by Deborah Lee Luskin | Jul 10, 2018 | Living in Place
B.S. is one of the abbreviations I pencil in the margin of prose I’m reviewing –my own or a client’s. It stands for Be Specific, though it evokes a different two-word expletive that means much the same thing. The best way to be specific is to know what you...
by Deborah Lee Luskin | Jul 4, 2018 | Living in Place
Smorgasbord American cuisine is a veritable smorgasbord of international cuisines. The word smorgasbord itself is Swedish, and refers to a particular kind of buffet (from the French), where food is laid out for diners to serve themselves. The traditional Scandinavian...
by Deborah Lee Luskin | Jul 2, 2018 | Living in Place
In British English, punctuation at the end of a sentence is called a “full stop,” – just like the red, octagonal, road sign at an intersection. Indeed, basic punctuation is a great deal like road signs, instructing the reader when to slow down, yield, and...
by Deborah Lee Luskin | Jun 27, 2018 | Living in Place
One of the great benefits of The Middle Ages is being able to resume friendships put on hold while arranging kids’ play dates and driving them hither and yon. I’m sure there are parents who managed social lives during the hectic years of parenting and professional...
by Deborah Lee Luskin | Jun 26, 2018 | Living in Place
Language changes with the times, even grammar. I attended college during the second wave of feminism, when incorporating non-sexist terms into every day usage was an important demonstration of inclusiveness. In addition to Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, we...
by Deborah Lee Luskin | Jun 20, 2018 | Living in Place
Immigration Stories & Stories of Displacement We all have immigration stories, and they all bear retelling. After all, there were only 102 passengers on the Mayflower and there are currently about three hundred and twenty-five million Americans, not all of whom...
