I'm executive producer of Visual Thesaurus and editor of the online magazine. I'm slightly obsessive about dictionaries (surprise), music (everything from Big Bill Broonzy to Big Star), and baseball (go Mets).
bfd: You might have missed the part above where I say, "Most thesauruses — like the Visual Thesaurus, for instance — have no place for interjections,...
Hi folks, let's not use the comments section for political rants or other inappropriate remarks, which will be deleted. Let's keep the discussion to...
Grenville P.: The pronunciation of "draw" as "drawr" is a typical feature of "non-rhotic" (r-less) accents. It's called "intrusive r", and it crops up...
Rosina: You'll be happy to find both dysphemism and dystopia in the VT. The OED takes dysphemism back to 1884, and dystopia back to 1868, long before...
Believe it or not, LOL is actually pronounced aloud by some young 'uns (as an acronym that sounds like "loll"). It's been spun off as a verb, too, as...
Roger, I wouldn't recommend conflating Wales and Scotland if there are any Welsh or Scottish people within earshot. You could be asking for trouble!...
I'm pretty sure Hope understands what it means to ask something "ruthlessly" -- her question is about the long-lost "ruth" part. "Ruth" used to mean...
In this case I see it as a matter of authorial style and emphasis. If Daphne had written "One of my friends...", then the focus would be on the friend...
"High roller" originates in poker and other gambling games, referring to a high-stakes gambler. As far as we know, it doesn't actually have anything...
Keep in mind that the Thurber quote is, as John McIntyre points out, a burlesque of Fowler. So Thurber is intentionally using "whom" in a place where...
Hi Jane: If you're having trouble hearing the pronunciations, I highly recommend using headphones. Also, when you're in the quiz there's a link at the...
Craig, I'm actually an American, despite the fact that my previous employer was based on the other side of the Pond. So "walker" is what I'm familiar...
"Words can have no single fixed meaning. Like wayward electrons, they can spin away from their initial orbit and enter a wider magnetic field. No one owns them or has a proprietary right to dictate how they will be used."