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 presents the words and crunches the numbers.

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.  Continue reading...

Unless you've been living under an Internet-free rock, you've probably seen the enthralling video of Scotland's Susan Boyle singing on the television show Britain's Got Talent. According to the latest numbers, the video of Boyle's performance has already attracted more than 100 million online views. But it's not only her singing prowess that is attracting worldwide attention: it has also been reported that "Web searches for the term gobsmacked spiked after Boyle used the British slang meaning utterly astonished when describing her reaction to newfound widespread acclaim."  Continue reading...

Transform your students' television time to vocabulary time by having them tune in to these PBS show sites developed to enrich their word knowledge.

Martha Speaks

WordGirl

Word World

Academy Award-winning producer and director Tony Bill has spent years collecting Hollywood argot on the sets of his films. Now he reveals this secret cinematic language in his new book, Movie Speak: How to Talk Like You Belong on a Film Set. Don't know the difference between a goofie and a gaffer? Read on!  Continue reading...

The best online critiques of journalism often come from journalists themselves.

Columbia Journalism Review

Editor & Publisher

Journalism.org

Poynter: Romenesko