by Dictionary Scoop American English has influenced global vocabulary for more than a century through movies, advertisements, literature, music, businesses, and technology. Some words that began as distinctly American expressions eventually became common almost everywhere, even in places where English is not an official language. Here are 12 Americanisms have crossed oceans and …
Category Archives: newspapers
Opportunity Lost, Conscience, Laundry Clean
by Kevin Burton I set the phone down in the office, just long enough to go downstairs and start a load of laundry. How virtuous is that! But alas, in doing so, I let a precious opportunity slip away. “Kicking myself” is not the half of it. I don’t often leave …
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Look Both Ways And Beware Of Jay Drivers
by Kevin Burton What I see 20 feet away, you can see 200 feet away. By definition therefore, I am legally blind. So you would think, all other things being equal, my career as a jaywalker could/should be painfully short, or maybe even disastrously shortened. I was very nearly run over by …
Good News! Taking Action, Saving Lives
by Kevin Burton The Good News Network is a good place to hang out. It’s a place to find stories Paul Harvey would have liked. Good news above the fold for a change, and why not? “Above the fold” refers to the part of a newspaper that shows in a newspaper box. …
Put Your Hand To The Plow, For The Gospel
by Kevin Burton I have spent most of my life in the American Midwest, the breadbasket of the world, but I never did learn to use a plow. Nevertheless we are going to talk plows today as we learn about focus and hard work in service to God, in a message from Dr. …
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Now The Dictionary Is Speaking My Language
by Kevin Burton At one of my newspaper stops I was introduced to readers as speaking “fluent Spanish” That wasn’t, and isn’t, quite true. But I do speak some Spanish and it has done me some good over the years. How much Spanish do I speak? I once described it as “enough …
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Good News About Life Savers Among Us
by Kevin Burton Then Apostle Paul said better than I ever will: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on …
Use A Variety Of Verbal Tools To Communicate
by Kevin Burton In my early studies in journalism I heard or read somewhere that a news reporter should write at a 10th-grade level. I never did that. I wouldn’t. I was very aware that I was talking to everyone, “broadcasting,” in the print news sense of the word, with the emphasis on …
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Des Moines Isn’t Boring, Really, I Mean It
by Kevin Burton Did you know there is a Memphis, Missouri? Fewer than 2,000 people live there. We came perilously close to joining them on vacation two weeks ago. We had planned to see the big Memphis – the BB King-Jerry Lee Lewis-Johnny Cash Memphis – but a flood warning for the …
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How I Rode Cold Notes Straight To The Top
by Kevin Burton Today we finish up the Dictionary Scoop website’s list of jargon phrases used in journalism. As I did yesterday, I will add to the list. “Above The Fold” is a term that refers to stories and pictures that appear in the top half of the front page. It’s the part …
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