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Get off my lawn!, grammar and language | Comments (154)

More words and phrases I hate

July 11, 2019 – 1:15 pm

It’s that time of year when the heat makes one splenetic, ready to denounce phrases used by the young, woke, or “with-it”.  Here are a few of my most despiséd terms, and of course you’re welcome to add yours. It’s time for the Daily Two Minutes of Hate! 1.) “Back in the day”.  Of course […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Get off my lawn!, grammar and language | Comments (276)

“Gender reveal parties”: a gross misnomer

June 22, 2019 – 12:15 pm

All of a sudden, “gender reveal parties” are all the rage. I read about them everywhere, but at first didn’t know what they were: I thought that they were affairs in which adults who had changed gender, or realized their gender, revealed this to their friends and family. But noooo, here’s what they are, as […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Get off my lawn!, sex and gender issues | Comments (76)