Technically, this isn’t a quirk of English, but of English speakers misunderstanding a Spanish phrase. “Let’s settle this right now, pardner, mano a mano.” You can see the tumbleweeds, hear the keening of the vultures circling overhead. An empty street, save for two gunfighters, hands poised at the ready…

I was browsing my favorite grammar news sites this morning, when I came across a breaking story that made me quiver with happiness. As anyone who has ever had to learn English knows, it’s not exactly the most compact or logical of tongues. My heart goes out to anyone trying to pick it up as […]

Did you ever come across a word you’ve written a million times before, and suddenly it just looks wrong? In combing through my manuscript, I found a pair of terms whose proper spelling I can’t seem to get straight: forward and backward. Or is that forwards and backwards? I’ve written them both ways off and […]