Today's expressions are, if you'll pardon the expression, quite grave. We'll let the cast of Sherlock demonstrate.

( After all, there is no shortage of corpses in Sherlock )

Grammar is essential for clear communication. But did you know that grammar can also help you with tricky social situations? Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal shows you how!


( Read more... )

I grew up in the age of newspapers and have many a fond memory of seeing character in pain shouting something like "$(%))#@#!" in my favorite cartoons. Little did I know that this typographical convention actually originated in American comics strips.

In October 2013, Slate answered the question, "How Did @#$%&! Come to Represent Profanity?"The ( Read more... )

Today we're revisiting two homonyms that can cause a lot of confusion: compliment and complement and their cousins complimentary and complementary, with help from the cast of Saiyuki Gaiden.

( Compliment and Complimentary vs Complement and Complementary )

If you live in New York City or follow New York politics at all, you might remember the brief but memorable appearances of The Rent Is Too Damn High Party, a more or less real political party founded to make the point that...well, that rent is too damn high in New York City. The party's founder and primary spokesman is Jimmy McMillan, a gentleman ( Read more... )

Welcome back to "Say What?"

Today, we'll look at two rather tasty, if cynical, English phrases. Our friends Sherlock Holmes and DI Lestrade (from the original stories as well as the BBC version) will help.

( Parsnips, Eggs, and Butter )

We've covered our friend the Oxford comma more than once: in 2008 with A Very Special Comma and as a Blast from the Past earlier this year.

But if those articles weren't enough to convince you, there's this cartoon from Tumblr user Lush-mana.

( It's probably safe for work, but we'll tuck it under the cut just in case. )

Welcome to our new feature, Foul-Mouth Fridays! We decided for 'summer vacation,' we should take a look at some of our favorite profanities, both real and fictional.

We're kicking things off with the nuclear bomb of profanity: The 'F' word.

( Fair warning: Pretty much none of this is safe for work. )

rotaryphones asked: Where does the question mark go (if anywhere) in the sentence: "What should he do, he wondered"?

Good question! Let's ask the cast of Revenge and Young Avengers, shall we?

( I've wondered this too. )

Have you ever been bothered by someone "overusing" quotation marks? Dinosaur Comics tackles this "ambiguous" topic.

( Check under the cut for 'more' )