Oxymoronic today?

Oxymoron, a Greek term combining the words for “sharp” and “foolish,” has been adopted in English to refer to inadvertently contradictory or incongruous mash-ups of terms such as “military intelligence” and “jumbo shrimp” — a class known as subjective oxymora (that latter word is the pedantic-looking plural) because they are not literally at odds with each other.

However, the original connotation is of an evocative paradox deliberately framed by a writer — an objective oxymoron. One of the most well-known examples is William Shakespeare’s line “Parting is such sweet sorrow,” from Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet exults in the bittersweet anguish generated by the lovers’ separation. (Mark Nichol at Daily Writing Tips)

How to get style

First, note that a house style guide is not a comprehensive compendium; it is a resource that details rules and guidelines for consistency that contradict or are not covered in other resources. That said, a house style guide can range from a couple of pages to more than a thousand. (The Chicago Manual of Style, which exceeds that latter number, is simply a house style guide that escaped from the University of Chicago Press, for which it was created more than a hundred years ago, and went viral.) The size depends on how often, and how significantly, your publication veers from default resources and how complex its subject matter is. (from Daily Writing Tips)

The above from Daily Writing Tips is about creating your own style guide. To read more, click the hyperlinked text above.

Cool categories

Antonym, homonym, pseudonym. Do nyms make you numb? Here’s a handy guide to words, familiar or unfamiliar, for classes of words:

Acronym: An abbreviation, pronounced as a word, consisting of the initial letters of a multiword name or expression. It can consist entirely of uppercase letters (NASA) –thought British English has adopted an initial-cap style, which is employed in American English for longer acronyms like Nasdaq — or lowercase letters (radar); the latter are also known as anacronyms.

Anepronym: A trademarked brand name now used generically, such as aspirin or kleenex. (from Daily Writing Tips)

Click the above text to read about the other categories.

(Should Kleenex be capitalized?)

Getting started

Even if you are not a professional writer you probably already heard about writing prompts. They represent a very effective tool for any writing project, so it’s a good idea to know how to use them. (from Daily Writing Tips)

The Red River Valley Writing Project is no stranger to writing prompts; in fact, each morning of the invitational summer institute begins with a prompt.

Certainly you can make up your own prompt, in effect, give yourself a kind of writing assignment.
You can also check out the linked piece above to read more about prompts. And the piece includes online resources for prompts.

Cool Greek words

Along with Latin, Greek is probably the language that most influenced other languages around the world. Many English words derive directly from Greek ones, and knowing their origin and meaning is important. (from Daily Writing Tips)

Daily Writing Tips is often quite prescriptive when it comes to writing and language use. Still, every so often, the site has something interesting, to which the above links.

Really?

For most people, the word greyhound probably triggers the idea of a skinny gray dog, while the word nightmare conjures up the image of a horse galloping through the night. (Maeve Maddox at Daily Writing Tips)

Click the above text to learn about catgut, mustard gas...even heartburn.

Who knew?

Just for fun

The past tense of the verb awake gives lots of people fits. Should it be “awoken” or “awakened”? The same confusion attaches to the verbs awaken, wake, and waken. (from Daily Writing Tips)

“Sleezy” is given in both the OED and Merriam-Webster as an alternate spelling of sleazy, but the only standard pronunciation of sleazy is /slē’zē/, with a long e. (from Daily Writing Tips)

Errors in use and mechanics often seem to be the focus of writing instruction, the starting place instead of the ending place. That having been said, considering "proper" use of certain words can be moderately entertaining. The above examples from Daily Writing Tips are offered as entertainment.

How about a daily writing tip or two?

The following isn't earth-shattering, nor is it life-changing. It is, however, kind of interesting.

NOTE: Some fastidious folk etymologists have tried to elevate the expression from the realm of expectoration by suggesting that “spit and image” derives from the phrase “spirit and image.” Not likely. (from Daily Writing Tips)

And also from Daily Writing Tips---

Some people use lackadaisical as a synonym for “lazy,” but that’s not quite what the word means.

Daily Writing Tips is a pretty good site, though the authors seem pretty interested in correctness over other things. And, if you want, you can take vocabulary, spelling and grammar tests at the site. In other words, you can see if you personally have made AYP...adequate yearly progress.

What do we say?

This is a common source of disagreement. Both “orient” and “orientate” are verbs meaning to align or position yourself; to work out where you are within a particular situation or environment. The origin of both words is the same : the Latin word oriens meaning “rising” and “east”, because of the rising sun. (from Daily Writing Tips)

Prepositions and particles are tricky in any language. It’s not an easy matter to explain why some words are followed by to while others are followed by in or for. The native speaker just “knows.” (again...from Daily Writing Tips)


Someone once said that every generation has its favorite Shakespeare play. Hamlet was a favorite with the Victorians. Macbeth enjoyed a great popularity in the first half of the 20th century; Othello in the second half. It seems to me that King Lear may be the play that will come to be associated with the early 21st century. (yep....from Daily Writing Tips)