Usage, abusage and cover ups Winston Churchill once said, “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” But the shrewd political leader took little care to avoid plain speaking in other circumstance. Once at a dinner party in Virginia before World War II, he called, breast …
Talking Retro
On the Media, June 5, 2009
YOU CAN QUOTE ME ON THIS
From Amazon.com 5 stars Beckman Communications “book doctor” (Cincinnati, Ohio) Two years ago, my co-workers made fun of me because I tried to use the word “eponymous” in a news release. They deleted it, saying that no one knows what that word means anymore. One of the many things I like about Ralph Keyes is …
Buffalo News
February 7, 2010 From pink slips to red tape, from asking “Where’s the beef?” to looking a gift horse in the mouth, American English has thousands of interesting colloquialisms. Benchmarks are still vital today, but who remembers that they were once small metal markers placed in the ground by surveyors? Ralph Keyes does. The author …
MY SKY BLUE PORTFOLIO
And, by the way, if you love the American-esque expressions of this post, you might want to check-out a new book called I Love It When You Talk Retro: Hoochie Coochie, Double Whammy, Drop a Dime, and the Forgotten Origins of American Speech by Ralph Keyes. I ordered the book at my library and can’t …
State of Affairs
Another hour-long interview with Ralph, on WFPL in Louisville can be heard by clicking the link above.