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grammargirl

@[email protected]

Grammar Girl. Podcaster. New York Times bestselling author. Quick and Dirty Tips founder. Bad skier. California. she/her

#AmWriting 2/10 Grammar Girl podcast
#AmReading The Invisible Life of Addie Larue (Schwab)

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@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

Pat feeds the crows on our morning walks, so for Christmas I got him a book about crows, and he's been sharing the most amazing stories as he reads it!

It turns out crows kept as pets can learn to talk, and there was once a crow in Montana, that escaped from its home and ended up on a college campus, where it would whistle and call out to dogs “Here doggy, here doggy.”

It eventually gathered a pack of about six confused dogs that it would incite to chase students between classes. 1/x

grammargirl OP ,
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grammargirl OP ,
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@SergKoren Thanks! That sounds like a good "next gift." :)

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

Listeners recently told me about an important "dozens" phrase: "the dozens," an African American game where two people trade increasingly inventive insults, usually in front of an audience.

The origin of "the dozens" is surprisingly hard to find. There's the slave auction theory, the twelve insults theory, and more. Check out the podcast!

WATCH: https://youtu.be/c2ObOfBGMkU
READ: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/1156/transcript
LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229

Podcast episode promotional graphic for Grammar Girl Episode 1156. A smiling woman with long, wavy brown hair wearing a dark blue top is shown against a bright orange background. The headline reads "Why 'Forte' Has Three Pronunciations. What Is 'Playing the Dozens'? Ornish." The Grammar Girl logo appears at the bottom, with "NEW EPISODE" repeated in the background and the QDT logo in the corner.
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@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

I'm going to be on All Sides with Amy Juravich on WOSU in Ohio tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern talking about familects, misheard song lyrics, and eggcorns like "windshield factor" for "windchill factor."

Get your story ready and call in!

https://www.wosu.org/show/all-sides
614-292-8513

Graphic reading “Monday, Feb. 2 11:00 ET” above the Grammar Girl logo and “All Sides with Amy Juravich” (NPR Network, WOSU 89.7).
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@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

If you're moved by what you see happening in Minnesota and beyond, this page has lots of ways to help.

https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/how-to-help-if-you-are-outside-minnesota/

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

This is the switchboard for the U.S. Congress. An automated voice will ask you which senator or representative you want to reach and will transfer you to that person's line.

If you call today, you'll get voicemail but will usually be able to leave a message: (202) 224-3121.

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

Yesterday, I interviewed a tech guy who told me something too important for me to wait until the podcast comes out for you to hear it:

Many free AI detectors have especially high false positive rates because they make money selling software that "humanizes" writing. 1/2

grammargirl OP ,
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They tell students papers sound like AI — even when they're the students' own writing — so the company can scare them and sell them a product.

This goes beyond the general problem that even good AI detectors aren't perfect and shouldn't be the sole reason to accuse someone of writing with AI.

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

A lot of you know that I ask my podcast guests for book recommendations, and I just interviewed someone who recommended two books they read every year.

That surprised me! I don't often reread books, so I'm curious how common it is.

How often do you reread books for pleasure?

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

I'm helping an elderly person with a patient portal, and wow, there are about 4 different problems ranging from unclear instructions to pages that don't work well when the phone is zoomed in enough for an older person to actually read the text.

Plus, the iPhone keeps popping up unhelpful gunk.

This person isn't particularly afraid of technology either, but they literally can't do it.

I now think every web developer should be forced to walk through their processes with an 85-year-old.

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

Don’t be sad it’s over. Be glad it happened.

This post is about eggnog.

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

New study suggests that just walking around dressed like Batman may make the world a better place.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44184-025-00171-5

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

I just made an extra donation to my local food bank.

It's going to be a rough time for a lot of people who suddenly aren't getting SNAP benefits, and nobody should go hungry. If you're able to help, please do.

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

Pat and I just got our medical insurance renewal. Our monthly rate is going from $763 to $2,323.

Our deductible went up too.

We knew it was going to be bad with the subsidies expiring, but holy hell ...

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

Jane Friedman and I talked about the Anthropic book settlement a few days ago.

She explained why you need to check the new settlement database and not rely on the old Atlantic database, and she explained why people outside the US are generally getting screwed and why authors in the U.S. have to split the payment with their publishers. 1/x

https://youtu.be/Hdvz9yodYUk

grammargirl OP ,
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This is the page with the official database where you can search and file your claims: https://www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/

Since we recorded, I also got a statement from my contact at Macmillan saying they do, indeed, intend to "make it right" for authors for whom they failed to file required copyrights.

That full statement is in yesterday's AI Sidequest newsletter. (Unfortunately, Macmillan doesn't seem to have an official statement I can link to.) https://www.aisidequest.com/p/what-the-public-thinks-about-ai-for-writing 2/x

grammargirl OP ,
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As far as I know, Macmillan is the only publisher who has said they will make it right for their authors, so kudos to them!

Jane thinks this is where agents can play a role by pressing other publishers to step up. /end

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

I'm a big dork and have a VR headset, and the only thing I use it for is virtual boxing, but I have to say ... it feels SO GOOD to throw fake punches for 40 minutes when you've had a bad day. Totally worth it just for that. I beat that air to a pulp!

grammargirl OP ,
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@Crystal_Fish_Caves lol, nope. :)

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

ICYMI, the official database of books included in the Anthropic class-action copyright settlement is now live: https://secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/

You can now file claims.

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

The first details on the Anthropic copyright settlement just came out:

$1.5 billion dollars. Covers 500,000 books that were pirated and used to train AI models. ($3,000 per book.)

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anthropic-to-pay-at-least-1-5-billion-in-landmark-copyright-settlement-with-authors-bfcdd57b?st=EKqJRf&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

One of my rules is "If you ever get a chance to write about dogs, take it!"

So in honor of National Dog Day this week, I looked at the origin of breed names. 🐶

— "Poodle" comes from the German name "Pudelhund," which means "puddle dog" because poodles were used to hunt water birds.

— "Terrier" comes from an Old French word for “earth,” as in “dirt,” because when they are hunting, they’ll go after their prey into burrows and get dirty. 1/2

grammargirl OP ,
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— And (with a special shout out to the @Oz9Podcast podcast), "bichon frisé" is descriptive in French, being a slight modification of the words for "curly-haird lapdog." And these dogs took an interesting route from being favored by the aristocracy to being circus dogs!

I have the story of 13 more breeds in this week's podcast, including mastiffs, huskies, and corgis. Give it a listen!

LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229

READ: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/near-miss-dog-names-chocolate-donut/transcript

WATCH: https://youtu.be/zVq4dqORXgc

@w7voa@journa.host avatar w7voa , to random

(AP) - Layoff notices were sent Friday to 639 employees of Voice of America and the U.S. agency that oversees it, effectively shutting down the outlet that has provided news to countries around the world since World War II. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/layoff-notices-delivered-hundreds-voice-191810764.html

grammargirl ,
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@w7voa Ugh! I'm so sorry to hear this.

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

OMG, em dashes are not a sign of AI writing!

I kept hoping this myth would burn itself out, but no — the idea that em dashes are a sign of AI writing just keeps spreading. I finally couldn't take it anymore, so I crashed a segment into the latest Grammar Girl podcast.

The whole thing seems to have taken off after a popular GenZ culture podcast advised people to stop using the “the ChatGPT hyphen.” (And I have to confess it kills me that they didn't even know the name for it.) 🧵

A meme showing Alan Tudyk as the character Wat from the movie "A Knight's Tale" dressed up in medieval clothes. In the movie he said, "It's called a lance ... hello!" Here he is saying, "It's called a dash ... hello!"
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@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

I know it's Friday afternoon, and there's a lot going on, but I just shared a gift link of a NYT article about people having delusions while using ChatGPT, and I think everyone should read that article.

I read it to Pat, and he was certain these had to be flukes. He uses ChatGPT as a search engine all the time and gets great results (yes, he checks everything).

He decided to see if he could make it go off the rails, and after 20 minutes, it was telling him he's a demigod. He's shocked.

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

A new study suggests people may be using fewer semicolons than they did just 25 years ago.

What do you think? Are you using semicolons less often than you used to?

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/may/18/marked-decline-semicolon-use-english-books-study-suggests

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

This whole article about who can and can't detect AI writing is fascinating!

The average person essentially does no better than chance, but a panel of 5 people who use AI for writing every day got only 1 in 300 wrong.

The screenshot describes how they look at the writing differently.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2501.15654

What do expert annotators see that nonexperts don’t? To understand why experts far outperformed nonexperts at detecting AI-generated text, we analyze the comments each annotator provided in their explanations. Overall, nonexperts often mistakenly fixate on certain linguistic properties compared to experts. One example is vocabulary choice, where nonexperts take the inclusion of any “fancy” or otherwise low-frequency word types as signs of AI-generated text; in contrast, experts are much more familiar with exact words and phrases overused by AI (e.g., testament, crucial).8 Nonexperts also believe that human authors are more likely to form grammatically-correct sentences and thus attribute run-on sentences to AI, while experts realize the opposite is true: humans are more likely than AI to use ungrammatical or run-on sentences. Finally, nonexperts attribute any text written in a neutral tone to AI, which results in many false positives because formal human writing is also often neutral in tone.
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@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

This story about ChatGPT causing people to have harmful delusions has mind-blowing anecdotes. It's an important, alarming read.

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ai-spiritual-delusions-destroying-human-relationships-1235330175/

grammargirl OP ,
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@futurebird Maybe it would have been something else for some people, but I saw someone say that it's like everyone who is susceptible to cult thinking now has 24-7 direct access to a cult leader, and for every person it is designed to reel them in specifically. And that felt true to me.

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

The federal government seems to be liquidating its supply of COVID tests, and you can get 300 or more free. That's supposedly the minimum, although I ordered 300, and they sent me 360 because they come in boxes of 120.

I'm now essentially "that lady in a hat who keeps trying to give everyone free COVID tests."

The tests I got expire in July, and the page says the program was still active as of yesterday, so get some for your community!

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1cm3L20wSAkVpvm3YufXEyX7j3viaeGZSwCIOz2_eunY/mobilebasic

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

I have some resources to distribute in my community, but I'm not very well connected here, so I'm not sure where to start.

So I stopped by the library and had a quick chat with the librarian, who was amazingly helpful!

This is just a librarian appreciation post. All hail librarians!

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

If you need to explain to someone how tariffs hurt small businesses and why they can't just move manufacturing to the U.S., this is a well written example from a small business that sells specialty keyboards. https://shop.keyboard.io/blogs/news/an-open-letter-to-u-s-customers

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

This feels like an especially important story.

NewsGuard tested 10 major chatbots — including ChatGPT 4.o, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Grok — and the bots repeated Russian propaganda 7% to 56% of the time. 1/4

https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/a-well-funded-moscow-based-global

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

Well, the elderly relative I told you about who was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago because someone who was sick went to a holiday party just died.

It's not usually in my nature to share bad news, but I hope that by doing so, someone in the future will remember this post and stay home if they aren't feeling well.

It might feel loving to attend a family gathering — that "grandma would want to see you" — or someone might even pressure you to attend, but it is not the right choice.

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

Timeline cleanse.

It was an exceptionally good day to see sea stars on the central California coast .

(I’m adding alt text in just a minute on my computer. Hang on.)

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grammargirl OP ,
@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar

@killyourfm San Simeon

grammargirl OP ,
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@killyourfm It's the best place I know of to see sea stars when there's a very low tide.

We're especially excited because there had been some kind of disease affecting them, but they're showing up in much bigger numbers this year!

@kevinrothrock@infosec.exchange avatar kevinrothrock , to random

One more question seeking enlightened guidance in the world of small-time content creation: Where do the good, decent, progressive, and wise podcasters host their podcasts, these days?

grammargirl ,
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@kevinrothrock I bet @evoterra would have some good suggestions.

@w7voa@journa.host avatar w7voa , to random

President-elect Trump says the next head of USAGM, "who I will announce soon," will appoint Kari Lake, who ran for governor and senator in Arizona and lost both times, to be "our next Director of the Voice of America."

grammargirl ,
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@w7voa This seems like a good time to tell you I appreciate your work.

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

I know you all hate this and yell that nobody wants it, but I have no faith in humanity.

I think 90% of people are going to love hearing chipper people praise their taste, and soon we'll have monthly personalized podcasts from more services than I can even imagine.

Here's your Slack MoNtH iN reVieW!!! "Wow, its amazing how much Bob loved your ideas, and you had such a fun exchange with Maria. You're killing it in all the best ways."

Sigh. I hope I'm wrong.

https://www.wired.com/story/spotify-wrapped-ai-podcasts/

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

I LOVE grocery pickup, and here's another benefit I hadn't even considered:

Albertsons just emailed that the frozen waffles we bought are part of the listeria recall.

I had scanned the brands and apparently missed it. I'm super appreciative right now!

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

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

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

Project Analyzing Human Language Usage Shuts Down Because ‘Generative AI Has Polluted the Data’

One of the researchers said, "I don’t think anyone has reliable information about post-2021 language usage by humans.”

https://www.404media.co/project-analyzing-human-language-usage-shuts-down-because-generative-ai-has-polluted-the-data/

@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

Well, this made my day! Syelle Graves included me in the acknowledgements of her academic paper about why people start sentences with "so."

It never gets old hearing I helped people along their language journeys.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378216624000080?via%3Dihub

I gratefully acknowledge Mark Davies, creator of the COCA corpus, for honoring my requests to allow blocked punctuation searches; Matt Garley, Cecelia Cutler, and my doctoral thesis committee for their expertise and encouragement; John Orellana for statistical consultation; and writing for Mignon Fogarty, which led to my earliest instantiation of this work.
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@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar grammargirl , to random

What should I ask a couple who recently bought their hometown newspaper?

Tomorrow I'm interviewing my frequent contributor, Samantha Enslen, and her husband, who bought their hometown newspaper. I want to hear all about it! But I also want to ask your questions. What do YOU want to known about it.

@kevinrothrock@infosec.exchange avatar kevinrothrock , to random

I’ve got one week left in Connecticut until my family and I relocate to Portland, Oregon. It will be a grand return to the West Coast for me, after more than 15 years in the Northeast. Those of you who know me personally can guess how excited I am to be headed home.

grammargirl ,
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@kevinrothrock Congratulations!