CXO
The abbreviation "CXO" or "CxO" refers to the set of executives whose titles start with "Chief" and end with "Officer"--CEO, CFO, CIO, etc. For details and a cite, see Word...
23rd hour
I've of course heard of things happening "at the 11th hour"--very late in a process. But apparently things can happen even later than that: Alicia Summers of El Mirage, Arizona[,...
Words easily confused #19
Time for another installment in my Words easily confused series. (For more recent installments, see the errors category of this blog.) As usual, an asterisk indicates an incorrect-usage example. I...
that of
In the past few days, I keep seeing people misuse the phrase "that of" in the same kind of way, apparently for emphasis. Like this: * My primary concern is...
Falling in line
A CNN article this morning, talking about Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia, notes: "Kaine could help Obama fall in the Democrats' column for the first time in 44 years." Presumably...
plutonic
Cute typo in New York Times movie page: Two lifelong plutonic friends, strapped for cash and in debt, decide to make a porno. --from the page for Zack and Miri...
Shortening
Is there a name for the particular kind of term-shortening where a term or phrase is abbreviated to its first component, even if that's not the important/meaningful part? The most...
Overused book-review words
Bob Harris blogs his "Seven Deadly Words of Book Reviewing." By which he means words that appear too often in book reviews. Aside: I immediately assumed that the title was...
gayelle
Two lesbian friends of mine alerted me tonight to a new word: "gayelle." It's a fascinating attempt to coin a new word. The people over at gayelle.org (a.k.a. sapphicchic.com) are...
partisan shoutfests
This morning, I read a couple of articles about a White House aide being caught plagiarizing. Then I read a piece by Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The...