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Note to Reader - Joanna Young is an exceptionally talented writing coach, a wonderful lady, and I’m proud to say, a good friend. Here she is at her best, gently pushing us to better writing.

I’ve been blogging about writing and freedom over the last couple of months and although this might seem like a natural […]

The English language is full of quirks, traps, and pitfalls. A list of tricky words and phrases could run a mile long. The ones I’ve selected occur frequently in “real life” business writing. Any additions? I’ve tried to catch the biggies, but I’m sure I’ve missed more than a few.
A lot, alot. There is no […]

Image via Wikipedia A post on colorful Scottish dialect got me thinking we have some colorful language of our own here in the U.S. Last year I picked up a wonderful little book, Cowboy Slang, by Edgar R. “Frossty” Potter, to help me develop a cowboy cartoon character I was working on at the time. […]

Today’s Word Nerd quiz is really easy! There’s only going to be two choices for the correct definition. What do you think portmanteau means?
A. A large leather suitcase that opens into two compartments
B. A new word formed by combining elements of two words and their meanings
The correct definition of portmanteau is … both! (I told […]