Notices by Mignon Fogarty (grammargirl@zirk.us)

He's making a list. He's checking it twice. He's trying to remember whether he should put a period at the end of each list item. He removes the *&%^#!* AP Stylebook from the nice list.

I was reminded of one of my favorite historical tidbits this morning:

The "Keep Calm and Carry On" posters were never actually released during WWII.

They were printed, but then recycled because of paper shortages.

We only know about them because the design was rediscovered and popularized in 2000.

https://www.london.ac.uk/about/history/history-senate-house/story-behind-keep-calm-carry

Check out these quirky night lights!

The words "night" and "light" are so old the Oxford English Dictionary just lists "Old English" as the date of first use.

"Night light" goes back to 1648 in English, but the first use seems to be in a Dutch book, and from that, and I learned two fun things about Dutch:

1. "Groot" means "large."

2. "Woordenboek" means "dictionary" (word book).

Do you love beer and new words?

Fiona McPherson from the Oxford English Dictionary talks about the “beer” words just added to the OED, from “boozeroo” to “beerage,” in the latest Grammar Girl podcast.

Check it out!

Read: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/beer-words/transcript

Watch: https://youtu.be/I9Mpep93Wo4

Listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grammar-girl-quick-and-dirty-tips-for-better-writing/id173429229

#GrammarGirl

Someone on our team just told me someone else on the team is having a problem with a tool we use, and asked if I have had a similar problem.

I have, and after I got done writing out my experience, I realized how awful it really is.

But I never told anyone. I just kept using the awful tool.

What the hell is wrong with me? 1/2

The only thing I can think of is that it's an intermittent problem, so it never annoyed me enough to overcome how much I hate dealing with problems.

But still. 2/2

Pat grew peanuts in our garden from just supermarket peanuts! I didn’t think it would work.

It took months and a lot of space in the bed for very few nuts — we’d definitely starve if we were doing this for real food needs — but they are fully formed peanuts. Plants are amazing.

Me: What could I possibly post that would be productive for me or the world?

Husband: That's way too high a bar for social media.

I stupidly made a hair appointment this morning with a hairdresser I don't know well, and I find myself worrying about whether she's a safe person to talk to.

And I'm so sorry for all the people today for whom that is a much more real and serious problem.

#uspol

My current plan is to delete nearly all my posts and likes pretty quickly, so don’t take it personally. (I think there’s a setting here that can do that automatically, which is another reason to like Mastodon.)

If you're worried about the election, you'll feel better if you DO SOMETHING.

The easiest thing you can do is VOTE EARLY if it's possible in your area. This frees up canvassers to target people who may not vote.

As a benefit, you should also get fewer calls and texts.

For more possibilities, see this great post from @gregpak: https://gregpak.net/2024/10/27/time-to-get-out-the-vote-practical-suggestions-for-last-minute-action/

#uspol

OK, so here's what happened with the recall and how I missed that our waffles were included:

The company EXPANDED THE RECALL a few days after they first issued it. I had checked before then, but our waffles were on the new expanded list.

So if you checked and yours seemed fine, check again! Links to both lists are at the bottom of this page:

https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/treehouse-foods-announces-voluntary-recall-certain-waffle-products-due-potential-listeria?permalink=0A16743BB5BE39FD0BE0CAECF4BFD8CD971F2E4B6EB6DBA7211D86D7267951B8

#recall

@richardgunther I was surprised by that too.

If you'd like to submit a public comment ahead of the ACIP meeting encouraging them to let people to get COVID boosters every six months instead of once a year, today is the last day.

https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/CDC-2024-0072-0001

#covid

This is HUGE.

My dad needed long-term care after a head injury, and like most families, we only realized it wasn't covered when we desperately needed it in the middle of a catastrophe.

And the facilities are bleak — just soul crushing. Trust me, you want to stay at home if you can, and this will make it more likely.

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/08/nx-s1-5144747/kamala-harris-sandwich-generation-home-care

#uspol

Can the internet help here?

I read this article with great interest about professor Rebecca Roach's inability to find the woman who was Joseph Weizenbaum's secretary at MIT in the 1960s in the department of electrical engineering when he developed the pioneering AI chatbot, ELIZA.

The secretary played an important role, but after an extensive archive and records search, Roach still couldn't find her name.

I feel like this is an "internet, do you thing" problem.

https://theconversation.com/my-search-for-the-mysterious-missing-secretary-who-shaped-chatbot-history-225602

There once was a voter who dallied,
Her vote risked not getting tallied.
But she checked the date,
And it's not too late,
Now she’ll cast her vote feeling rallied!

Register or check your registration today: https://vote.gov/

The word “board” can be traced back to Old English. It originally meant a table. Today, we still talk about “board games,” “table games,” and “table-top games.” But which is which?

We have the answer to that and more in today's Grammar Girl podcast!

Listen: https://podfollow.com/173429229

Read: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/board/transcript

Watch: https://youtu.be/Hil0UdmBfxI

#GrammarGirl #etymology

Tired of getting political calls and texts? VOTE EARLY!

Who you vote for is private in the U.S., but whether you vote is public record, and many campaigns remove you from their lists once you've voted.

Voting early won't stop *all* the messages, but it should help. So get out there and vote, and save yourself some annoyance and help campaigns focus on the people who need more encouragement!

Hey authors!

Last call for this sign-on letter against book bans and supporting Harris/Walz:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIYmHc7c1ma8WAKBRCQcz0Fq9KCQpK9mEVeqFsS-8HOgnMCg/viewform

It's being released in conjunction with Banned Books week — which is next week! Do it NOW if you want to sign.