http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/language-blog/?track=rss Headlines from baltimoresun.com en ©2013, baltimoresun.com Wed, 22 May 2013 12:22:00 -0400 By John E. McIntyre http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/language-blog/bal-one-size-does-not-fit-all-20130522,0,5132439.story?track=rss On Facebook, Peter K. Fallon responded to my guest post on dictionary fundamentalism at Merriam-Webster's A Thing About Words with this comment: Wed, 22 May 2013 12:22:00 EDT By John E. McIntyre http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/language-blog/bal-you-want-prescriptivism-ill-give-you-prescriptivism-20130521,0,5919248.story?track=rss At HeadsUp Fred Vultee writes, more in sorrow than in anger, that the Detroit Free Press not only allowed an "It's official" lead to run but repeated it in the headline . Somewhere in Michigan an editor knows no shame. Tue, 21 May 2013 10:26:00 EDT By John E. McIntyre http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/language-blog/bal-peeving-about-peevers-20130520,0,2511192.story?track=rss I saw a remark the other day that the folks at Language Log are given to peeving about peevers, and it occurred to me afresh how much misunderstanding remains among evidently educated people about what linguists are up to when they expose bogus prescriptivism and peevery. Mon, 20 May 2013 13:09:00 EDT By John E. McIntyre http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/language-blog/bal-in-a-word-blandishment-20130520,0,7948346.story?track=rss Each week The Sun's John McIntyre presents a relatively obscure but evocative word with which you may not be familiar, another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary. This week's word: Mon, 20 May 2013 11:34:00 EDT By John E. McIntyre http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/language-blog/bal-joke-of-the-week-the-honest-lawyer-20130520,0,1665770.story?track=rss Mon, 20 May 2013 11:33:00 EDT By John E. McIntyre http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/language-blog/bal-a-short-guide-to-online-discourse-20130518,0,4260913.story?track=rss In disputing an article, follow these simple steps:  Sat, 18 May 2013 21:19:00 EDT By John E. McIntyre http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/language-blog/bal-the-most-famous-umbrella-since-neville-chamberlain-went-to-munich-20130518,0,1664075.story?track=rss The public appetite for trivial distraction has always extended to our chief executives. Sat, 18 May 2013 12:01:00 EDT By John E. McIntyre http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/language-blog/bal-godspeed-to-a-graduate-20130518,0,4967009.story?track=rss As I write, members of the Class of 2013 at Loyola University Maryland are receiving their diplomas, and I would like to mention one of them. Sat, 18 May 2013 11:46:00 EDT By John E. McIntyre http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/language-blog/bal-a-small-milestone-20130515,0,6651421.story?track=rss This would have been unthinkable when I came to The Baltimore Sun twenty-seven years ago. Wed, 15 May 2013 10:29:00 EDT By John E. McIntyre http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/language-blog/bal-from-teachers-pet-to-insufferable-prig-20130514,0,4285999.story?track=rss Being a teacher's pet as a child endeared me to no one but teachers. Tue, 14 May 2013 11:27:00 EDT