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 . . .
This Embarrasses You and I* One of my Bama colleagues sent me this link to a recent Wall Street Journal piece on grammar in the workplace. It’s generated 671 comments as I write this. Whew!
If this music doesn’t get you into the holiday spirit, nothing will! Watch (and listen to) the Blind Boys of Alabama sing “Go Tell it on the Mountain” with Stephen Colbert, which aired on The Colbert Report last week. The original recording on their Grammy-winning 2003 album is available on iTunes or on their online store. If…
“Passive voice is bad,” cry self-proclaimed (but undereducated) writing experts. I’ve known lots of these folks who can’t accurately identify a passive. And very few folks who can accurately define it. And even fewer who can provide amateur writers with more useful advice than this platitude. (In fact, I can’t accurately call it a platitude since…
I’ve said before that advice to ban the passive voice counts as a platitude. A recently published study corroborates my point. The authors of that study wrote, [Advice to ban the passive voice] implies that the active and passive voice can be used interchangeably and, where grammatically possible, the active voice should always be favoured. Their results show…
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…
The Harvard Business Review blog network recently featured a piece by Kyle Wiens called I Won’t Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here’s Why. Wiens runs two companies, and both focus on technical communication. But he makes a good argument about why what he calls “grammar” matters in any workplace. Grammar is relevant for all companies. Yes, language…
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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!