Hey Sars,
The letter about “free rein” struck a chord with me. I frequently twitch when I hear or read folks twisting a saying because of phonetic similarities. Some I’ve noted recently:
“Shoe-in” vs. “shoo-in”
“Mute point” vs. …

So, I was reading The Vine, and about halfway through the letter from T’s Mama I thought to myself, “If Sars doesn’t let this girl have it, I will never read this column again.” Fortunately, …

Hey Sars —
Randomness, I know, but would you happen to know what being afraid of socks is called? How about feet?
I know fear of spiders is arachnophobia, but other than that, I’m stumped on phobias.
Wondering
Dear …

Dear Sars,
I know that you get tons of letters, and the chance that you’ll respond is slim, but I think I need to at least say this to someone more than anything else. I am …

Dear Sars,
No depressed or annoying people in this rant, but there do happen to be two depressed or annoying and/or just plain weird cats and one slightly annoyed roommate at the heart of my question.
The …

Dear Sars,
What is a Twinkie? What? I’ve never known, and I’ve become more confused than I was before after looking at the Planet Twinkie website. People dress them up? Is it a bread roll? Is …

Sars,
I can’t turn down a dare, especially when it’s a grammar dare.
I had a feeling the difference between “pleonasm” and “tautology” had to do with pleonasms being phrases, while tautologies appear to be clauses. I …

“A ‘tautology’ is a redundancy, not a logical lapse.”
Could you explain that more? I’ve always gotten by with the mathematical definition that a tautology is a statement that is always true. For example, “Sars will …

Dear Sars,
In response to Curious and Unaffianced’s question about what happens to the ring when an engagement’s broken, I wanted to share my experience. My fiancé, Terrance, was engaged to another woman several years ago; …

Dear Sars,
Love the site, you rock, et cetera. I have a load of problems I probably should be writing to you about, but I digress. I’m just writing in response to Mrs. Sweetie’s letter. I …