Summer Sale on Books Continues + New Blog Post + laissez-faire

laissez-faire 
The mispronunciation “lazy-fare” is almost irresistible in English, but this is a French expression meaning “let it be” or, more precisely, “the economic doctrine of avoiding state regulation of the economy,” and it has retained its French pronunciation (though with an English R): “lessay fare.” It is most properly used as an adjective, as in “laissez-faire capitalism,” but is also commonly used as if it were a noun phrase: “the Republican party advocates laissez-faire.”



Paul Brians’ latest blog post is here:
The Triumph of Late Capitalism

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Two books on sale through the end of August—just $12 for Common Errors in English Usage and $17 for Far from the Madding Gerund:

    

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We bid farewell to the podcast some time ago, but you may still listen to all the episodes you may have missed.

Summer Sale on Books Continues + New Blog Posts + beyond the pail/beyond the pale

beyond the pail/beyond the pale
A pale is originally a stake of the kind which might make up a palisade, or enclosure. The uncontrolled territory outside was then “beyond the pale.” The expression “beyond the pale” came to mean “bizarre, beyond proper limits”; but people who don’t understand the phrase often alter the last word to “pail.”

The area of Ireland called “the Pale” inside the Dublin region formerly controlled by the English is often said to have been the inspiration for this expression, but many authorities challenge that explanation.

Paul Brians’ latest blog posts are here:
When It Rains, It Pours
Politically Healthy Language

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Two books on sale through the end of August—just $12 for Common Errors in English Usage and $17 for Far from the Madding Gerund:

    

 ________________________________


We bid farewell to the podcast some time ago, but you may still listen to all the episodes you may have missed.