Posts by Author

Don Hauptman

Posts by Author

Don Hauptman

The Language Perfectionist: Fun and Games

By Don Hauptman | 06/3/2011

Consider these comments, found online: “All the kits in this bundle are so fun.” “Why is college so fun? No parents!” “How fun is your workplace?” In these quotations, the word fun, a noun, is used as if it were an adjective. It’s not good English. Why do people do…

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The Language Perfectionist: The Sense of Sense

By Don Hauptman | 05/27/2011

Can you spot anything wrong with these sentences, found online? “A rich mixture of ylang-ylang and palmarosa essential oils creates a sensual aroma.” “Soulful Situations is a sensual sound experience that offers soul, jazz, R&B and beyond.” Article Title: “Heightening the Sensual Experience of a Well-Designed Landscape” In all of…

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The Language Perfectionist: Quotation Quota

By Don Hauptman | 05/20/2011

Every few years, my friend Mardy Grothe assembles a new collection of quotations. The defining characteristic of these anthologies is that all the entries share an interesting or quirky theme. His latest work, Neverisms, just published, is generating a lot of favorable attention in the media and among his many…

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The Language Perfectionist: Worldly Goods

By Don Hauptman | 05/13/2011

Everyone has pet peeves – those irritating verbal tics and bromides that are the linguistic equivalent of fingernails scraping across a blackboard. The following sentences illustrate one of mine: “While we might be a bit partial to the Lamborghinis, the Aston Martins and the Bugattis of the world, we’d be…

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The Language Perfectionist: Another Spell

By Don Hauptman | 05/6/2011

I recently wrote a column on what may be the 14 most common misspellings in the English language. But additional candidates can readily be found. In a newspaper article about automated parking garages, the word palate was used repeatedly for pallet. A pallet is “a portable platform used for storing…

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The Language Perfectionist: Ambiguous Alerts

By Don Hauptman | 04/22/2011

It’s time once again for a roundup of ambiguities in the media. That is, badly written sentences that puzzle, confuse, or mislead readers because they lack clarity and can be interpreted in more than one way. Check your writing to ensure that you don’t commit this common error. I found…

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The Language Perfectionist: Of Course This Point Is Important

By Don Hauptman | 04/8/2011

The expression of course looks innocent, but it can create problems. Writers and speakers casually insert the phrase to indicate that something is obvious or self-evident. In most cases, it’s perfectly acceptable. But in others, it can sound insulting or patronizing. The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style,…

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The Language Perfectionist: Amusing April Acronyms

By Don Hauptman | 04/1/2011

A few months ago, I wrote a serious column about acronyms. Now April Fools’ Day provides an appropriate occasion to explore the humorous possibilities of acronyms and initialisms. You say you didn’t know that abbreviations can be funny? Sure you do! This is a phenomenon that everyone has encountered or…

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The Language Perfectionist: A Caucus of Confusables

By Don Hauptman | 03/18/2011

It’s time once again to set the record straight on pairs of words that are commonly confused. Here are examples from print and online sources: “The number had been cut before the premier of the film.” A gala event is a premiere. The adjective meaning first is premier. “Mr. Heiberger…

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The Language Perfectionist: Two for One

By Don Hauptman | 03/11/2011

I’ve observed a strange phenomenon in my reading lately: words that are improperly divided in two. I hope it’s not a trend. The following examples are taken from major newspapers and online searches: “While Mr. Assange is basking in his new found fame, there is no reason to believe he…

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The Language Perfectionist: Dogging the Wag

By Don Hauptman | 03/4/2011

As readers of this column know, I have a habit of searching for errors and anomalies in the media, adding my own puckish retorts, and preserving the results for posterity. Below is a fresh collection of recent bloopers and mischievous rejoinders. This set originally appeared in Word Ways, “The Journal…

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The Language Perfectionist: The Whether Is Fine

By Don Hauptman | 02/18/2011

In an eerie coincidence, two acquaintances almost simultaneously sent me e-mail messages that concerned the proper use of whether. One suggested that my use of whether should have been if. The other wondered if the phrase whether or not contains two unnecessary words. Let’s consider these issues in turn. First,…

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