Mignon Fogarty

Have you ever seen people use "Academy Awards" as though it were singular?

Jim Norrena did and wondered whether it's always wrong. Hear what he found in today's Grammar Girl podcast!

WATCH: https://youtu.be/ZM9oS-hAtjg

READ: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/1166/transcript

LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229

#GrammarGirl #podcast

I just learned what I'm sure is going to be a life-changing new Chrome keyboard command: Shift-Command-A

Search all tabs.

Should you write "don't" or "do not"?

It depends.

Contractions are the default in everyday writing such as emails, dialogue, and conversational prose. But they're almost always absent in scholarly papers, legal writing, formal business documents, and (surprisingly) newspaper journalism.

Match your tone to your audience. Casual and approachable? Contract away. Formal and authoritative? Spell it out.

Read more: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/articles/when-you-should-use-and-avoid-contractions/

Think a "bully pulpit" is about bullying an audience? Think again.

The phrase actually goes back to Theodore Roosevelt, who used "bully" to mean excellent or first-rate. It's the same idea as in the phrase "Bully for you!"

When Roosevelt called the presidency a "bully pulpit," he meant it was a terrific platform for sharing his ideas, not a place to push people around.

Was that what you thought it meant?

Read more: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/articles/why-the-bully-pulpit-isnt-what-you-think/

The word “tattoo” has two distinct meanings, with two distinct etymologies. The first, meaning skin art, comes from Polynesian. The second, meaning a military drumbeat, comes from the Dutch.

I'm behind on this, but the winners of the National Grammar Day Poetry Contest last week were all great. If you're looking for a quick, delightful diversion, check them out!

https://aceseditors.org/news/2026/2026-grammar-day-poetry-contest-winner-

AP style is all lowercase and "saving" (singular). Don't forget to move your clocks an hour forward before you go to bed tonight.

In the U.S., daylight saving time officially starts at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March.

Some people call these the same thing, and other people have different names for them — and it can depend on where you live!

That's just one of the cool things you'll learn this week from my chat with Joan Houston Hall, former editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English (often called DARE).

WATCH: https://youtu.be/F6dYztdHnG8?si=fbziIA7D-tXJBrwQ

READ: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/1165/transcript

LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229

#GrammarGirl #podcast

(I call them both a spatula.)

Happy National Grammar Day!

In case you missed it, I made my LinkedIn Learning writing course free for 24 hours.

How are you going to celebrate?

Link and details in the first comment. #GrammarDay

I love that there are multiple people here who replied that they actually owned a Snurfer!

This is an amazing find! A listener named Dan heard the podcast a few weeks ago when I talked about "snurfing" being an early name for snowboarding, and he found a video interview with THE INVENTOR OF THE SNURFER!

Sherman Poppen has home video of his kids using the device he made to entertain them on Christmas Day in 1965.

https://vimeo.com/118057511

Calling all poets and word lovers! Don't miss your chance to enter the ACES #NationalGrammarDay poetry contest. The deadline is tomorrow (March 2, noon Eastern)!

The winner gets their poem featured on the Grammar Girl podcast, a signed copy of my book "The Grammar Daily," and a one-year ACES membership.

Enter today or tag one of your poetry-loving friends!

https://aceseditors.org/awards/aces-national-grammar-day-poetry-contest

I can report that if you call the Congressional switchboard right now, a very nice lady will likely answer and direct you to the voicemail for your senators and rep. 202-224-3121

She answered all three times I called. Doesn't seem like they're that busy right now.

Put on your haiku hat because it's time for the ACES National Grammar Day Poetry Contest!

The winner gets a one-year membership in ACES: The Society for Editing, a signed copy of my book "The Grammar Daily," and the poem will run in the next Grammar Girl podcast.

Happy writing!

https://aceseditors.org/awards/aces-national-grammar-day-poetry-contest

Teens aren't destroying language. They're playing with it!

I talked with Sali Tagliamonte, a "language detective" who's studied teen talk for years. She busts myths about texting, explains why "like" dominates, why "very" is back, and shares her linguistic interviewing secrets: ask about childhood, their street, or their best friend.

Check out the podcast for more!

WATCH: https://youtu.be/MmMOtR-gV6k
READ: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/1163/transcript
LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229

#GrammarGirl #podcast

I am in my mubble-fubbles tonight, but it does make me feel a tiny bit better to know that this is how people in Elizabethan England referred to feeling blue.

Have you ever wondered why some names just feel "right" while others don't? There's actual science behind it called "sound symbolism."

We cover Plato's "Cratylus," Darwin's theories, and modern research showing people remember product names better when sounds match object size — like "Tonka" for trucks vs. "mini" for little things.

Check it out!

WATCH: https://youtu.be/8TlPTP0ad7g
READ: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/1162/transcript
LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229

#GrammarGirl #podcast

Understanding clauses will make you a better writer because the end of a sentence is the most powerful part, but readers understand sentences better when the main clause comes first.

So if your priority is clarity, put main clauses at the beginning. But if you want drama or emphasis, there may be times to put them at the end.

WATCH: https://youtu.be/8TlPTP0ad7g
READ: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/1162/transcript
LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229

#GrammarGirl #podcast

Pat feeds the crows on our morning walks, so for Christmas I got him a book about crows, and he's been sharing the most amazing stories as he reads it!

It turns out crows kept as pets can learn to talk, and there was once a crow in Montana, that escaped from its home and ended up on a college campus, where it would whistle and call out to dogs “Here doggy, here doggy.”

It eventually gathered a pack of about six confused dogs that it would incite to chase students between classes. 1/x

I've been thinking a lot about an interview I did back in 2020 with Roy Peter Clark about the importance of "civic clarity."

I think it's more important now than ever, so I re-edited the piece this week. I hope you'll listen.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/eS7bobT1XnM

READ: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/1159/transcript

LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229

#Grammar Girl #podcast

The Winter Olympics are underway, and if you listen closely, you'll hear an avalanche of interesting words!

→ "Bobsled" got its name from riders "bobbing" back and forth.

→ "Athlete" comes from the same Greek root that gives us "decathlon" and "biathlon."

Check out the podcast for fun details about "snurfing," "toboggan," and more!

WATCH: https://youtu.be/tQBdBGi69vs?si=2Qb87EY4CvT8LdpD

READ: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/1158/transcript

LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229

#GrammarGirl #podcast

Did you know ChatGPT's earlier versions barely used em dashes at all? This week, I talked with Sean Goedecke, a software engineer who's looked at *why* AI models went em-dash wild.

The shift may have happened when companies started digitizing public domain books from years when em dash use peaked. Plus, we talked about tokens versus words, semicolons, and more.

Check it out!

WATCH: https://youtu.be/DXjxrXTEH5w
READ: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/1157/transcript
LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229

#GrammarGirl #podcast 

National Grammar Day is one month from today: March 4!

Listeners recently told me about an important "dozens" phrase: "the dozens," an African American game where two people trade increasingly inventive insults, usually in front of an audience.

The origin of "the dozens" is surprisingly hard to find. There's the slave auction theory, the twelve insults theory, and more. Check out the podcast!

WATCH: https://youtu.be/c2ObOfBGMkU
READ: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/1156/transcript
LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229

#GrammarGirl #podcast

THE SLOPPER BOWL! What wonderful wordplay.

I wish this would have come out a day sooner because I was on WOSU just yesterday talking about the word "slop" and how one thing that makes it special is the way people play with it to make other words like "slopaganda."

This would have been a perfect and timely example!

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/svedka-super-bowl-ad-ai-watch-1236493612/