Mignon Fogarty (@MignonFogarty) is the founder of Quick and Dirty Tips, the multi-faceted publishing website that produces dozens of topic-specific podcasts based on several characters, the most famous of which is Grammar Girl.
Since creating the Grammar Girl Podcast, Mignon has authored 7 books, collected a host of podcasting awards, and recently assumed the Donald W. Reynolds Chair in Media Entrepreneurship at the University of Nevada Reno.
Our conversation follows Mignon's origins in online business, how she leveraged her early podcast success and existing personal relationships to create a broader network, and how she still prefers to do certain production elements herself.
 
Show Notes & Links

Mignon Fogarty is a professor — not a doctor — but her students call her by her first name
Britons will call Professors as such, whereas the Americans favour Doctor, when that's available. e.g. Professor Alice Roberts (@DrAliceRoberts), a medical doctor and professor at the University of Birmingham


"There's a lot of power in networks"
—Mignon Fogarty
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Grammar Girl (podcast) began as a hobby project whilst Mignon worked as a technical writer. Her clients kept making the same mistakes.
Grammar Girl reach #2 in iTunes within 6 weeks
Modern Manners Guy, Mighty Mommy, Money Girl, et al. were Mignon's friends/neighbours whom she recruited for spin-off shows
The Wall St. Journal picked Grammar Girl as the Web Pick of the Day - 4 Nov. 2006
"New York Publishers" (a synecdoche, of sorts; a toponym, more specifically)
MacMillan Publishing wanted a digital initiative; they partnered
Mignon chose podcasting over blogging alone because she "really loved it"
SEO-friendly blog posts helped folks discover episodes and the show in general
A post on Reddit, in the ELI5 subreddit, regarding colours as last names
"Redheads vs. Orangeheads" a post on Grammar Girl regarding origins of the colour orange in English
Gretchen McCollugh, PhD
Mignon was always "an entrepreneur at heart"; she and a college roommate sold hair accessories
Prescott misses Aardvark and Squiggly, characters from her show
Grammar Girl now has segments — Intro, Quick and Dirty Tip, The Meaty Middle, Tidbits, Announcements, Ads
Mignon uses content from her books and newsletter for podcast content
Many English phrases originate from train talk
Idioms
Fast and Loose derives from an old carnival game
Mr. Adolphe Sax, inventor of the Saxophone
Tall Poppy Syndrome, an Australian phrase
Malapropism


"People write in different ways for different media."
—Mignon Fogarty
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"What texting is, despite the fact that it involves the brute mechanics of something that we call writing, is fingered speech."
—John McWhorter
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"u" has replaced "you" as a pronoun, even in written schoolwork
Andrea Lunsford, of The Writing Center at Stanford, concludes there aren't more errors because of teh Internet
Affect/Effect or They're/Their/There
Google trends allows you to search for phrases like "on accident"
The New York Times could find Haikus within the stories
Google Ngrams to find first appearances
Google News Archive
The Teddy Bear, inspired by Theodore Roosevelt


"The Internet is [still] mostly a written medium."
—Prescott Perez-Fox
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The link between language & design: language → grammar → punctuation → typography → design
The Oxford Comma
"Visual Language" or "Brand Voice" are types of designer personifications

Professor Fogarty Mignon teaches Media Entrepreneurship & Social Journalism 

Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogarty on Amazon and on Audible


 


Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips to Clean Up Your Writing by Mignon Fogarty on Audible


 


101 Misused Words by Mignon Fogarty on Amazon


 


101 Words to Sound Smart by Mignon Fogarty on Amazon


 


101 Troublesome Words You'll Master in No Time by Mignon Fogarty on Amazon


 


Words Every High School Graduate Needs to Know by Mignon Fogarty on Amazon


 


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