612 - The Pin/Pen Merger. American. 'Half-Staff' or 'Half-Mast'?

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Mignon Fogarty, Inc.

Society & Culture, Education

4.5 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 16 March 2018

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, we talk about why some people say "pin" and "pen" the same way, why citizens of the United States call themselves "Americans" when other people live on the American continent too, and why flags can be flown at half-mast or half-staff. FOLLOW ALONG ON THE WEBSITE The Pin/Pen Merger http://bit.ly/pin-pen-merger 'American' http://bit.ly/demonyms 'Half-Staff' and 'Half-Mast' http://bit.ly/half-mast-staff FOLLOW GRAMMAR GIRL Twitter: http://twitter.com/grammargirl Facebook: http://facebook.com/grammargirl Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/realgrammargirl Instagram: http://instagram.com/thegrammargirl LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl GRAMMAR POP iOS GAME Optimized for iPad: http://bit.ly/GrammarPopiPad For iPad and iPhone: http://bit.ly/GrammarPop GRAMMAR GIRL BOOKS http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl-book-page

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm a young Fogarty and boy I'm glad to be back.
0:09.8	That cold I had was a doozy, wash your hands people.
0:13.7	I hope you enjoyed hearing Ellen Hendrickson.
0:16.5	She's the best and I encourage you to check out her book about social anxiety that was
0:20.7	released this week.
0:22.1	It's called How to Be Yourself.
0:24.4	I read it and I loved it.
0:26.6	And now onto the show.
0:28.4	This week I have a meeting middle about something called the Pin Pen Merger.
0:33.3	A second meeting middle about calling people Americans, I guess this show is like a
0:38.1	McDouble hamburger, and a tidbit about the difference between half staff and half mast.
0:45.4	Let's get started.
0:48.7	A listener named Anne wrote in with this question.
0:52.3	Have you written something about the way some people pronounce short E and short I the
0:56.9	same?
0:57.9	For example, my husband says pin P-I-N and pen P-E-N the same way.
1:05.7	Sort of like a combination of how each is supposed to sound separately.
1:10.0	And it fascinates me that he says he can't hear a difference when I say them differently.
1:14.9	I now ask my husband to spell words for me to avoid having any more misunderstandings.
1:20.2	He thinks I'm crazy.
1:21.6	I grew up in Minnesota and I think it's a southern thing.
1:26.5	Anne has stumbled into the world of dialects.
	...

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