Author Archives: The dutty is "the ground," the foundation, the earth--just like words are part of the foundation on which I build my life.

Merriam Webster’s official definition: a string of empty, incoherent, unintelligible, or nonsensical words or comment. Addendum to definition: A speech given by President Donald J. Trump.    

  Bet you thought that an expletive was just a profane word! Well, it became better-known as such a few decades ago, during the Watergate scandal. President Richard M. Nixon’s audiotape recordings included a lot of profanity, which had to … Continue reading →

Source: Wrestling with “off of” and “off”

Recently, I was asked about the validity of using the prepositional phrase off of. How viable is it for use in standard English. Is it distasteful and should be avoided? Well, generally speaking, prepositions that are superfluous to the meaning … Continue reading →

  Babies are a popular source of conversation in my life these days. My daughter is getting ready to have one in a few months, my nieces and nephew had one recently, several of my colleagues are new parents and … Continue reading →