Words and all that

A Hoosier TV station discovers an important issue:

TERRE HAUTE, Ind (WTHI) - Global warming is the name scientists have given to a series of climate changes around the world.

I know some of us joke about the Grammar Police, but, jeez:

An Auckland accountant was sacked for sending "confrontational" emails with words in red, in bold and in capital letters.

Vicki Walker, who was a financial controller with ProCare Health, has been awarded $17,000 for unfair dismissal, and plans to lodge an appeal for further compensation.

[. . .]

My current favorite neologism comes from a commentary about a motion in a Florida case made against the Posted in: Current Affairs, Film, The law and the jungle, Words and all that

I have a book recommendation for all you true "make no apologies for it" geeks and nerds out there. It's "Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog," which has been out a few years but which I just discovered. It's about -- are you ready? are you ready? -- diagramming sentences, which those of you of, um, a certain age might remember actually doing in school.

This probably doesn't fit in with what professional educators have called "reinventing schools for the 21st century," but it's still a good idea -- make the kids memorize poetry:

Only April, and already we have a strong "typo of the year" candidate:

Jeep as the name of the vehicle comes from:

1. An acronym of Just Enough Essential Parts.

2. A corruption of the initials GP, short for General Purpose (Vehicle).

3. "Jeepers Creepers," a euphemism for Jesus Christ, supposedly said by Maj. Gen. George Lynch when he took his first ride in the prototype.

4. The comic strip Thimble Theater, best known for Popeye the Sailor and Olive Oyl, which in 1936 introduced a character named Eugene the Jeep, a rodent-like character the size of a small dog whose only word was jeep!

There may be a worse name that could have been chosen for this fast-growing sport, but, offhand, I can't think of what it would be:

A lot of conservatives are cheering the struggles of the MSM, even wishing for the imminent demise of all those biased, leftwing newspapers that deserve what they're getting. Be careful what you wish for, says Rick Henderson, for the last three years an editorial writer for the now-dead-and-gone Rocky Mountain News:

Newspapers periodically try to show they're still relevant to kids by doing these cute features on the slang being used these days. The stories are pretty pathetic, because the slang has usually changed by the time the story hits the streets, and who should really give a rip about ever-changing ways of saying the same old things? Now, somebody has finally done a slang dictionary that deserved to be done: