Mon, 07 Jul 2025 15:33:05 EDT
“You have only one choice.”
Don’t make this claim inappropriately
If you have only one choice, you have a single choice from among multiple items.
If you have no choice, you have only one item that you must accept. Unless you have the choice to refuse the item, you have no choice.
Sun, 06 Jul 2025 09:42:49 EDT
Palette, Pallet, Palate
- Palette
- The noun palette names a range of colors or, by extension, a range of another characteristic. Palette also names the small board that painters use to hold their paints when painting.
- Pallet
- The noun pallet names a small bed of modest construction such as a bed of straw or rags. Pallet also names a portable surface, such as shipping pallet, for carrying items from place to place.
- Palate
- The noun palate names the sense of taste or, by extension, taste in the sense of preference or habit. Palate also names the roof of the mouth.
Thu, 03 Jul 2025 10:43:07 EDT
Consider These Sentences
The following sentences occur in an article in The Guardian on Apple News.
“A US military veteran, previously pardoned by Donald Trump for his role in the 6 january 2021 attack on the US Capitol, was sentenced to life in prison this week for plotting to attack an FBI office and assassinate other law enforcement officers.
“Edward Kelley, 36, was found guilty last November of trying to attack officers who investigated him over his actions at the Capitol in Washington DC when pro-Trump supporters tried [sic] stormed the building in hopes, ultimately in vain, of stopping the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory over Trump in the 2020 election.”
Verbiage. I will collapse these paragraphs into one.
There is no need to describe in detail the actions and intent of the January 6th insurrectionists.
The phrase trying to attack is an understatement of what Mister Kelley planned to do.
My rewrite: “On Wednesday, a Knoxville court sentenced Edward Kelley to life in prison for plotting to murder employees of the FBI, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Tennesee Highway Patrol, the Maryville Police Department, the Blount County Sheriff’s Office, and the Clinton Police Department. Kelley, 36, was one of the individuals pardoned by President Trump for crimes committed during the Capitol insurrection of Janurary 6th 2021. A judge subsequently decided that the pardon did not apply to this case and allowed Kelley’s prosecution to proceed.”
Fri, 27 Jun 2025 14:18:36 EDT
Fire in the hole!
The sentence Fire in the hole! is shouted by those who need to inform their colleagues that a release of energy, such as an explosion, is imminent. The sentence has been codified as mandatory in various professions that use explosives or other tools that emit large quantities of energy in short periods of time. Fire in the hole! originated in the mining industry.