Today I saw a meme on Facebook that showed various phrases used by Shakespeare that have become common idioms in English. As an English teacher, I’m always pleased to see literary references in popular culture. On the other hand, because I am an English teacher, I want to see literary allusions spelled correctly. Among the…
Category: Words
Learn to spell the word for that thing that accompanies thunder
When I saw the word lightning misspelled in an item from Raw Story, I wasn’t particularly surprised. In searching for reliable news, I long ago learned to disregard items from that online publication. But then I did a web search for the phrase “lightning rod,” limiting it to the past year. I found a Target…
Feathers are “Ruffled,” Not “Rankled”
You can “ruffle” feathers, but you can’t “rankle” them.
Flawed Rules Are Better Than None
English-speakers don’t have to be able to spell all the words in English, just the ones they use in their writing.