Last Updated on May 14, 2023
As we wrap up the year, I present this list of the most-read posts of 2022. They weren’t all written this year, but they got the most views.
Every January, I bring you a list of what I consider to be my best posts of the past 12 months. But this week, I’m doing something a little different. These are my 15 most-read posts of 2022 (at least through Christmas Day).
There are two key differences: This list of posts don’t necessarily include posts I’d consider my best work. They merely racked up the most page views over between Jan. 1 and Dec. 25 of this year. The other difference is that some of these weren’t even written in 2022. I have a handful of grammar-related posts that continue to do well year after year.
So here’s the list:
1. Why Some Banks Ask for ID for a Cash Deposit
I wrote this post, which turned out to be the most-read of 2022, back in 2018. A visit to my bank to make a cash deposit inspired the post. For the first time, the teller asked me for my ID just to make a deposit. I wasn’t cashing a check or making a withdrawal. But they still wanted my ID just to accept the cash.
That seemed odd to me. Apparently, my annoyance with this new policy resonated with others who have faced the same stumbling block to what should otherwise be a simple operation.
2. 20 Common Security Questions You Shouldn’t Answer on Social Media
I just recently wrote a post about the most common passwords you should avoid. But this one, from 2019, takes a different spin on security. You should avoid social media memes that ask certain questions because they could give an unfortunate advantage to hackers.
3. Ran or Run? Another Irregular Verb with Annoying Misuses
My 2022 list was unique because a grammar post didn’t take the top slot. That topic normally does claim the top spot year after year. But this post, from the middle of 2021 was my most-read grammar article.
If it annoys you to say something like, “I should have ran faster” instead of “I should have run faster,” you might enjoy this post.
4. Arctic vs Artic: A Big Difference Between the Two
I never know which posts will rank high in page views each year. I also never know how old those most-read posts might be. For some reason, this particular post, which dates all the way back to 2013, made the list.
A major Arctic cold front moved across most of the country just in time for Christmas. Here in Charleston, we woke up on Christmas morning with a wind chill in single digits. For Charleston, the normal this time of year is closer to the upper 30s, and if there’s a wind chill at all, it would normally only approach the freezing mark.
The weather folk tell me this was the chilliest Christmas for this area since 1989, the year Hurricane Hugo devastated the area that September followed by a rare white Christmas three months later.
5. Common Sense or Commonsense? One Word or Two?
For many years, this blog’s slogan has been “Regular doses of common sense,” something I hope to deliver as often as possible. This post, from 2015, discusses when common sense should be two words and when it should be just one.
6. Whatever Happened to Sitting Indian Style?
I remember the conversation that prompted this post back in 2015. While spending time with one of my oldest friends, the topic of school came up. She and I have known each other since first grade, which means we’ve been friends for about 46 years. That seems quite impossible, since we both routinely claim to be hovering at the 39-year mark in terms of age.
During our conversation, she mentioned something called sitting “Criss-Cross Applesauce.” I had never heard the term. She explained it was the now politically-correct term for what we knew as sitting “Indian Style.” But the logic behind that argument just didn’t add up. There’s more than one kind of Indian.
This post, incidentally, has been on the most-read list for several years now, so I guess that means more and more people are discovering this oddball term for the first time and looking it up.
7. Paregoric: One of the Best Medicines You Won’t Find Anymore
People of a certain age might remember a drug called Paregoric. You could dip a cotton swab into it and apply it to a mouth ulcer for nearly-immediate relief. Or, if you ever had a stomach problem, a teaspoon of Paregoric mixed into a 12-ounce glass of Coca-Cola would hit your stomach and bring all that internal upset to an instant stop.
It worked so well, in fact, that some of us still remember it as an apparent “miracle cure” for the stomach flu.
Given the opioid epidemic, however, there’s a very good reason that you won’t find it in most folks’ medicine cabinets and why doctors today would never consider prescribing it.
8. Live to Tape? Isn’t That an Oxymoron?
In this post, I included several video clips from shows you might have heard of as examples. One of those clips included the all-time most talked about incident in Price is Right history.
The examples helped explain a curious TV expression when it comes to the way certain shows — mostly game shows and talk shows — are produced. This post dates back to 2018.
9. Splitting Image or Spitting Image? Don’t Be Fooled!
The fact that this 2015 post made the list did not surprise me at all. For several years, it consistently ranked in the top three. Apparently, there are still enough people who look up the idiom to still have it list in the top 10.
10. Two Spaces After a Period or Just One? Please Get It Right!
For people of a certain age, the argument here can become intense. Those of you who took formal typing classes had instructors who drilled into your heads that you leave two spaces after each sentence.
But since then, word processing and more high-tech typesetting options have eliminated the need for that double space.
As someone who copyedits news copy as part of my real job, this one still hits close to home. I wrote this post in 2021 during what must have been a week in which I saw too many of those two-space errors.
11. TV Show Disclaimers Leave Some Viewers Fuming
I note that so far, not one of the most-read posts of 2022 were actually written in 2022. This one comes the closest, however, since I wrote it in December of 2021.
Whether you’ve thought much about the disclaimers I wrote about here, I’m sure you’ve seen them. They often play before reruns of classic TV show episodes when we relied too hard on certain stereotypes that we now (mostly) know better than to believe. Perhaps some get so bent out of shape over these messages because they still want to cling to their prejudices.
12. Wheelbarrel or Wheelbarrow? Only One is Right
Have you ever heard someone mispronounce a word or seen a word misspelled on a sign and then begin to question whether it was actually a mistake? I call that overthinking things. But in this case, a conversation between two women on the subject of gardening had me questioning a word I was sure I knew. So I wrote a post (after checking the dictionary).
This is another one of those posts that has ranked at the top of the most-read list for the past several years. I wrote it back in 2015. (Yes, 2015 must have been a good year for posts!)
13. Quotes or Italics? Citing Titles of Books, Movies & TV Shows
Well, finally! A post I actually wrote in 2022 made the list of the year’s most-read posts! (Honestly, I don’t mind that older posts get the most views. After all, they’ve had longer to reach the top of search results based on earlier searches.)
For this one, I discussed the curious ways different style guides recommend dealing with titles of various literary works. I primarily deal with Associated Press Style here, but as odd as that can seem at times, other styles really surprised me on this topic.
14. ‘And I’s?’ The Challenge of Compound Possessives
You’ve heard people say it and you fall into one of two categories: You either think there’s nothing wrong with it or, like me, you cringe at the horrendous grammatical error.
Back in 2020, this was one example I used to illustrate the error: “Last year it had been 10 years since my husband and I’s high school prom together, so I put together an adult prom that benefited the Alzheimer’s Association.”
I hope — I sincerely hope — you cringed at that bold portion of the quote!
15. Why Do People Place a Dollar Sign After a Numeral Online?
Back in 2021, I wrote this piece after seeing, one too many times, someone writing a dollar figure with the dollar sign after the numerals instead of before them where it belongs.
In doing a little research, it turns out there’s a valid reason that people write prices like $25 as “25$” on sites like Facebook. The reason doesn’t make the error any less of an error, but it does explain why people commit it so often.
So that’s my list of my most-read posts of 2022. Assuming no dramatic change happens between now and New Year’s Eve, I’m confident these rankings will remain in place through the final few days of the year.
I hope you had a chance to read most of them the first time around. If not, I hope you’ll take time to revisit any that look interesting now!
