Better paragraph breaks. The story behind 'mad money' and 'pin money.' Bruce bad.

1073. Today, we have practical tips for writing better paragraphs (and it's not the formulaic topic-sentence structure). Then, we look at the surprising history of phrases like “mad money” and “pin money” and what they show about women’s roles and financial independence through time.

The "paragraph" segment originally appeared on the OUP Blog, and was written by Edwin Battistella, who taught linguistics and writing at Southern Oregon University. He is the author of Sorry About That: The Language of Public Apology, Do You Make These Mistakes in English?, Bad Language, and The Logic of Markedness.

The "mad money" segment is by Karen Lunde, a career writer and editor. In the late '90s, as a young mom with two kids and a dog, she founded one of the internet's first writing workshop communities. These days, she facilitates expressive writing workshops, both online and off. Find her at chanterellestorystudio.com

🔗 Share your familect recording in a WhatsApp chat.

🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.

🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.

🔗 Take our advertising survey. 

🔗 Get the edited transcript.

🔗 Get Grammar Girl books. 

🔗 Join Grammarpalooza. Get ad-free and bonus episodes at Apple Podcasts or Subtext. Learn more about the difference. 

| HOST: Mignon Fogarty

| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475).

| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.

• Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend
• Director of Podcast: Brannan Goetschius
• Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
• Marketing and Publicity Assistant: Davina Tomlin
• Digital Operations Specialist: Holly Hutchings
• Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes

| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.

| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook.Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.