A new usage of the word blog is emerging, and not everyone is happy about it. As Grant Barrett writes on the blog of the Copyediting newsletter, for some people blog can now mean "a single, dated, first-person post on a web site" rather than "an entire site of such posts." But according to an informal survey, most copy editors aren't on board with the new meaning.  Continue reading...

The volcano in Iceland that has disrupted European air travel goes by the impenetrable name Eyjafjallajökull. Don't know how to pronounce it? Neither does anyone else outside of Iceland. Mark Liberman of Language Log presents some outsiders' failed attempts, as well as proper pronunciations from actual Icelanders, here.

The annual conference of the American Copy Editors Society is in full swing, held this year in Philadelphia. Among the panels is one devoted to grammar questions, featuring Visual Thesaurus editor and New York Times language columnist Ben Zimmer. Even if you're not in Philly, you can follow the action on the ACES blog.

New York's Museum of Modern Art has made an unusual acquisition. According to a blog post by Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of the museum's Department of Architecture and Design, MoMA has acquired the @ symbol.  Continue reading...

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.

Today is National Grammar Day, established in 2008 by Martha Brockenbrough. This year Mignon Fogarty, a.k.a. "Grammar Girl," is presiding. Here are some links to get you into the spirit.

National Grammar Day

Your Role in National Grammar Day

Ragan's Grammar Day Contest

Who Cares About National Grammar Day?