Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
QuickAndDirtyTips.com
Five-time winner of Best Education Podcast in the Podcast Awards. Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing and feed your love of the English language. Whether English is your first language or your second language, these grammar, punctuation, style, and business tips will make you a better and more successful writer. Grammar Girl is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast.
- 17 minutes 45 secondsIs the Academy Awards singular or plural? Writing about time.
1166. This week, we look the grammar of the Academy Awards and how to avoid an "illogical plot twist" in your sentences. Then, we look at common time-related redundancies like "period of time," the proper way to use "a.m." and "p.m.," and why the abbreviation UTC doesn't actually match its name.Â
The Academy Awards segment was written by Jim Norrena.
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| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
- Audio Engineer: Castria Communications
- Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
- Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
- Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
- Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.
10 March 2026, 9:00 am - 38 minutes 35 secondsMapping the American Tongue: The Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), with Joan Houston Hall
1165. Today, we talk with Joan Houston Hall to look at the monumental task of documenting how Americans speak. We look at the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), exploring the unique folk words that survive outside of standard dictionaries and how "word wagons" traveled the country to map the "egg turners," "pogonips," and "oncers" that define our regional identities.
"Dictionary of American Regional English" (DARE)
Support DARE by visiting the University of Wisconsin's giving page.
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🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)
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| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
- Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend
- Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
- Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
- Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
- Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.
5 March 2026, 10:00 am - 16 minutes 35 secondsThe history of the octothorpe. Sir Fragalot and sentence fragments. Dribzle.
1164. This week, we look at the origin of the octothorpe — also known as the pound sign or hashtag — and why it has so many different names. Then, we look at sentence fragments and the secret of "Sir Fragalot" to help you avoid common writing mistakes.
A video of the man who invented snurfing.
Free writing course on LinkedIn Learning. (Happy National Grammar Day!)
The octothorpe segment was written by Karen Lunde.
🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.
🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)
🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.
🔗 Take our advertising survey.Â
🔗 Get the edited transcript.
🔗 Get Grammar Girl books.Â
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
- Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend, Maram Elnagheeb
- Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
- Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
- Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
- Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.
3 March 2026, 10:00 am - 26 minutes 4 secondsHow 'be like' took over the world, with Sali Tagliamonte
1163. This week, we look at what it’s like to be a "language detective" with Sali Tagliamonte and how she used her own teenagers as a research lab. We look at a 25-year study on how the phrase "be like" became a permanent fixture of English, why the word "very" is suddenly making a comeback with younger generations, and what happens to our language when we spend all day talking to AI.
Sali Tagliamonte, University of Toronto
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Thank you to the members of the Order of the Aardvark at Patreon:
- Linda Cox
- Laurel Paul
- Russ Skinner
🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)
🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.
🔗 Take our advertising survey.Â
🔗 Get the edited transcript.
🔗 Get Grammar Girl books.Â
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
- Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend, Maram Elnagheeb
- Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
- Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
- Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
- Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.
26 February 2026, 10:00 am - 13 minutes 4 secondsWhy 'Tonka' sounds big and 'bitty' sounds small. Why you CAN start a sentence with 'because.'
1162. This week, we look at why some names just "feel right" while others don't and how vowels like "ee" create associations with smallness and sweetness while back vowels like "ah" sound bigger and more serious. Then, we look at dependent clauses and when it's OK to start a sentence with "because."
The baby names segment was written by Valerie Fridland.Â
🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.
🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)
🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.
🔗 Take our advertising survey.Â
🔗 Get the edited transcript.
🔗 Get Grammar Girl books.Â
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
- Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend, Maram Elnagheeb
- Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
- Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
- Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
- Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.
24 February 2026, 1:00 pm - 27 minutes 5 secondsWHY WE USE ALL CAPS TO SHOUT, with Glenn Fleishman
1161. Today, we look at the history of writing in all-uppercase letters. Tech historian Glenn Fleishman explains how capitals transitioned from a sign of importance to a convention for shouting. Plus, we discuss his research tracking the association between yelling and capital letters back to 1856 and why early newspapers used all capitals to make tiny type seem larger.
🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.
🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)
🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.
🔗 Take our advertising survey.Â
🔗 Get the edited transcript.
🔗 Get Grammar Girl books.Â
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
- Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend, Maram Elnagheeb
- Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
- Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
- Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
- Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.
19 February 2026, 10:00 am - 13 minutes 14 secondsBattle of the moguls. 'Awhile' versus 'a while.' Crittador.
1160. This week, we look at why "mogul" means both a ski bump and a powerful person. Then, we tackle when to use "awhile" versus "a while," with a trick to help you remember.
🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.
🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)
🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.
🔗 Take our advertising survey.Â
🔗 Get the edited transcript.
🔗 Get Grammar Girl books.Â
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
- Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend, Maram Elnagheeb
- Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
- Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
- Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
- Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.
17 February 2026, 10:00 am - 23 minutes 8 secondsWriting for ‘civic clarity’ (plus, the power of short sentences), with Roy Peter Clark
1159. This week, we look at "civic clarity" with writing instructor Roy Peter Clark in a newly edited version of our 2020 conversation. We look at the ethical code of clear communication and why "civic clarity" is more important now than ever. We also discuss the strategy of "writing short" for social media and how to navigate the difficult process of cutting a draft to find your focus.
🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.
🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)
🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.
🔗 Take our advertising survey.Â
🔗 Get the edited transcript.
🔗 Get Grammar Girl books.Â
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
- Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend, Maram Elnagheeb
- Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
- Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
- Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
- Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.
12 February 2026, 10:00 am - 13 minutes 27 secondsHow bored tourists invented an Olympic sport. Centigrade or Celsius? Piqua
1158. This week, we go full Winter Olympics, tracing the origin of "ski," "luge," "toboggan," and more. Then, we look at why we say "Celsius" instead of "centigrade."
🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.
🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)
🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.
🔗 Take our advertising survey.Â
🔗 Get the edited transcript.
🔗 Get Grammar Girl books.Â
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
- Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend, Maram Elnagheeb
- Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
- Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
- Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
- Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.
10 February 2026, 10:00 am - 23 minutes 27 secondsWhy AI loves em dashes, with Sean Goedecke
1157. This week, we look at AI em dashes with Sean Goedecke, software engineer for GitHub. We talk about why artificial intelligence models frequently use em dashes and words like "delve," and how training on public domain books from the late 1800s may have influenced these patterns. We also look at the role of human feedback in shaping "AI style."
🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.
🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)
🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.
🔗 Take our advertising survey.Â
🔗 Get the edited transcript.
🔗 Get Grammar Girl books.Â
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
- Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend
- Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
- Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
- Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
- Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.
5 February 2026, 10:00 am - 14 minutes 33 secondsWhy 'forte' has three pronunciations. What is 'playing the dozens'? Ornish
1156. This week, we look at the pronunciation chaos surrounding "forte" and "pianoforte," from the French fencing term meaning "strong point" to the Italian musical direction meaning "loud." Then, we look at "playing the dozens" — the African American insult game with a mysterious origin.
🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.
🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)
🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.
🔗 Take our advertising survey.Â
🔗 Get the edited transcript.
🔗 Get Grammar Girl books.Â
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
- Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend
- Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
- Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
- Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
- Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.
3 February 2026, 10:00 am - More Episodes? Get the App