Take a cue from The New York Times and start a column about language

A column on word usage in your online employee publication might be wildly popular, The Times suggests

Deputy news editor Philip B. Corbett writes an occasional online question-and-answer column for The New York Times on a subject that he knows intimately because it’s part of his job at the Times: language and usage.

Judging by the Times readers’ reaction, the column has done nothing but good for the Times, luring commenters by the dozens and quite probably many more lurkers to the Times’ Web site. People are fascinated by usage and by controversy about words.

Ragan.com spoke with Dr. William Lutz, professor emeritus of English at Rutgers University, about the possibility of corporate editors doing something similar to the Times’ “Talk to the Newsroom” usage and word forum in their online newsletters.