http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/?utm_source=rss Copyright 2009, Thinkmap Inc. All Rights Reserved. en Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/images/common/logo_on_white.gif http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/?utm_source=rss Search for a word in the Visual Thesaurus word http://www.visualthesaurus.com Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1902?utm_source=rss The world has lost Michael Jackson, but his music stays with us. On the linguistics blog Language Log, Visual Thesaurus editor Ben Zimmer (http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1542) uncovers the origins of Jackson's nonsensical chant, "Ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa," and Mark Liberman (http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1544) follows up with an analysis of the chant's linguistic accents and musical beats. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1902 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1896?utm_source=rss Visual Thesaurus contributor Mark Peters (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/contributors/12) writes: "After years of weird-word collecting, I'm pretty unfazed by words with multiple, redundant, exuberant suffixes... However, even I was gobsmacked out of my chair when I spotted mystery-y-ish-y." Read all about the suffix-y pileups Mark has found on OUPblog (http://blog.oup.com/2009/05/y-suffix-bananas/). Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1896 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1893?utm_source=rss When you're in need of guidance about a word or meaning, do you first turn to a dictionary or a thesaurus? New York Times columnist William Safire considers the relative merits in his latest "On Language" column (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/magazine/14FOB-OnLanguage-t.html). Safire doesn't just look at print references: the Visual Thesaurus gets a nice mention too! Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1893 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1887?utm_source=rss The country known as Germany to English speakers is also known as Allemagne (in French), Tyskland (in Swedish), Niemcy (in Polish), Saksa (in Finnish), Doitsu (in Japanese), and of course Deutschland (in German). Confused? Check out Geonames (http://www.geonames.de/) for tons of info about "the countries of the world in their own languages and scripts." Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1887 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1885?utm_source=rss The New York Times has been keeping track of the words that users of the Times website click on the most to look up definitions. The word with the most lookups in 2009 is the Latin term sui generis. Nieman Journalism Lab (http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/06/ny-times-mines-its-data-to-identify-words-that-readers-find-abstruse/) presents the words and crunches the numbers. Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1885 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1877?utm_source=rss If you were baffled by Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle's use of the expression "going down a bomb," as discussed in this Word Routes column (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1825/), then wonder no more. Lynne Murphy explains the idiom on her blog Separated by a Common Language (http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2009/06/like-less-complements.html). Lynne also makes sense of such Briticisms as "he looks a right twit" and "going down a treat." Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1877 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1872?utm_source=rss Why say "blizzard" when you could say "snow-mageddon"? And why refer to the "swine flu outbreak" when you could say "a-pork-alypse"? Visual Thesaurus contributor Mark Peters considers some catastrophic coinages in his latest column for Good (http://www.good.is/post/wordgeddon/). Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1872 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1861?utm_source=rss "Psyche!" "Don't go there!" "Take a chill pill!" "Not!" The Children of the '90s (http://childrenofthenineties.blogspot.com/2009/05/90s-catch-phrase-mash-up.html) blog takes a loving look back at catchphrases that "enjoyed a substantial heyday before being put to rest for being insanely irritating." Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1861 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1858?utm_source=rss How do you pluralize the word "thesaurus"? Both "thesauruses" and "thesauri" are perfectly acceptable. But would you believe "thesaurusi"? It's rare, but it's out there. Brett Reynolds, professor of English at Humber College, investigates the pluralization error on his blog English, Jack (http://english-jack.blogspot.com/2009/02/thesaurusi-or-how-descriptivist-can-you.html). Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1858 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1852?utm_source=rss "Cap and trade" or "pollution reduction refund"? "Global warming" or "our deteriorating atmosphere"? Environmental action groups are proposing new messaging techniques to build public support for their causes. The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/us/politics/02enviro.html) and the Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-language11-2009may11,0,6330691.story) provide two different angles to this developing story. Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/1852