If you want to be a writer, you need to be a reader, first. Here's how to fit more reading into your schedule, no matter how busy you are.
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If you want to be a writer, you need to be a reader, first. Here's how to fit more reading into your schedule, no matter how busy you are.
Continue reading...
Evasive Maneuvers
Euphemisms old and new
Work-Life Malarkey in the Entrepreneurial Economy
November 7, 2018
The well of drivel will never run dry, so let's amble through the latest and worst euphemisms I've collected during the first month of my second decade as a euphemism columnist.
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Article Topics:
Language Lounge
A Monthly Column for Word Lovers
"Humans and Robots Do Not Communicate Well"
November 1, 2018
Language must be central to developing a more robust channel for human-robot communication.
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Article Topics:
Word Routes
Exploring the pathways of our lexicon
By the Light of the Moonmoon: The Joy of Reduplication
October 31, 2018
By Mark Peters
These days we need all the levity, lunar or otherwise, that we can get. From ack-ack to zip-zap, reduplicative words are silly, childish, catchy, animalistic, nonsensical, and awesome.
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Article Topics:
Automatically create lists of vocabulary from any text
using the Visual Thesaurus VocabGrabber.
January 18th is celebrated as Thesaurus Day to honor the birthday of the author of the first thesaurus, Peter Mark Roget. Get into the spirit by reading our two-part interview with Roget biographer Joshua Kendall here and here. Also check out an ode to the thesaurus penned by Franklin P. Adams here and Johnny Carson's hilarious "Funeral for a Thesaurus Editor" sketch here.
On the first Monday in September, the United States observes Labor Day, while Canadians celebrate Labour Day. If you want to know why labour is the accepted spelling in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries like Canada, while Americans prefer labor (and color, favor, honor, humor, and neighbor), check out this classic Word Routes column by Ben Zimmer.
Article Topics:
The Lexical Constitution of "Constitution"
September 10, 2018
- 3 Comments
The Evasion-English Dictionary: A Smart Bomb Aimed at Sneaky, Self-deluded Language
August 31, 2018
- 2 Comments
Reinventing Floating Transport for Special Guests
August 14, 2018
Time (or Not) to Take Sides
August 1, 2018
- 5 Comments
Slouching Toward (or Is It Towards?) Consistency
Click here to browse all the articles in our archive by date.
July 23, 2018
- 1 Comment
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OVERHEARD
RECENT COMMENTS FROM OUR SUBSCRIBERS
It's an Adjective! It's an Adverb! It's "Super"!
Jon said,
"Americans have been butchering the English language for generations. Super derived from superb, albeit super is now an accepted word in its own right...."
- Today, 1:28 PM
By the Light of the Moonmoon: The Joy of Reduplication
Stephen Mach4 said,
"Great article, thank you!"
- Thursday November 15th, 3:36 PM
Work-Life Malarkey in the Entrepreneurial Economy
===Dan said,
"It wasn't that Nixon gave "trick" a bad name; that sense of the word has been around for a long time and was applied to Nixon. There can be a..."
- Tuesday November 13th, 9:48 AM
Timothy O. said,
"I think magicians have always been guilty of "pernicious pretension" (Great phrase!). "Sleights" of hand, "prestidigitation," and "legerdemain" were..."
- Monday November 12th, 3:33 PM
By the Light of the Moonmoon: The Joy of Reduplication
Kate Q. said,
"Metamoon?"
- Wednesday November 7th, 10:50 AM
Work-Life Malarkey in the Entrepreneurial Economy
sally L. said,
"I like when words teach you something about yourself that you should learn, like Velleity!"
- Wednesday November 7th, 8:26 AM
By the Light of the Moonmoon: The Joy of Reduplication
Phil H. said,
"I was one of those 17 poets. Moonie (not mentioned) is taken, but what about mcmoon (Mc = Gaelic prefix for "son of")? Or undermoon, to stick with..."
- Thursday November 1st, 10:59 AM
Of Sausages and Cities: German in the Kitchen
Hfj J. said,
"When I was a kid -- about 7 years old -- my family traveled extensively in Germany, Austria & Switzerland. I still recall laughing & asking my..."
- Wednesday October 31st, 9:41 PM
How Did We Get the "Heebie-Jeebies"?
Harry Potter said,
"Good Article"
- Saturday October 27th, 3:47 PM
"Disruptive" Names
Arlene T. said,
"Written by a computer? Written by monkeys! THE COMEBACK WHAT WE SAY: "If you give an infinite number of monkeys and infinite amount of typewriters for..."
- Friday October 26th, 1:28 PM
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Lesson Plans
Put the VT to work in your classroom
Stage Directions: the Vocabulary of Theatrical Delivery
November 1, 2013
How can interpreting the language of stage directions enhance students' comprehension of drama?
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