Gunsels, gumshoes, and hard-boiled dames: Your guide to the slangy talk in Hollywood films of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
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Gunsels, gumshoes, and hard-boiled dames: Your guide to the slangy talk in Hollywood films of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
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Evasive Maneuvers
Euphemisms old and new
Now-Ists, Creators, and Other Lexical Emergencies
November 11, 2021
Feast your eyes on the latest roundup of our favorite dribbles of dreck.
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Language Lounge
A Monthly Column for Word Lovers
Age-Related Texting Disorder
November 4, 2021
Just as there can be a disconnect between intention and interpretation in other more traditional communication channels, the same thing can happen in texting, and the disconnect may well occur for some of the same reasons.
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Word Count
Writers Talk About Writing
How to Recover From a Writing Rejection
October 21, 2021
Don't let rejection get you down! Learn how to recover from writing rejection with these tips.
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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.
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Elevating Our Evasive Ecosystem
August 19, 2021
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Industrial Athletes Championing Adjusted Ackamarackus
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July 8, 2021
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The Lingo of Film Noir
Nancy Friedman said,
"Thank you, Basil! "Town Without Pity" (1961) has an excellent cast that includes E.G. Marshall and Richard Jaeckel. Its theme song, rendered by Gene..."
- Saturday November 20th, 10:04 AM
Basil H. said,
"At 84, I grew up during the Film Noir era you define and became aware of the genre at some undetermined point in my life. TCM is a favorite place of..."
- Saturday November 20th, 7:32 AM
Now-Ists, Creators, and Other Lexical Emergencies
Dan F. said,
"How about the 2nd cousin, once-removed of "creator"— "creative," as a noun? In ad agencies, the product of a copywriter and art director— "Is the..."
- Monday November 15th, 6:19 PM
How to Recover From a Writing Rejection
Daphne Gray-Grant said,
"Yes, Winston Churchill knew all about that! Look at all the Anglo-Saxon words he used in his famous speeches!"
- Wednesday November 3rd, 5:44 PM
Nelson B. said,
"It is boring to see these latin-rooted words. Long, polissylabic words are easy for me, a native speaker of Portuguese and fluent in French and..."
- Monday November 1st, 8:44 AM
Where Do Place Names Come From?
Claire H. said,
"Another fun place name: Stillmore Ga. Townspeople needed a name as their settlement grew, and asked the postal service for possibilities. They got a..."
- Sunday October 24th, 3:31 PM
Strategic Flexibility and Other Bendy Balderdash
David D. said,
"I was just beginning to carve out the name of my habitat on a piece of precious scrap wood when you referred to your "crystalline Fortress of..."
- Saturday October 16th, 1:02 PM
I Think We're All Bayesians on This Bus
JOHN K. said,
"Cheers. Great subject and your examples explain conditional probability better than I've seen in statistical and scientific contexts. Thank you. John..."
- Friday October 8th, 10:36 PM
Orin Hargraves said,
"Interesting point, Susan. I also "trained" my speech-to-text system (Windows suggests that this will improve performance) but the same errors..."
- Thursday October 7th, 12:12 PM
Susan C. said,
"Thanks for this—a subject I, too, have pondered. I’ve used speech-to-text programs on my PC (broken wrist) and found that it does a fine job with..."
- Thursday October 7th, 10:38 AM
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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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