The Best Stories from 15 Years of Grammar Girl

When I jotted some ideas down on a napkin in a coffee shop called The Kind Grind on the beach in Santa Cruz, California, I never thought I'd be doing it this long or even that Grammar Girl would become my full-time job. I am so grateful to all of you because the fact that you listen makes everything I do possible.

To celebrate, I'm going to take you on a quick tour of some of my very favorite stories from over the years and some of the best tips—the ones I use myself in real-life when I'm writing.

Harbinger

One of my most favorite stories is the origin of the word "harbinger" —something that warns of a future event—because it led me to discover that there used to be a royal position called "the Knight Harbinger" who set up accommodations for the royal household when they traveled, and (even more fun) there was also a Keeper of the Barges and a Keeper of the Swans—the swans! Imagine that being your job. I still think about this all the time.

Ghost words

Another favorite story comes from the episode on ghost words; words that only made it into dictionaries by accident and therefore are said to have "no real existence." The one that always makes me laugh is "dord" which was supposed to be "D or d," (capital D or lowercase d) the abbreviation for "density," but somebody misread it and ran all the letters together into a word. It sounds so funny: "dord." I love it!

'Historic' versus 'historical'

One of the more straightforward tips I use all the time in my own writing is remembering the difference between "historic" and "historical" by thinking of that "al" on the end of "historical" as standing for "all things" because all old things are historical. It's only important things that are historic.

How to spell 'bureaucracy'

Another of my favorites that I use all the time is how to remember to spell "bureaucracy"—a word many people tell me they struggle with. This is a weird tip, but it works for me. I think of a burrow, sitting behind a desk, tapping perfume behind its ears. The first three letters of "bureaucracy" are "bur" like in burrow. The next three letters are "eau," like perfume—eau de office carpet—and I can remember the "cracy" part on my own. Burrow,...

Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips