The Grammarphobia Blog

Where did the word "dude" come from? Why is "front seat" two words when "backseat" is one word? Can you use "y'all" in writing? If these are the kinds of questions that keep you up at night--or if you just want a little trivia to share at your next holiday party--then The Grammarphobia Blog is for you. It's written by two former New York Times editors who are also the authors of grammar and writing books Words Fail Me and Woe Is I and columnists for the NYT's "On Language" column. It's a definite destination for the word-obsessed. Don't miss the e-mail IQ test and debunked grammar myths--for example, it's okay to end a sentence with a preposition (phew!).