Wednesday, May 25, 2016

This Week: More on the language of politics and literature on the podcast + literally

literally
Like “incredible,” “literally” has been so overused as a sort of vague intensifier that it is in danger of losing its literal meaning. It should be used to distinguish between a figurative and a literal meaning of a phrase. It should not be used as a synonym for “actually” or “really.” Don’t say of someone that he “literally blew up” unless he swallowed a stick of dynamite.


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https://commonerrorspodcast.wordpress.com/

This week on the podcast we continue our discussion of political language and literature.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

This Week: The language of politics and literature on the podcast + ambivalent/indifferent

ambivalent/indifferent
If you feel pulled in two directions about some issue, you’re ambivalent about it; but if you have no particular feelings about it, you’re indifferent.

 

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https://commonerrorspodcast.wordpress.com/

This week on the podcast we discuss the language of politics and literature.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

This Week: The language of elections on the podcast + new blog post by Paul Brians + electorial college/electoral college

electorial college/electoral college 
It’s “electoral.”
 
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Paul Brians’ most recent blog post follows up on a previous podcast, where we had brought up the word “epicenter.”
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https://commonerrorspodcast.wordpress.com/

This week on the podcast we discuss the language of the election season.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016