It Is John McWhorter's Achilles' Heel

03/04/2025 16 min Temporada 1 Episodio 17
It Is John McWhorter's Achilles' Heel

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Episode Synopsis

In this solo episode of Bald and Bloviating, host Mookie Spitz riffs on his linguistic pet peeve: the overuse of the passive voice. Prompted by a recent media blitz from linguist John McWhorter—whom Mookie once emailed with unsolicited writing advice—this episode dives into why phrases like "it is" and "there was" weaken prose. Drawing inspiration from a long-forgotten middle school teacher and Dickens’ famous opening, Mookie makes a passionate, funny case for active voice as the secret to strong, intentional writing. The blog emailed to John:https://medium.com/@mookiespitz/avoid-the-biggest-most-common-writing-mistake-dc859b9f8414Send the host a text! Let him know what you think Support the show