That's What They Say

We sometimes talk about stealing or robbery in terms of "lifting" things, and this is relevant to "heists" as well.

We will never know some of the informal language that was bandied about among speakers in the time of Beowulf.

There are so many interesting bits of language in the world, we can’t help but notice. The question is, when you notice someone saying something interesting, should you point it out?

If you prove something to be true, then it’s proven. Or is it proved?

If you have one staff, as in a stick, and then you add another staff, you now run into the question of whether you have two staffs or two staves.At least,…

The words "previous" and "prior" are synonyms and don’t get much attention from language commentators.That is, they don’t get much attention unless “to”…

We do things more often "to no avail" than "of no avail."These constructions have been on our minds since a listener asked about the relationship between…

If you shine your shoes today, tomorrow you’ll be able to say you shined your shoes.That’s pretty straightforward, but things get tricky when you…

Even for speakers who feel solid about the distinction between "lie" and "lay," they may lose that distinction when "low" is added to the mix.Recently,…

The 1967 song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" was one of Frankie Valli's biggest hits.It's been covered by dozens of artists, including rapper Lauryn Hill.…