ArchiveSeptember 2012

Agreeance vs. Agreement

What’s the difference between agreeance and agreement? While agreeance is a word, it hasn’t often been used since the 19th century, whereas agreement is both correct and common. Best to go with agreement. This is part of a complete...

Mary Had a Little Problem

“Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was black as ink, it chewed the paper off the walls and spit it in the sink.” There’s a variation you probably missed on the playground! This is part of a complete episode.

No Ideal

Is it correct to say “I have no ideal” instead of “no idea”? In Kentucky, this use of ideal is common across education and socioeconomic lines. Flustrated, a variant of frustrated that connotes more anger and confusion, is...

Dog and Pony Show Origins

What is a dog-and-pony show? This disparaging term goes back to the 1920s, when actual dog and pony shows competed with far more elaborate circuses. Many times the dog-and-pony offerings served as a front to hoochie-coochie shows or tents serving...

More on Learning Cursive

Do children still need to learn cursive? Following in our first discussion of whether cursive should be taught, many listeners now in their twenties say they didn’t learn cursive in school and have trouble reading it. Others view it as a lost...

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