douglas.bryant
Joined: August 11, 2009 (email not validated)
Number of comments posted: 142
Number of votes received: 526
No user description provided.
Recent Comments
on: “On accident” and “study on . . .”
What a lot of fuss over perfectly proper prepositional usage...
on: Usage of past, present, and future tense in ownership
In your sentence "is" would be proper. "Was" implies "no lon...
on: Can every letter be used as a silent letter?
Chris B is right on acquire—etymology bears him out. But "mn...
on: Can every letter be used as a silent letter?
Sorry: "Where does it end?"...
on: Can every letter be used as a silent letter?
But BQ, "acquisition" is itself a Latin borrowing, via Frenc...
on: Can every letter be used as a silent letter?
I like rendezvous for Z, but without the space. (For you Ang...
on: Can every letter be used as a silent letter?
Goofy is correct–scratch "Y." If proper names apply, the...
on: Can every letter be used as a silent letter?
A quick (if incomplete) list: A aisle B numb, thumb, deb...
on: as best he can
I think Goofy got it right back in April, 2009. His citation...
on: Use of obscure words like “ebulliate”
On the subject of sesquipedality—the use of big words—Bryan ...
on: anything vs. everything
Porsche, You make a good point. By "singularity" I meant as...
on: anything vs. everything
It's interesting: we use "anything" and "everything" often, ...
on: “Anglish”
I agree with Jm on one point, at least: if you want to learn...
on: “Anglish”
Jm: You wrote: ". . . I pointed to most OE words being...
on: “Anglish”
"Let’s cut the crap" Wonderful. I have been insulted in O...
on: “Anglish”
Shaun C: West Saxon was dominant from the eighth to the e...
on: “Anglish”
The 80% figure you cite (from Wikipedia?) is at the high end...
on: “Anglish”
In response to Goofy's assertion that "an attempt to change ...
on: “Anglish”
Jm: I hope you're not counting me among the "haters." I s...
on: “Anglish”
"The Anglish Moot," a website devoted to Anglish, defines it...
on: Might could
I think Avrom had a handle on this issue. "Might could" is a...
on: Really happy or real happy
The objection to the adverb "real" is that it is informal, a...
on: Plural of Yes
The correct plural is yeses. Nouns ending in -s (focus or ex...
on: Pronunciation: aunt
Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Fifth Edition (1947 printin...
on: “I’m just saying”
Same to you, Jan....
on: “I’m just saying”
As one who is "not here to argue," Jan, you argue quite a lo...
on: “I’m just saying”
The Urban Dictionary website says: "All the definitions o...
on: “she” vs “her”
Purely a stylistic choice, Nigel, and a subjective one. ...
on: “she” vs “her”
Nigel writes: “In most contexts, “she and I” is awkward (...
on: A piece of irony
They might believe that. Or they might think you a noodge. ...
on: A piece of irony
Merriam-Webster Online defines 'ignorant' as: "lacking knowl...
on: The following is... vs. Following is...
Conciseness should not trump clarity. The construct "followi...
on: There was/were a pen and three pencils...
Jim M is correct. "[A] pen and three pencils" is the compoun...
on: why does english have capital letters?
Nobody has addressed Sunil Kumar's second question: "Simi...
on: Everybody vs. Everyone
The distinction in meaning between "everybody" and "everyone...
on: On Tomorrow
Amy, What I said was "And as such, it is not a 'southern ...
on: On Tomorrow
Amy, Actually, I didn't quote Chaucer. The reference was ...
on: On Tomorrow
Ryan, The pronunciation of "ask" as "aks" is not an ordin...
on: On Tomorrow
I have addressed the ask/axe issue elsewhere, but it seems t...
on: On Tomorrow
What bothers me—really bothers me—is intolerance. On this si...
on: Actress instead of Actor
According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, ...
on: Plural form of sense of humour
Also similar to "court martial" which becomes "courts martia...
on: why does english have capital letters?
Goofy makes a good point. I should have said that the best j...
on: Pronunciation: aunt
The link in my last post doesn't work because of the parenth...
on: Pronunciation: aunt
The pronunciation of "ask" as "aks" is sometimes seen as a s...
on: why does english have capital letters?
The question is interesting, but I would reverse it: Why doe...
on: Please be advised....
In the phrase "please be advised" the adverb "please" is "us...
on: hanged vs. hung
I think John was essentially correct in his initial response...
on: As wet as ?
I won't help you in a cliché hunt, or a simile search. Why d...
on: Hyphen, N-dash, M-dash
Mantha, You are right! I was misinformed of what the prop...
on: Hyphen, N-dash, M-dash
I'm with Deb and Justinito on this one. The em-dash–and real...
on: Texted
Correction: Franklin wrote to Webster in 1789....
on: Texted
The verbification of nouns is not inherently incorrect, or e...
on: Word in question: Conversate
A little history of "orientate." "Orient" was borrowed ...
on: “and yet”
Nigel is correct: "and yet" is a perfectly acceptable idiom....
on: Sarcasm mark?
Really? Sarcasm is not conveyed through words? I think Mark ...
on: Use of multiple periods
Laura, The em-dash would be better than an ellipsis for t...
on: Plural last name ending in “z”
Google has a translation tool. You will find it in the "more...
on: Word in question: Conversate
Adrian is even more a descriptivist than me. Which I applaud...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
John has pegged the issue pretty well, and Merriam-Webster's...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
Really Marilyn? That old canard? I'm loath to cock a snook a...
on: Word in question: Conversate
It is unsurprising that "conversate" is found in online dict...
on: Sarcasm mark?
Sarcasm? Yeah, there's an app for that....
on: “I’m just saying”
"Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are" was Jimmy Dura...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
This has been mad fun. John and Marilyn have engaged in the ...
on: Got
"Get" has a bad reputation. Yet it's got solid provenance: b...
on: “went missing/gone missing”?
I did a little poking about on the internet. It turns out th...
on: “went missing/gone missing”?
The phrase is a Britishism, if I may extend the appellation ...
on: “identical to” and “identical with”
The short answer is that both "identical to" and "identical ...
on: me vs. myself
Porsche: I don't disagree with you entirely. By the strict r...
on: me vs. myself
Theophilus Davenport says, "I would argue that the use of ei...
on: semi-colon and colon in one sentence
You may indeed use a semicolon and a colon in one sentence. ...
on: me vs. myself
Porsche is correct: in the example sentence, "like" is used ...
on: me vs. myself
In the example sentence given by Helen Hi, the phrase "like ...
on: Moments & Seconds
Jan makes an interesting point: a moment is an indefinite pe...
on: me vs. myself
The speaker hasn't actually referred to himself with the wor...
on: OK vs Okay
Quite a nice, and long, discussion. Bryan A. Garner, in "...
on: “It is what it is”
I don't claim to know the origin of the phrase "it is what i...
on: Adding a question mark to ensure a response
Placing a question mark after that sentence may lead your re...
on: “It is what it is”
The phrase "it is what it is" does not, as you put it, "desc...
on: “Verbiage” used instead of wordiness or excessively long writing
Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary lists two definitions fo...
on: Use of “Massive”
It's true that some words are over-used, and massive is – ma...
on: decapitalize vs. uncapitalize
Un-capitalize a word (with hyphen). De-capitalize a bank ...
on: Space After Period
Doug, Your post doesn’t really deserve a response. Howeve...
on: Twenty-ten vs Two thousand-ten
I like your anti-prescriptivism, Porsche. Most refreshing. ...
on: A perfectly acceptable construction
I don't think "a (adjective) construction" is an idiom just ...
on: Plural last name ending in “z”
To answer Ann's question, the plural of Marschuetz is Marsch...
on: Exact same
More heat than light has been generated in this discussion o...
on: Try and
John was correct in his first posting. He cited Fowler. Merr...
on: Capitalizing After the Colon
Lena, Thanks, that's nice of you to say. I was re-reading...
on: Causative or Causal?
'Causal' means of or relating to cause or arising from a cau...
on: Social vs Societal
Merriam-Webster lists 'emplace' as a back-formation of 'empl...
on: double negatives
I realize this is an old question, but what neither the ques...
on: Past tense of “text”
Sorry, I didn't mean "on purpose," I meant "appropriate."...
on: Past tense of “text”
Mark, I wasn't patronizing you when I suggested that I had ...
on: Past tense of “text”
Clearly I have been unclear. Let me reiterate my four points...
on: Past tense of “text”
Porsche, Your analysis is excellent, and I will leave it at ...
on: Past tense of “text”
Mark, Since you insist, I will comment on your insistence th...
on: Past tense of “text”
Mark: Let me try to clarify my comment. I am not proposing "...
October 17, 2010, 12:00pm • 6 votes
on: Accepted spellings, punctuation, and capitalization of email
I have long written "email" un-hyphenated, but the website F...