Mignon Fogarty's avatar

Mignon Fogarty

@grammargirl.bsky.social

1807 followers 1632 following 904 posts

Grammar Girl. Podcaster. Author of seven books about language. Quick and Dirty Tips founder. Bad skier. she/her linktr.ee/grammargirl

#AmWriting The 6/18 GG podcast
#AmReading Translation State (Leckie)

Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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I know! "Troubleshooters" was right there.

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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Troublemen? That's quite a job title.

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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Thanks, Stan!

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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The only thing I miss from rage unsubscribing years ago is that I can't do it again when I see things like this. I've seriously thought about subscribing just so I can immediately unsubscribe again.

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Reposted by Mignon Fogarty

maura quint's avatar maura quint @mauraquint.bsky.social
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You can look at a burnt down house and say it's pointless and everything is terrible and give up. Or you start gathering stones and bricks and tools. And yeah, sometimes you can do both. I will always turn to the Arthur Ashe quote for help: Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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OMG, that's the best fun fact ever. Thanks. :)

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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I recorded episode 1,000 of the Grammar Girl podcast today. I can't decide which is the most appropriate emoji. So many options! 🥳 🤯 😎 🤪

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Reposted by Mignon Fogarty

Jan Freeman's avatar Jan Freeman @janfreeman.bsky.social
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Thanks for reminding me of the one I saw in yesterday's NYT: "She was taken by ambulance to the plane with her husband, a nurse and a paramedic." On first pass I read this to mean her husband was a nurse and paramedic. (Which is why we shouldn't be dogmatic about using the Oxford comma.)

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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Hmm, interesting question. "Drop-dead" modifies "gorgeous," so it's a description of the degree of someone's gorgeousness, similar to "stunningly." But it does come from the effect of the gorgeousness on others.

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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[Edit: Sigh. I guess "drop-dead" does actually take a hyphen as a compound modifier.]

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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I just thought of a new "commas matter" example! Drop dead gorgeous. Drop dead, gorgeous.

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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Sometimes you can. Pat was going in for surgery, and it had been ~7 months since our last boosters. We figured "What do we have to lose?" and went to a pharmacy to see what would happen. They gave us both our boosters w/o batting an eye and asked for no money.

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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Thanks! And yes, that story was a hoot.

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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Have you ever dreamed of doing something a little wild, like taking over your hometown newspaper? In today's Grammar Girl episode, you can hear all about it from someone who did. I talked with Samantha & Greg Enslen about the Tippecanoe Gazette, which they're bringing back to life in Ohio. 1/

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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I recently interviewed the narrator Scott Brick, and he talked about this exact thing! It was hilarious. Here's a link directly to the 20-second or so bit from the YouTube video: youtu.be/we48Td4yEcA?...

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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Same here. I had a professor send me two extra papers and a description of a paper he was getting ready to submit.

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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You get to hear about two cool topics in the new Grammar Girl episode:

1. What goes into making a new dictionary.

2. The very first words being included in the Oxford Dictionary of African American English, including "kitchen," "Aunt Hagar's children," and "do rag."

Listen: pod.link/173429229

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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I know "data are" does still annoy some people. They're fighting a losing battle though (actually, a lost battle).

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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We don't put quotation marks around the titles of reference works or video games. It's like my brain just snapped and is now screaming, "We don't need these!" [Thus ends confession for the day.]

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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Lately, I hate seeing publication titles in quotation marks. I don't know what happened, but suddenly I think it seems ugly and unnecessary. The titles are capitalized. That should be enough. I know it's heresy coming from me, and I'm not telling you not to do it. But every day I'm tempted not to.

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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I really wish Bluesky had video because I have a clip of Scott Brick doing the "Dune" Bene Gesserit voice, and not only is it the best clip from that interview, I think it'll likely be the best clip I ever get from any interview.

Here's a link to that part in the YT video: youtu.be/we48Td4yEcA?...

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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I'm not sure what the convention is in legal writing, but Garner's Modern English Usage says "the data is" is fully standard, and he is known for his legal writing expertise (among other things).

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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These days, it's common to treat "data" as singular when you're writing for a general audience, but scientists usually still treat it as plural.

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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Well, this made my day! Syelle Graves included me in the acknowledgements of her academic paper about why people start sentences with "so."

It never gets old hearing I helped people along their language journeys.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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I visited many years ago and was charmed by that Cat-mandu clock. I'm glad you saved it!

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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Thanks! It's so clear they both love what they do. It's wonderful.

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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Haha, I get it. Many people asked a question similar to yours in some way. We all know it's important, and love and appreciate that they're doing this, but how are they going to make it work given ... reality.

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Mignon Fogarty's avatar Mignon Fogarty @grammargirl.bsky.social
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Hear from not one but two "Dune" legends — Scott Brick and Kevin J. Anderson — about the language in this epic series!

Plus, they have stories about the history of "Dune" that you almost won't believe.

Listen now and have great nuggets to share with your friends this weekend!

pod.link/173429229

1 replies 4 reposts 9 likes