http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/?utm_source=rss Copyright 2010, Thinkmap Inc. All Rights Reserved. en Wed, 17 Mar 2010 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/2207?utm_source=rss Visual Thesaurus executive producer Ben Zimmer has been named the new "On Language" columnist by the New York Times Magazine. The Magazine's editor, Gerald Marzorati has written an introduction for Zimmer's debut column. Read it here (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/magazine/21edlet-t.html). Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2207 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2205?utm_source=rss On the New York Times blog Schott's Vocab, readers posed questions to two experts in the field of invented languages: Paul Frommer, who created the Na'vi language for Avatar, and Arika Okrent, author of In the Land of Invented Languages. Check out their fascinating responses here (http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/questions-answered-invented-languages/). Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2205 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2185?utm_source=rss Inspired by Elmore Leonard's "10 Rules of Writing," the Guardian asked noted authors for their own rules for writing. Everyone from Margaret Atwood to Zadie Smith chimes in. Read part one here (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one) and part two here (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/20/10-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-two). Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2185 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2178?utm_source=rss Earlier this month on Blog Excerpts we featured Alexandra D'Arcy's OUPblog post, "Ode to a Prescriptivist (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2161/)," which drew a sharp dichotomy between linguistic descriptivism and prescriptivism (personified by D'Arcy and her stern grandmother, respectively). D'Arcy's post inspired Stan Carey, a professional editor from Ireland, to write a typically thoughtful post on his blog, Sentence First (http://stancarey.wordpress.com/). Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2178 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2167?utm_source=rss "Here's one safe prediction for the Winter Olympics," writes Visual Thesaurus executive producer Ben Zimmer in the New York Times Magazine. "Competitors and commentators will use podium as a verb, as in, 'She can definitely podium here today.' And just as predictably, some observers will shudder at the word." Read the rest here (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/magazine/07FOB-onlanguage-t.html). Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2167 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2165?utm_source=rss Poetry can be found in unexpected places. On 3 Quarks Daily, Richard Eskow takes transcriptions of his phone messages, as automatically processed by Google Voice, and turns them into hilarious gems of free verse. Check it out here (http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2010/02/love-begins-a-picture-an-anthology-of-google-voice-transcriptions-formatted-and-annotated-as-poetry.html). Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2165 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2161?utm_source=rss On OUPblog, the official blog of Oxford University Press, sociolinguist Alexandra D'Arcy has kicked off a new column by penning an ode to her grandmother, "a firm advocate of correctness" who "in the proud tradition of language purists... found anything other than 'the standard' objectionable." Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2161 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2154?utm_source=rss The passing of the great J.D. Salinger has been met with an outpouring of online memorials. Newsweek: The Gospel According to Holden (http://www.newsweek.com/id/232748) The Rumpus: Jason Roberts Remembers (http://therumpus.net/2010/01/ason-roberts-remembers-j-d-salinger/) Barnes and Noble: In the Margin (http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/In-the-Margin/J-D-Salinger-1919-2010/ba-p/2125) Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2154 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2150?utm_source=rss Franklin P. Adams, a regular at the Algonquin Round Table in the 1920s and '30s, was a master of comic verse. His best-known work is no doubt "Baseball's Sad Lexicon," an ode to the Chicago Cubs double-play combination of "Tinker to Evers to Chance." The blog Futility Closet (http://www.futilitycloset.com/2010/01/20/to-a-thesaurus/) brings to our attention another playful ode by Adams that's right up our alley: "To a Thesaurus." Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2150 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2149?utm_source=rss Combine sweet tooth with tooth fairy and you get sweet tooth fairy. That's the premise for The Illustrated Sweet Tooth Fairy, (http://www.the-illustrated-sweet-tooth-fairy.com/) a website that seeks to collect such whimsical fusions as magnetic personality disorder, periodic table manners, and emotional baggage carousel. Erin McKean describes the project in the Boston Globe here (http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/01/24/sweet_tooth_fairies/). Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2149