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While most of us view April 15th as the day the tax man cometh (and our income goeth), it marked a more auspicious occasion in 1755. That was the day Samuel Johnson published his massive two-volume, 42,773-word dictionary of the English language. Mim Harrison, founding editor of Levenger Press, takes a look back.
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Last month in Contest Corner, the goal was to find as many words as possible that are defined using all four parts of speech on the Visual Thesaurus (i.e., noun, adjective, verb, and adverb). Congratulations to Eric D. of Grand Rapids, MI, who came up with 26! Here's his list: back, better, clean, clear, direct, down, even, fast, free, full, home, last, long, low, out, quiet, right, round, short, slow, square, still, thin, true, well, wrong. Eric wins a Visual Thesaurus T-shirt!
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The recent hijacking of the Maersk Alabama cargo ship off the coast of Somalia serves as a chilling reminder that seagoing pirates continue to threaten international waters, from the Gulf of Aden to the Straits of Malacca. For many of us, it's peculiar to see the word pirate making headlines, since it seems so out of place in the 21st century — at least outside of Disney theme parks.
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In the late 17th century, famed pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with the dust of 100 dogs, dooming her to one hundred lives as a dog before returning to a human body — with her memories intact. Now she's a contemporary American teenager, and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica.
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