Separated by a Common Language

A pleonasm is a word or phrase with semantically redundant parts. So, for example, at this moment in time is a pleonasm because there are no moments outside time, so we don't really need to say in time. But people do. Pleonastic expressions are things that language haters like to hate on. (These...

American-translator-in-Holland David wrote some time ago to say: I've noticed that Americans often place adverbial phrases that set the scene at the start of the sentence: At the time, I was not very interested in his work. British writers, in contrast, are more likely to put the adverbial element...

I don't know that I've ever mentioned here that I was raised in a funeral home. (Actually, that's easily checked, isn't it? And I have mentioned it before.) That little fact might go some way toward(s) explaining some of my personality quirks. (I like to think of them as endearing, but you may...