by Don Hauptman | Apr 8, 2010 | Articles, Skill Development
When I studied French in high school, we were taught the phrase faux amis, or “false friends.” The expression refers to foreign-language words whose meanings you think you know but which can lead you astray if you’re not careful. A similar phenomenon...
by Don Hauptman | Apr 1, 2010 | Articles, Skill Development
For the title of this year’s annual April Fools’ Day column, I’ve borrowed a phrase from Leo Rosten (1908-1997), the humorist and screenwriter. As devotees of “recreational linguistics” know, English isn’t just rules and grammar. It...
by Don Hauptman | Mar 26, 2010 | Articles, Skill Development
Can you see anything wrong with the following sentences? “No longer able to cope, she reluctantly decides to leave.” “I just can’t cope anymore…. Most of the time I can cope pretty well.” “Homer and the rest of the family have...
by Don Hauptman | Mar 18, 2010 | Articles, Skill Development
New words, or neologisms, are coined all the time. Not so long ago, we didn’t have blog, downsize, iPod, megatrend, shareware, Wi-Fi… and many others. But not every newly coined word becomes widely used or even enters the language. As you might expect,...
by Don Hauptman | Mar 11, 2010 | Articles, Skill Development
Recently, a grammatical point made in an essay posted on a friend’s website generated a spirited disagreement from a reader. My friend asked me to mediate. The essay told the story of a student who was rebuked by his teacher for saying “He is taller than...