I’m past tense all the way to agitated. Past tense for “cast” is “cast” and yet I’ve seen “casted.” If a man is executed by rope, he is “hanged.” He may be physically hung and a picture may be hung, but dangling at the end of a rope is “hanged.” Some writers are having “ed” problems.

An old copy of Newsweek and a disagreement about Medicare are issues. Cancer or the national debt are not issues, they are problems. Calling them issues is a case of weakening the language by substituting lesser inaccurate weasel words for strong ones.

I like a separation between verbs and nouns. Being an adult is a status; it isn’t adulting. You can’t see it, but Microsoft Word doesn’t like adulting either, it was underlined in red twice. Nothing impacts me, but many things affect me. I never weekend, and I don’t have big asks. I’m given things to do, but never “tasked.”

“Homosexual” is a perfectly good word with a fairly clear definition and no explicit judgment. All of the new synonyms, not as much.

I know when to stop reading something when I see any of the ephemeral clichés of the day; optics, yass, queen, end of the day, woke, lit, not on/on my radar, walk it back. Nothing has contradicted my idea that someone who writes in clichés thinks in clichés. I suspect that writing which includes any of those gems or the like will look laughable soon. I don’t text, but when I see something written like a text, it is another warning b4 I continue. My choices have gotten me called a “language bigot.” Write “yass queen, I walked back my ideas b4 I adulted” if you want, but don’t expect me to read it.

The short form of “microphone” was “mike” for many years for phonetic reasons. The new “mic” sounds like “mick” to me and I won’t use it.

No x’s will be added to anything in my vocabulary. I looked up “mx” and learned it was a missile, not the kind of salutation anyone wants.

I used gender biologically as either the one from birth or the surgical change. I have no need for modifiers, either cis or trans. In my vocabulary, there are many sexual or cultural orientations, but the vast majority of humans are male or female.

Use singular “they” in casual conversation? Yes. Use it in formal writing? No. I’ve got so many other choices—that person, the human who, person’s name or status—I have no need.

I’ve been told I must use one space between sentences because the MLA says so. MLA is not the boss of me, and I can’t imagine a reader cares. I shun Shunn. Why does someone need to be told on every page (particularly if there are only three) the name of the story and the author? I was accused of cruelty to editors for not toeing the line.

There is a grammar rule that I believe in which has been declared null and void. Starting a sentence with a conjunction, thereby breaking a thought and creating a short choppy sentence, is now supposed to be acceptable. One impetus for the beginning conjunction is for low Flesch scores. Flesch scores are not as much fun as they sound. A low one indicates ease of reading, and we should write for ten year olds. I’m not sold…a period means full stop, not a California or bicycle stop.

“Pre” is a prefix meaning “before” as in “prefix” or Precambrian. Prefix does not mean early fix or early Cambrian. “Presale” should mean something before the sale, not an advance sale, and “preboard” should mean something before board.

“Hopefully he will win” literally means he is hopeful if he wins. If one means “I hope that he wins,” say or write that.

For those that strongly disagree with me, don’t worry. I’m losing the battle, and as an old curmudgeon, I won’t last long.