Grammar Quirks: The Grammar Pet Peeves of Mary Cecilia Jackson

Grammar Girl: What’s your favorite word and why?

Mary Cecilia Jackson: Oh, how I love "quicksilver!"  It’s just another name for mercury, but it’s so beautiful and evocative that it sounds like something out of a fairy tale. At once liquid and metal, shining and silver, the word can describe so many things—a mermaid’s hair, a sinuous river, the restless ocean. I live part of the year on a farm in Hawaii, and every morning I walk outside just as the sun is rising and whisper, “Hello, quicksilver sea.”  It feels like a prayer.

GG: What’s a word you dislike (either because it’s overused or misused) and why?

MCJ: I want you to know that when I type this word, I’ll be scrunching up my face like it’s a sweltering summer day and I’ve just smelled boiled Brussels sprouts.

I loathe and despise the word “literally” with a fiery passion that burns in my soul. It is everywhere, and I want to scream when I hear things like, “My head literally exploded,” “I literally cried my face off,”  or “She literally broke my heart.”  I’m begging you, English-speaking people, please use your words responsibly.  Learn the difference between “literally” and “figuratively.”  Otherwise, I will lose my mind. (Figuratively.)

GG: What word will you always misspell?

MCJ: "Exsanguinate."  This is why I do not write murder mysteries.

GG: What word (or semblance of a word) would you like to see added to the dictionary?  Why?

MCJ: When my youngest son was very small, he used to say that he wanted to sit “benext” me, a combination of “beside” and “next to.”  I’ve always loved that word. More than describing simple spatial proximity, it means “to be near someone because you love them.”

I’m begging you, English-speaking people, please use your words responsibly.

I also think “crunchifarious” should be a word to describe evil crunchy things that look deceptively delicious but bite back and hurt your mouth, like sharp and pointy nachos or over-baked French bread.

GG: Any grammar pet peeves we should know about?

MCJ: Oh dear. I was afraid of being asked this question.  I have so many grammar pet peeves. So, so many. I will mention just  a few, lest I sound like that mean neighbor lady who peers out of her front door, points her gnarled, tobacco-stained finger and...

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