“Treat your text messages like prose. Be more deliberate with your most common form of casual writing, and you’ll automatically become more deliberate in other mediums.” Help! Why “mediums” not “media”? Here medium should mean “a means to communicate”. I feel like using “media”. What’s wrong in using “media”? Thank you in advance. — from a person who’s sincerely confused and willing to identify their own blind spot.

A follow-up question to my previous question: In my last question, everyone was talking about how “befuddlements” is rare and uncommon, sounds unusual. I realize that I’ve also seen the words “befuddled” used as “someone is befuddled” several times. Is “befuddled” also very uncommon? I really need this puzzle to be answered. Because this may lead to a bigger issue for me to ponder on for days: [Hey! What kind of materials am I immersing myself in all these days that lead me to all these buzzard usages?] I may live in an alternate universe where uncommon English is used frequently.

In an opening ceremony I hear: “I always bring people in this fair town novelty and befuddlements, the likes of which the world has never known.” First I didn’t understand what “the likes” mean here but I then I remember this American Heritage dictionary that Dan(one of the helpful support in this community)once recommended and found the meaning. I think the meaning here is “ equivalent things”. Now the question has changed into how common is this usage? When you hear this expression, do you understand immediately?

Please help me solve this puzzle. “I have very keen powers of observation.” I see observation is One power, One skill. Why is person says he has keen POWERS of observation? Would you also say you have keen powers of observation or you have a keen power of observation?

I’m reading Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. It says “Hard problems care little about what motivates their interrogators; they meter out their lessons of difficulty all the same? “ Does “meter out” here mean “ extend;elongate” ? I found some definition of the phrase “mete out” but very little information about “meter out”. Is it a typo?

Whenever I hear people say “ coronary artery disease” I can only hear “corn+nary”. According to the spelling, I thought it should be cor-ren-nary. Then I looked up in the Dictionary. It was the case. However, I just couldn’t hear the “ren” in between. When you speak, do you pronounce the “ren” or you just pronounce it like “corn-nary”?

Can “of” be omitted from the phrase “beware of”? I sometimes hear people saying “beware anyone who says ….” other times “beware of anyone claiming to … ” Are they actually the same just a matter of whether “of” being omitted or not? I’m confused.

A plan to travel was made. But later on when people changed their minds, I heard they say “Change of Plans!” Why use plural form “plans”? Sounds to me there is only one plan to be changed? Can I say “ Change of the plan.”?

“About the monster! If we can snag a photo of it, we can split the prize 50-50.” “Snag a photo? “ Is it even a correct usage? If it is, what does it mean?