Uexpress
Opinion - James J. Kilpatrick

COURT OF PEEVES, NOW IN SESSION!

Sun Oct 5, 8:01 PM ET

The Court of Peeves, Crotchets & Irks opens its autumn assizes with a motion from Jeff Horner in Mableton, Ga. He asks the court to abolish the use of "woman" as an adjective. Specifically, he moves to end the identification of Sarah Palin as a "woman candidate."

  • OF SKEEVIES, NEWBIES AND GRABS Sun Sep 28, 8:02 PM ET

    The first definition of "neologism," as you would expect, is "a new word, usage or expression." The second definition is "a meaningless word coined by a psychotic." Today's meditation skips over the distinction. Professional writers love neos because it is their nature to do so. They are, so to speak, nuts.

  • A SEMI-LAMENT FOR 'WHOM' Sun Sep 21, 8:02 PM ET

    "Who are we kidding?" asked the novelist Ron Carlson. Writing in The New York Times, he was reviewing Annie Proux's latest collection of short stories from Wyoming. Never mind all that. The question is, should Carlson have inquired rhetorically, "Whom are we kidding?"

  • WHEN LESS ISN'T MORE Sun Sep 14, 8:01 PM ET

    At one time or another, every editor has railed against redundancy. My first boss, the editor/historian Douglas Southall Freeman, had a motto on his office wall: "Words are precious! Waste them not!" He preached the gospel of Cornell's professor Will Strunk: "A sentence should contain no unnecessary words."