Grammar Girl: What’s your favorite word and why?
Jessica Pennington: Maybe it’s because even through childhood I was a middle-aged librarian in a child’s body, but I’ve always loved old-timey words, and "kerfuffle" is one of my favorites. It’s actually comical how often I manage to use that word in daily conversation.
GG: What’s a word you dislike (either because it’s overused or misused) and why?
JP: "Affect" versus "effect," because while I can always identify when someone else confuses the two, I also only have a fifty-percent success rate using them myself.
GG: What word will you always misspell or misuse?
JP: "Blonde" versus "blond" is my kryptonite. I can never get it right, no matter how many times I use it.
GG: What word (or semblance of a word) would you like to see added to the dictionary? Why?
JP: Honestly, I don’t feel qualified to add new words to the dictionary, but that’s mainly because I would add words like squee.
Squee /skwee/
Potential definition: A high-pitched squeak indicating excitement or joyful anticipation, often accompanied by hand clapping or jumping.
Used in a sentence: She would squee with delight at the sight of puppies.
GG: Any grammar pet peeves we should know about?
JP: I think, in general, I just hate being aware of bad grammar usage. For example, seeing someone on social media use a word incorrectly over and over. I’m absolutely not the type of person who is going to correct someone or grammar-shame them, but it will haunt my thoughts all day! If FB had a warning on posts that said, "Hey, this post misuses 'there'/'they’re'/'their.' Are you sure you want to view it?" that would save me from a lot of stress.
GG: To what extent does grammar play a role in character development and voice?
JP: I tend to favor my characters using proper grammar—for the most part—and lean more on word choices and sentence structure to differentiate between characters, and especially between...
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