http://www.visualthesaurus.com?ad=rss The Visual Thesaurus Online Edition is a magazine available to Visual Thesaurus Subscribers about language, writing, and the creative process. The Visual Thesaurus is an online thesaurus and dictionary of over 145,000 words that you explore using an interactive map. Copyright 2009, Thinkmap Inc. All Rights Reserved. en Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/images/common/logo_on_white.gif http://www.visualthesaurus.com?ad=rss Search for a word in the Visual Thesaurus word http://www.visualthesaurus.com Word of the Day http://www.visualthesaurus.com?word=desideratum&utm_source=rss The idea of a "must-have" does actually predate the Me Generation that now flourishes -- it turns out that Romans had the itch as well, and used this word, derived from the verb for "desire," to characterize it. The plural, desiderata, is slightly better known because of the inspirational poem of that name that begins, "Go placidly amid the noise and haste..." Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wd/1295 Word Routes http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2059?utm_source=rss In this Sunday's "On Language" column in the New York Times Magazine (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/magazine/08FOB-onlanguage-t.html), I take a look at how the car brand Cadillac remains an emblem of luxury, even though Cadillac itself is no longer really "the Cadillac of cars." In the health care debate on Capitol Hill, we frequently hear high-cost health insurance plans described as "Cadillac plans." And there's another area of American culture where Cadillac continues to have outsized linguistic importance: baseball. Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2059 Word Count http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2058?utm_source=rss Do you know what it means to dogfood a product? Have you ever taken part in a bug bash? Mike Pope, a technical editor at Microsoft, takes us on a tour of some of the quirky jargon that has sprung up at the software giant. Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2058 Teachers at Work http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/teachersatwork/2057?utm_source=rss I'm in mourning this week: my school is closing. Not the one I work in now, but Stella Maris High School, a small (ultimately, apparently, too small) Catholic girls' school, which I've always described as "on the beach in Queens." It really is on the beach — just about 50 yards from the sand. When we had fire drills, we dispersed to the boardwalk. Stella might be the only school in New York City where students were routinely chastised for wearing bikini tops under their uniforms. Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/teachersatwork/2057 Word Routes http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2053?utm_source=rss Leave it to lexicographers to sneak a word like hypallage into a press release. The occasion is the Word of the Year from Webster's New World Dictionary (yes, it's Word of the Year season already). Webster's New World chose distracted driving as its Word of the Year for 2009, defined as "use of a cellphone or other portable electronic device while operating a motor vehicle." The press release notes that distracted driving features a "linguistic catch" that is "frequently seen in poetry": hypallage. Say what? Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2053 Language Lounge http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/ll/2051?utm_source=rss At a scenic dropoff near the Lounge, whereunder flows the mighty torrent of English, we have lookouts posted whose job is to spot trends. Recently they have reported back on instances of a certain class of words that are ready for a closeup: a handful of nouns formed by fusing the two parts of a phrasal verb. Such words are legion in English (setback, breakdown, frameup, washout, etc.) but we lack a handy term to designate them: snaptos? pairups? glueons? In any case, this month's Lounge is a rundown of our lookouts' pickups. Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/ll/2051 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2052?utm_source=rss Exploring a topic discussed here back in April (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1819/), the British linguist John Wells considers how people are forming the past tense of the verb "to text" (often pronounced, like the present tense, as "text"). Read about it on Dr. Wells's phonetics blog here (http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.com/2009/10/texting.html). Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2052 Contest http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/contest/2050?utm_source=rss For the October edition of the Visual Thesaurus crossword puzzle, we've got a spooky Halloween theme. Figure out the hidden word chain and you could win a Visual Thesaurus T-shirt! Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/contest/2050 Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/2048?utm_source=rss For the past few years, the Visual Thesaurus has been a proud partner of The New York Times Learning Network, helping students boost their reading, writing and communications skills. We've been working together to develop innovative lesson plans that integrate the Visual Thesaurus with engaging articles from the pages of The New York Times. Now, as the Learning Network gets a new look, re-launched as a Times blog, we're working even more closely to provide new resources for teaching and learning. Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/2048 Teachers at Work http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/teachersatwork/2046?utm_source=rss Irving Berlin knew it when he wrote, "From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam." Emma Lazarus knew it when she wrote, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Abraham Lincoln knew it when he wrote, "Of the people, by the people, for the people." And Thomas Jefferson knew it when he wrote, near the beginning of the Declaration of Independence, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," and, at the very end, "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor." Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/teachersatwork/2046 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2047?utm_source=rss National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is just around the corner. As the website explains, "Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved." Visit the NaNoWriMo website (http://www.nanowrimo.org/) to learn more. Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2047 Word Routes http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2045?utm_source=rss For the second year in a row, the Visual Thesaurus helped out the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses with its annual Spelling Bee to support the work of independent literary publishers. Once again, the VT supplied the words that challenged some of the leading lights of the New York publishing world. Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2045 Teachers at Work http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/teachersatwork/2044?utm_source=rss Michele Dunaway teaches English and journalism at Francis Howell High School in St. Charles, Missouri, but she has a double life: she's also a best-selling romance novelist. Michele has some compelling advice to teachers of writing: "teach the basics first and worry about voice later." Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/teachersatwork/2044 Word Routes http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2043?utm_source=rss In this Sunday's "On Language" column (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/magazine/25FOB-onlanguage-t.html) in the New York Times Magazine, I delve into the history of the title Ms. used as a marriage-neutral title for women. As I revealed here on Word Routes back in June, the earliest known proposal for the modern use of Ms. appeared in the Springfield (Mass.) Sunday Republican on November 10, 1901. And as the proposal reemerged over the ensuing decades, two nagging questions kept getting asked: how do you pronounce it, and what does it stand for? Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2043 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/2042?utm_source=rss It really bugs me when I hear someone use the word "individual" when all they mean is "person." It happens a lot with law-enforcement spokespeople. They also tend to say "vehicle" when they could say "car" or "truck." Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/2042 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2039?utm_source=rss From the blogosphere comes news that President Obama's name has become an eponym, but not in English. In Japanese, Obama has transformed into obamu — a verb that means, according to one blogger, "to ignore inexpedient and inconvenient facts or realities." Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2039 Word Routes http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2037?utm_source=rss My wife recently spotted the following perplexing line on Crabtree & Evelyn's website, advertising their hand soap (http://www.crabtree-evelyn.com/eng/categories/hands-feet/hand-care/hand-soap): Our gentle cleansing liquid soaps are pH-balanced and soap-free. That's right, they're selling soap-free soap. I've heard of a "nothing-burger," but "nothing-soap"? Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2037 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/2035?utm_source=rss You can read it. You can watch it. You can talk about it online with your friends. It's a sort of picture book — or, more precisely, a moving-picture book — but its inventors call it a Vook. That's Vook as in video + book. Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/2035 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2036?utm_source=rss In the Boston Globe, lexicographer Erin McKean makes a compelling case for turning Dictionary Day (Noah Webster's birthday on October 16th) into a national holiday. Read her column here (http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/10/18/the_word_the_case_for_dictionary_day/). Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2036 Department of Word Lists http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wl/2020?utm_source=rss Yesterday (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wunderkind/2018/) we talked to sixth-grader Nicholas Rushlow, who finished 17th in the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee. At his home in Pickerington, Ohio, Nicholas maintains an impressive "word wall," festooned with many of the fascinating words he has learned while practicing for spelling bees. We asked Nicholas to share some of his favorites. And he has also created a Community Spelling Bee (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/wordlists/21393) for us with even more "killer" words! Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wl/2020 Blog Excerpts http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2019?utm_source=rss Stanford linguist Dan Jurafsky has launched a fascinating new blog called The Language of Food. So far he's posted meticulous studies of the words entrée, ketchup, and dessert. Check it out here (http://languageoffood.blogspot.com/). Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2019 Wunderkind http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wunderkind/2018?utm_source=rss We were thrilled to learn that sixth-grader Nicholas Rushlow of Pickerington, Ohio, who placed 17th in last spring's Scripps National Spelling Bee, is an avid user of the Visual Thesaurus. In fact, he used the Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/bee/) as a training tool in preparing for the Nationals. And now as he gets ready to compete again during this school year, he's taking advantage of our new Community Spelling Bee (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/1996/) feature to customize his practice lists. We caught up with Nicholas and his mother Michele Rushlow to find out what it takes to be one of the nation's top spellers. Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wunderkind/2018 Word Count http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2017?utm_source=rss Wendalyn Nichols, editor of the Copyediting newsletter, offers useful tips to copy editors and anyone else who prizes clear and orderly writing. Here she illuminates the proper usage of the surprisingly tricky word "regard." Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/2017 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/2016?utm_source=rss The passing of New York Times language columnist William Safire has been well noted here (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2000) (by VT executive producer Ben Zimmer) and elsewhere (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/blogexcerpts/2001). The death of Edward Gelsthorpe, who died September 12 and whose Times obituary appeared directly beneath Safire's on September 28, has been less commented on. Yet in his way Gelsthorpe had almost as powerful an influence on the world of words as did Safire. Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/2016 Word Routes http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2015?utm_source=rss When Columbus arrived in the New World 517 years ago, this pivotal moment of cultural contact was fraught with misunderstanding. Upon finding the native Lucayans on the small Caribbean island where he made landfall, Columbus dubbed them Indians, under the mistaken impression that he had navigated all the way to the eastern shores of Asia. Explorers and cartographers quickly figured out that Columbus was utterly mistaken, and yet even now his monumental error lives on in the word Indian to refer to indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2015 Word Routes http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2014?utm_source=rss It was all over the news yesterday: according to a new poll from the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, whatever is the word that Americans find most annoying. The poll asked respondents which word or phrase bothered them the most, and whatever easily swamped the competition, with 47 percent naming it the most annoying. You know came in at 25 percent, it is what it is at 11 percent, anyway at 7 percent, and at the end of the day at 2 percent. Despite the widespread media attention, we should ask: does this poll really tell us anything useful? Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2014