Trick or Treat!
In case any of you are wondering where the phrase originated today . . .
In case any of you are wondering where the phrase originated today . . .
In honor of the retirement of Annetta L. Cheek, PhD, Board Chair and co-founder of the Center for Plain Language, an American flag is flying over the U.S. Capitol today. The Center’s website lists the following among her accomplishments: Worked with U.S. House of Representative Bruce Braley (D-IA) to pass the Plain Writing Act of 2010, which was signed…
No time to explore this in detail today, but Henry Blodget, editor of Business Insider, is getting a lot of attention for his article “This one tweet reveals what’s wrong with American Business.” The bottom line here is that Henry believes US corporations think only about the short term. If that’s true, plain language efforts…
This post has nothing to do with writing in the workplace. But I discovered the Inky Fool not long ago. An entertaining site for those who love language. You’ll find a post by Mark Forsyth on Cod English that includes the delightful video below, which is credited to an Italian entertainer named Adriano Celentano. I assume…
Today is filled with tasks related to my day job — AGAIN. So I’m sharing a quick (and dirty) punctuation lesson in honor of my friend, Charles White. Chas and I are both nerdy enough to be fans of the Oxford comma. The illustration is a slightly edited version of the original by Jeff Bishop. (I’m trying…
To celebrate my birthday with Pros Write readers, I thought I’d share some of the OTHER interesting things that have happened on March 28. On this date in 1960, when I was born, Time magazine’s cover was devoted to Jacques Cousteau. And a scotch factory in Glasgow exploded, burying 20 fire fighters. It gets worse if you look…
As the academic year begins in US institutions of higher learning . . . I couldn’t resist sharing this comic from xkcd. Last year, faculty in my College were in an uproar over a redesigned website created for an external audience. The furor has died down now that most of the content for the internal…
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The earliest attestation has now moved to 1927, in an Edmonton newspaper, I learned here. This story quotes the original article:
Halloween provided an opportunity for real strenuous fun. No real damage was done except to the temper of some who had to hunt for wagon wheels, gates, wagons, barrels, etc., much of which decorated the front street. The youthful tormentors were at back door and front, demanding edible plunder by the word “trick or treat”, to which the inmates gladly responded and sent the robbers away rejoicing.” From ‘Trick or Treat’ is Demand,” Herald (Lethbridge, Alberta), Nov. 4, 1927
Thanks for the update, Neal!