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, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT 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=remunerate&utm_source=rss This Latinate verb is one of a large handful in English that lack a meaning with the re- prefix removed (though munerate, meaning "reward," did surface briefly about 500 years ago). Remunerate is a formal way of saying "pay" (for services rendered) and is quite a bit less common than its related noun remuneration, a buzzword of employment contracts. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wd/1170 Word Routes http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1907?utm_source=rss We're coming up on the Fourth of July, when the United States is full of barbecues, fireworks, parades, and competitive hot dog eating. But why do we say "the United States is full of..." instead of "the United States are"? On Independence Day, there's no better time to reflect on how the rise of America's national unity was mirrored by its grammatical unity, as "the United States" turned into a singular noun. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1907 Evasive Maneuvers http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/evasive/1905?utm_source=rss Will the Appalachian trail ever be the same? Environmentally, I think so. Linguistically? Not a chance. Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/evasive/1905 Language Lounge http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/ll/1904?utm_source=rss As a remedy for the summer doldrums, the Loungeurs have taken up deep questions this month: space, time, space-time, and language. Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/ll/1904 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 Department of Word Lists http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wl/1900?utm_source=rss With this column we welcome Bob Greenman, author of Words That Make a Difference (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1929154054?ie=UTF8&tag=thevisualthes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1929154054) and More Words That Make a Difference (http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PRODUCT/Product.asp?Params=Category=14|Level=2|pageid=5795), as a regular contributor to the Visual Thesaurus. Here Bob uses words from the latter book, with illustrative passages from The Atlantic Monthly, to muse on a great love of his life. Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wl/1900 Contest http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/contest/1899?utm_source=rss Break out the strawberries and cream. In the June edition of the Visual Thesaurus crossword puzzle, we're celebrating the Wimbledon tennis tournament. Figure out the hidden word chain and you could win a Visual Thesaurus T-shirt! Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/contest/1899 Behind the Dictionary http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dictionary/1898?utm_source=rss We've been talking to University of Indiana professor Michael Adams about his new book, Slang: The People's Poetry (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195314638?ie=UTF8&tag=thevisualthes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0195314638). Last week, in part one (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dictionary/1890/) of our interview, he explained how slang balances the social ("fitting in") with the aesthetic ("standing out"). Now in part two, Adams considers what happens when slang gets enshrined in dictionaries, and how we're only now appreciating the endless variety of slang forms. Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dictionary/1898 Dog Eared http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dogeared/1897?utm_source=rss Michael Adams, author of Slang: The People's Poetry (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195314638?ie=UTF8&tag=thevisualthes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0195314638), has already favored us with a list of five great slang dictionaries (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dogeared/1891/) to accompany our two-part (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dictionary/1890/) interview (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dictionary/1898/) with him. Now he presents five more must-reads in the field of slang studies, from scholars with a diverse set of perspectives. Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dogeared/1897 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 Word Routes http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1895?utm_source=rss In the dictionary game, when you've found a historical example of word that is earlier than anything previously found, it's called an "antedating." Looking for antedatings in American English has been utterly transformed by the advent of digitized newspaper databases. Now, hot on the heels of my antedating of jazz in New Orleans, I have another early 20th-century discovery to report: from 1901, the first known proposal for using the title Ms. to refer to a woman regardless of her marital status. Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1895 Teachers at Work http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/teachersatwork/1894?utm_source=rss This article is going live on the first day of my last week of school for this school year. As you read this, if you're an early reader, I am packing up my colored chalk and putting away my homework charts for the summer. Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/teachersatwork/1894 Backstory http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/backstory/1892?utm_source=rss For me to say that the idea for my novel Twilight of Avalon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026WNGAG?ie=UTF8&tag=thevisualthes-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0026WNGAG) came to me in a dream seems almost too fantastic a story to be believed. But it really is true, and it happened this way. Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/backstory/1892 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 Dog Eared http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dogeared/1891?utm_source=rss When we interviewed Michael Adams about his new book, Slang: The People's Poetry (part one here (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dictionary/1890/)), we asked him to recommend the best dictionaries of English slang available. If you're curious about the meanings and origins of slang terms, these are the go-to references. Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dogeared/1891 Behind the Dictionary http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dictionary/1890?utm_source=rss In his new book, Slang: The People's Poetry, Indiana University English professor Michael Adams tackles the tough question: what is the nature of slang? Adams, also the author of Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon, looks beyond dictionary definitions of slang to examine the fascinating interplay of social and aesthetic qualities in "the poetry of everyday speech." In this first of a two-part interview, Adams explains how the linguistic practice of slang balances the social and the aesthetic, and considers what directions slang might take in the future. Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dictionary/1890 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 Department of Word Lists http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wl/1889?utm_source=rss After half a century of research, the monumental Dictionary of American Regional English (http://dare.wisc.edu/) is nearing completion. DARE chief editor Joan H. Hall recently talked to National Public Radio (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105134163) about the long, arduous journey of the dictionary, which will see its fifth and final volume published next year. As a "rantum scoot" into peculiar American speech, here are some sample regionalisms culled from DARE. Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wl/1889 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1886?utm_source=rss Microsoft's new search engine may not vanquish Google, but it certainly has captured a huge share of attention among everyone interested in brand names. In case you missed the news reports or the relentless ads (http://youtube.com/bing), Microsoft launched Bing (http://www.bing.com/) at the end of May. Almost immediately, there was speculation about what the name was intended to mean or evoke. Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1886 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1884?utm_source=rss On July 7, 2009, NBC Universal's Sci Fi Channel — the network responsible for the hit series "Battlestar Galactica" and such original movies as "Ice Spiders," "Android Apocalypse" and "Mansquito" — will complete a radical rebranding process. When it emerges from the laboratory, it will offer a retooled programming menu and a new name: Syfy (http://www.SyFy.com). Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1884 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 Word Routes http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1883?utm_source=rss I've been thinking a lot lately about our decimal system and the way that exponential powers of ten capture our imagination. In part, that's because I've been called upon by various news outlets this week to counter a claim that the English language is adding its millionth word. But it's also because of a humbler, more personal milestone: what you're reading right here is (drumroll, please) my one hundredth Word Routes column. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1883 Word Count http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/1878?utm_source=rss My husband has a great voice and he loves to sing. Loves it. He's performed in an auditioned community choir called Jubilate since our triplets were age 2. And, yes, I'd appreciate a drum-roll for me — for the essential backup job of looking after three high-maintenance toddlers (now teenagers), alone, one night a week! Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/1878 Word Routes http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1876?utm_source=rss New Orleans is widely acknowledged as the birthplace of jazz. But is it also the birthplace of "jazz" — that is, the name for the music and not just the music itself? New evidence shows that the term jazz, also spelled jas or jass in the early days, was in use in New Orleans as early as 1916. However, that doesn't beat Chicago, where the term was applied to music in 1915. And while many of the Windy City's early jazz musicians hailed from New Orleans, Chicago likely borrowed the word jazz from another city: San Francisco. Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1876 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 Backstory http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/backstory/1875?utm_source=rss I began writing fiction in 2000. I needed an outlet for my thoughts and feelings following the death of my mother. At the time, I was overwhelmed with emotion and my work counseling parents was very intense. I was writing a monthly parenting column for a Boston newspaper and working on a nonfiction parenting guide. But it's in writing fiction that I found my home. For me novel writing is a wonderful catharsis and a deeply personal means of creative expression. Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/backstory/1875