Write It Right: Dirt for Earth, Soil, or Gravel

“Dirt for Earth, Soil, or Gravel. A most disagreeable Americanism, discredited by general (and Presidential) use. ‘Make the dirt fly.’ Dirt means filth.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. Write it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2010.