The New Oxford American Dictionary's publishers have chosen the 2009 word of the year.

A reader has an interesting point to make about a phrase that is all over the news these days:

"It is sad that Kilpatrick has given up writing his columns on usage.  If he were still writing, I am certain that he would by now have issued one of his 'injunctions' against the currently sickeningly popular cliche 'town hall meeting.'  If it ain't held in a bonafide town hall, call it a community meeting or a high school gym meeting or whatever it is."

The latest installment in The N&O's Old North State series, Warrenton fights to regain lost glory, allows us a chance to use the lovely sounding word, antebellum.

When we speak of a group or a team coming together to form a cohesive whole or when we write about an idea becoming a concrete plan of action, we usually use the spelling jell for the verb. However, gel can also mean something has taken definite form.

I like to reserve gel, though, for congeled, as when a gelatin sets. The dessert gelled; the plans jelled.

Follow this link to a longer treatment of gel vs. jell.

The economic stimulus bill that Congress and President Obama have been discussing this week led me to the dictionary today. I figured that the word had Latin roots, and indeed, it does.

Stimulus means "something that rouses or excites to action," according to Webster's New World College Dictionary. The Latin stimulus means a goad, sting, torment, pang, spur, incentive. That's a lot of meanings for one word.

The Oxford English Dictionary says the word was originally used in medical contexts, referring to something that causes a response in an organism. Stimulus is the perfect word for what the president and Congress want to do: cause a response in the economy.

A reader sent this note recently to our editors:

Where I grew up we picked cotton, peaches, beans and noses. But even in GA we CHOSE governors, senators, coaches and vinegary barbecue. You might not have noticed, but headline and article writers at the N&O have developed a greater liking for "pick/picked" over "choose/chose." One of your geeks could check it out, proving me wrong--but methinks not. If we pick less and choose more we'll look and "sound" better. 

I reckon I am the chosen geek on this question. The answer is ... I can't find an authoritative source on this. I've checked usage books and stylebooks but can't find an entry on pick vs. choose. I have heard this preference from at least one other person, a former copy desk colleague, but I have never seen it written down.

Is this akin to "raising crops" but "rearing children" or  to "growing crops" but "increasing revenue"? I don't know. 

A dictionary gives this definition for pick: "to choose or select, especially with care." That's the first definition in the entry. The 11th definition of pick in the Random House Webster's College Dictionary is "to pluck or gather one by one." But Webster's New World College Dictionary gives "select or choose" as the eighth definition for the transitive verb pick. "To remove by pulling with the fingers; to pluck" is the fourth definition.  Dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive, so it appears that pick to mean choose is common. (If you want a long list of definitions and uses for pick, check the OED. That will give you either a word nerd thrill or a splitting headache.)

The etymology of pick relates to pike for a sharp tool used to pierce or dig soil. From that, I could take the leap that pick is best used for pluck rather than select, but that would be big leap into thin air.

I know that I prefer choice to pick as a noun because it just sounds better, but I might choose pick for a headline because it's shorter. In the body of a story, I would probably write choose a candidate rather than pick a candidate, but I don't think pick is wrong

If you have a good source on pick vs. choose, please send an e-mail message or leave a comment on this post. I must have overlooked it.

A question about farther and further prompted a short discussion among some of my colleagues.

The Triangle Grammar Guide quiz is on lay and lie.

A brooch is a piece of jewelry. It has a pin and a clasp so that it can be attached to clothing. The word is pronounced "broch," with a long o, and that leads to a common misspelling: broach.

A broach is a rod used for roasting meat or a sharp-pointed tool used for making a hole. The verb broach means to make a hole, as in a cask, or to open a discussion or bring up a subject.

Some dictionaries list broach as an alternate spelling for brooch, by the way, but most usage experts still separate the two spellings.

Both broach and brooch come from Middle English broche for a pin, peg or spit. 

The latest Grammar Guide quiz focuses on word choice.