Time Magazine recently released a list of 15 words that should die in 2012. The list included some rather annoying, trendy words and phrases from 2011—like baby bump, occupy (wait, wasn’t that Time’s word of the year?), bro (as in “bromance” and “bro date”), and sexting.

Those, indeed, are extremely annoying words. But I think I can do better. As an avid book reader, writer, and Twitterererer, I’d like to think I know a few things about words.

So, with a tip of the cap to our friends at Time, I present 7 trendy words or phrases that should die a miserable death in 2012. (Of note, this list is different from the words that make me cringe—which are time-honored words that have been auditory nuisances since they were first spoken).

I have a friend who hates the word “moist.”

It’s true. You may ask, “Hey Robert, what does the word ‘moist’ have to do with your 101 Book project?”

Great question, to which I would answer, “Hey there. Absolutely nothing.”

But, truthfully, this blog is not just about the 101 books. It’s about reading words. Yes, I read words. Lots of words. And then I sit down and write words about the words I just read. It gets a little wordy up in here.

So, with all that in mind, I thought I’d list my 5 least favorite words today. These are the words that make me cringe, twinge, squirm and scream. Sometimes, their usage might raise the hairs on my arms.

If any of these words appear in any of the 101 books, you can count on me automatically excluding that book from the top 10 in my rankings…

Many bad movies have been made from great novels. But I’d say that very few bad novels have been turned into great movies.

So when a novel is turned into a feature film that wins 6 Academy Awards and the first Golden Globe for Best Picture, you can safely assume that the original novel was excellent.

An American Tragedy was published in 1925. Twenty-five years later, the novel was turned into a wildly successful film called A Place In The Sun—starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelly Winters, “three flaming young stars,” according to the movie’s trailer below.

在去年佛陀紀念館如火如荼地興建時，家人已去參觀過。今天過年回南部終於有機會去參訪，深刻地感受到佛陀紀念館在台灣佛教史上，已留下了不朽的里程碑。 以下是初次到佛館行春的隨行紀錄。

圖片來源 Source: http://www.fgs.org.tw/events/2012ny/

When Buddha Memorial Center was still under construction last year, my family had already visited it. In this Chinese New Year break, I was glad that I had the chance to visit this place. It is indeed the monumental achievement in the history of Buddhism in Taiwan. Here is the highlight of my first visit to the Buddha Memorial Center. Enjoy~

在抵達佛光山佛陀紀念館前的沿路，都可以看到春節平安燈會和三好運動的旗幟。
As we approach the Buddha Memorial Center of Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Southern Taiwan, the flags about the Chinese New Year Lantern festive event and the idea of three good practices (Do Good Deeds, Speak Good Words, Think Good Thoughts) can be seen.

農曆過年行春之時，總會碰到免不了的大塞車，被考驗耐心的同時也得注意行車安全。
Wherever you go during the New Year break, heavy traffic is always part of it, you got to be patient and drive carefully.

快到佛館之前，被路上的一位指揮伯伯導向靠溪旁的「停車場」。這裡雖然路況不佳，不過可以停很多車。如果會逛到很晚才出來，其實不建議停這裡，因為晚上並沒有路燈，得摸黑找車。
We were looking for the location to park our car, while there was this…

by Trevor Bryden

The word litter has a surprisingly wide range of meanings in English. Trevor Bryden illustrates how some of them came about:

Happy Friday, and welcome to the next batch of entries in The Jacket: A Writing Competition.  If you’re breaking into a rousing chorus of “What’s It All About, Alfie?”  right about now, then

1)      You have good taste in music
2)      You have good taste in films
3)      You’re old
4)      You’re clueless about this competition.

If you fit into category #4 please check out the right hand column for rules and an entry form.

I continue to be both delighted by the caliber of entries I’ve received, and smugly superior because my readers are so very clever.  Y’all give yourselves a pat on the back.  I think this contest has been a dream-come-true for most, as so eloquently illustrated by the picture above of the typical writer’s experience.

Click on the page at the top of this page, under the header picture, to check out the previous entrants.

If the…

How did this happen?  I’m out of Diet Coke.  How in the heck am I going to survive the morning?  I suppose I could drink the Diet root beer we have in the fridge, but it’s just not the same.  For one thing, it says no caffeine, and seriously, what’s the point if there’s no caffeine!

My husband loves Pepsi.  LOVES it.  We have Pepsi Max, Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry, AND regular Pepsi in the fridge, and I could drink that…it has caffeine…but it’s PEPSI. Far inferior to my beloved Diet Coke.

Diet Coke and I began our sordid love affair way back when I was a freshman in college. My mom never had a lot of pop (that’s what us Northeast Ohioans call it) in the house because we didn’t have a whole lot of money, so Coke was rare.  When I went to college and realized my food…

We’ve talked about the writing rules of famous authors on this blog before. Most of you know about Jonathan Franzen’s 10 rules, but we’ve also looked at the writing guidelines of George Orwell and Margaret Atwood.

Today, let’s take a look at John Steinbeck’s 6 writing rules, published recently by The Paris Review: