English Language

  1. Hairy Hair and Nostril Midgets

    Every area of the country has certain idioms or colloquial phrases that are unique to a particular locale. It's like a Balkanization of the English language. In Eastern Pennsylvania, home of Pennsylvania Dutch country in Berks, Lancaster and Lehigh counties, there are phrases that endure, although most of the original quaint "dutchified" langauage is used by a handful of old-timers. According to PaDutchCulture.com, "It's all" means something is done or gone. "Outen the lights," has a...
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  2. Primates Should be Human(e)

    Reading through a dicoesan newsletter I was surprised and baffled when the bishops of Anglican churches in Africa were called primates in an article. Giggling a little, thinking of apes, why of earth would a bishop be called a primate? Primate means "first" in Latin, so in Catholic, Anglican (in the Unites States - the Episcopal Church), and in Eastern Orthodox churches, some bishops or archbishops are called primates - the first bishop, meaning the most important, not numerically the...
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  3. Re-Visit a Dairy

    Two words that are common, acceptable usage irritates the h--- out of me. First there is re-visit. To re-visit means to go back to a place you have previously been to, like Italy or Japan or the Grand Canyon. Not anymore! Now it means to go back to an idea, or a concept, or to reconsider a decision made at a meeting. This irritates me so much I sent William Safire an email asking how can editors allow that butchery of word usage to occur? His response, or the email with his...
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  4. English Language - Quirks, Quips, and Quotes

    May 17, 2008 - The English language has always fascinated me. Originally when I went to college after high school I wanted to be an English teacher; upon returning to finish my degree as an adult I changed my major to communications. Do you get certain literary terms confused? I had to type out a list and keep it by the computer to distinguish the difference between a metaphor, a simile and an analogy. I constantly confuse them. According to Webster a metaphor is figurative...
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