Monthly Archives: December 2012

What if we held a contest and nobody won? (The 2012 word of the year.)

Posted on December 23, 2012 by thebettereditor

I chanced across a column recently on some prospective “words of the year” for 2012 — only one of many that I’ll read over the next several weeks. (You too?) It’s not looking good for word of the year (WOTY). … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Language, Words | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Your problem might be systemic, but it’s probably not systematic.

Posted on December 19, 2012 by thebettereditor

Systemic or systematic? Do you know the distinction? This is one of those situations where a writer (or editor) with just a little less knowledge than the situation requires can easily make a mistake and assume that one word is … Continue reading →

Posted in Language, Words | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Being historical doesn’t make it historic

Posted on December 10, 2012 by thebettereditor

Regular reader Steve G. asked recently: Historic vs. historical, is there a difference? Should historical really even be a word? There certainly is a difference, and both words have their uses. It’s worth knowing the definition for each so that … Continue reading →

Posted in Language, Requested, Words | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Should we bury this “lede?”

Posted on December 8, 2012 by thebettereditor

[Note: This post was published on November 23rd, but apparently some error caused it to return to draft status. It should now be properly visible.] Late in this year’s election cycle, I came across an article that used a strange … Continue reading →

Posted in Language, Uncategorized, Words, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments