Author Archives: Mignon

001BTG Interview with JC Hutchins

In the first episode of my new podcast, Behind the Grammar, JC Hutchins coins a neologism (“vlurb”), reveals what JC stands for, and talks about how he wrote Personal Effect: Dark Art in two months and made his amazing video … Continue reading

Posted in BTG Podcast, interview | Tagged , | Comments Off on 001BTG Interview with JC Hutchins

iPhone With Video or the Flip?

I asked my Twitter friends whether I should upgrade my iPhone to the new version with video or buy a Flip camera. Here are the responses. (I used http://twickie.pirillo.com/ to compile the responses and it didn’t seem to grab all … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

What Do You Call Making Up Words?

In the book Personal Effects: Dark Arts by JC Hutchins (@jchutchins), a guy makes up words hoping people will use them (for example, he makes up the word “foolbiscuit” to mean idiot). My favorite pop-culture instance of this is the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 2 Comments

What to Do With Your Summer

With summer coming up, my husband and I were talking about important lessons we learned in college, and what we wish someone would have told us when we were younger. Here’s my top lesson: Forget about making money during the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment

Tips for Online Video

I made a video episode for the Grammar Girl podcast this week, and it was quite an ordeal, which is why the show came out two days late. I learned a lot along the way, so I thought I’d share … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 9 Comments

Capitalizing Internet

On the Grammar Girl website, I explain that the reason most publications capitalize “Internet” is that it’s the name of one specific thing or place, making it a proper noun. Yesterday I was reading the New Scientist (May 2, 2009) … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Grammar Girl on KARE11 in Minneapolis

This is a video of an interview I did with Diana Pearce at KARE11 in Minneapolis on May 7, 2009. We discussed when to capitalize “mom” since Mother’s Day is coming soon, some pet peeves, and what people can do … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Grammar Girl on KARE11 in Minneapolis

Organizing “The Grammar Devotional”: Today’s Playlist

Blurry, Puddle of Mudd Like a Stone, Audioslave Buddy Holly, Weezer Name, Goo Goo Dolls Crawling in the Dark, Hoobastank Black, Pearl Jam Mambo No. 5, Lou Bega Lola, The Kinks Baby Girl, Nelly Furtado Run, Amy McDonald So What, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Organizing “The Grammar Devotional”: Today’s Playlist

Style Versus Voice

I’m struggling to define the difference between style and voice in writing. I’m developing the idea that style is something like format (you can write with a technical style or a conversational style, for example), and voice is something inherent … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

A Rare Sentence

I’ll say it first: I’m a nerd. I got so excited about seeing an unusual sentence construction that I had to share it with you. This wonderful capital letter in the middle of a sentence is perfectly correct; you just … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 7 Comments