Old-school news, just in time
by Kevin Burton “Do you want to see a movie?” my wife Jeannette will ask me, thinking of a fun diversion. “What’s playing?” I will ask. “I don’t know,” she will say, exasperated. “If I don’t know what’s playing, how do I know if I want to go?” I will say, as …
Continue reading “What’s Playing At The Movies This Weekend?”
by Kevin Burton “Write ‘em tight” they used to teach us in journalism school, “write ‘em tight.” That means don’t be wordy. Get to the point. That’s the first thing I thought of after reading a recent message from In Touch, the international radio and television ministry founded by the late Dr. …
Continue reading “Salvation Through Jesus, Straight To The Point”
by Kevin Burton If you start talking about the fauna and flora of a certain environment, people are going to be weirded out. Why? Well, we usually say flora and fauna, not the other way around. Is there a good reason for this? Maybe not, but don’t buck the trend, unless weirdness is …
by Kevin Burton Residents of one Alaska neighborhood in my newspaper’s coverage area sought to correct a flooding problem by putting rocks in a river. Riprap, they called it, which is, as I would learn, “a foundation or sustaining wall of stones or chunks of concrete thrown together without order.” From that …
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 …
Continue reading “Use A Variety Of Verbal Tools To Communicate”
by Dictionary Scoop We all have nursery rhymes etched in our memory, verses that take us straight back to our childhood. But behind some of those catchy, cheerful tunes lie surprisingly dark and mysterious origins rooted in real-life history. Join us to discover the hidden stories behind the most popular nursery rhymes. 1-The …
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by Kevin Burton I know I shouldn’t be doing this. But here’s my excuse up front: The dictionary made me do it! There is more than enough bad blood, ill manners, insincerity and name calling to go around these days. Nevertheless, Merriam-Webster dictionary provides you today with entirely new and creative ways to …
Continue reading “Bolster Your Vocabulary With Creative Insults!”
by Dictionary Scoop We toss around old sayings without thinking twice. But have you ever wondered where these phrases actually came from? You might be surprised (and a little unsettled) to find out that many of them have pretty grim backstories. Even if we’re keeping things light and curious, you’ll never look at …
by Kevin Burton On a tip from a new friend, I knocked on the door of Interlingua language school one day, and asked the good people there to employ me. Shockingly, they took me up on it. This was in the Reagan 80s. I was in somebody else’s country, Mexico, and somebody …
Continue reading “In Praise Of Mexico, Lettuce And Billy Joel”
by Dictionary Scoop Some words seem interchangeable at first glance, but if you dig a little deeper, you’ll notice they have completely different meanings. So in the interest of clarity in communication, let’s clear up some of the most commonly confused word pairs. 1-Anticipate vs. Expect Both words involve thinking about the future, …
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