Fun with collective nouns!

Nobody's business but the ferrets.

Want to impress guests at your next dinner party? Pepper your stories with collective nouns, like the ones found in James Lipton's book "An Exaltation of Larks". People say "school of fish" and "pride of lions" -- so why haven't "parliament of owls" and "knot of toads" achieved the stickiness they deserve? It's not just animals that get to have all the fun, either. What do you call a group of jurors? Appropriately, a "damning". How about jugglers? A "neverthriving" (probably owing to their career prospects). So, get cracking like a hastiness of cooks and click through....

Mugging for attention

Looking for the perfect Christmas gift for a certain someone -- one who regularly butchers the proper uses of "fewer" and "less"? These Grammar Grumble mugs will be right up your alley....

H/t to Rachael Bradbury. 

Is this literally, or figuratively the best invention ever?

Hey Google Chrome users: You can now download an extension that changes the word "literally" to "figuratively" on the websites you visit, since 99% of the time that the former is used, the latter is what is really meant.

For instance, a quick Google News search for 'literally' turns up the following headlines, modified by the browser extension to a state of unintentional accuracy:

• The 2014 MTV Movie Awards Were Figuratively on Fire
• 10 Things You Figuratively Do Not Have Time For
• Momentum Is Figuratively the Next Starting Pitcher for LSU

The internet is awesome. 

Procrastinate? Me? Never!

This excellent article from The Atlantic touches upon a fundamental reason why many in-house marketing pros are often better off outsourcing their writing assignments.

According to Megan McArdle, writing is something even natural wordsmiths tend to put off as long as possible. For marketers -- no matter how seasoned a writer one may be -- all the meetings and distractions of a typical workday make the act of sitting down well after closing time to draft a press release downright depressing. Why subject oneself to the additional headache?