Years ago, after I'd graduated from grade 12 and moved on to higher learning — English 100 and Philosophy 120 — I discovered that my university had a recording library. Hallelujah! Sounds quaint now, I know, but this was more than a generation before iPods, and I was ridiculously excited about getting to hear music via headphones.  Continue reading...

I hate the word "webinar."

I don't mind "podcast" or "blogosphere" or "Wikipedia," and I happen to love "netiquette." But there's something about "webinar" that produces a frisson of ickiness every time I see or hear it, an inward "ew."  Continue reading...

The Twitter universe encompasses some odd creatures, including all manner of "Incredible Hulk" spinoffs typing their primitive tweets in all caps. One that language lovers should follow is the delightful Grammar Hulk. Copy editor Andy Bechtel has posted a Q&A with Grammar Hulk — read it here.

The JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater became an overnight folk hero (for some) after news spread of his theatrical resignation: cursing out a passenger over the intercom, grabbing a beer, deploying the plane's emergency slide, and sliding down to the tarmac in a blaze of glory. With a story so compelling, it's no surprise that admirers are now coming up with Slater-specific expressions to describe "take this job and shove it" moments.  Continue reading...

Filmmakers Will Hoffman and Daniel Mercadante have put together a short video that's a real treat for visual/verbal types, using striking images to play with the ambiguities of words. The video was made to accompany the latest episode of the WNYC show Radiolab, entitled "Words." Watch the video here and listen to the Radiolab episode here.

Here is the latest contribution from Michael Lydon on the writer's art.

My recent Visual Thesaurus essay, "Realism: The Truth of Fiction," set off a brisk debate in the comment section, the gist of which was, "Okay, Michael, realism is the truth of fiction, but what is this 'reality' that realism describes?"  Continue reading...

A lot of silly things get written about the craft of dictionary-making, but a story that appeared last week in the London-based Daily Telegraph just might be the most nonsensical article about lexicography in recent memory. The breathless headline reads, "Secret vault of words rejected by the Oxford English Dictionary uncovered." What a scoop! Has the Telegraph blown the lid off a cabal of Dictionary Illuminati worthy of a Dan Brown novel? Yeah, not so much.  Continue reading...