We welcome back Fitch O'Connell, a longtime teacher of English as a foreign language, working for the British Council in Portugal. Fitch reveals what happened when students in his classes were asked to select their favorite words.  Continue reading...

How can students use the Visual Thesaurus and other online tools to differentiate between the three branches of U.S. government and learn the duties — and limits — of each?  Continue reading...

Supreme Court justices are increasingly turning to dictionaries for semantic support when writing decisions, according to Adam Liptak of The New York Times. But Oxford English Dictionary editor at large Jesse Sheidlower says, "I think that it’s probably wrong, in almost all situations, to use a dictionary in the courtroom." Read the article here.

Don't you love farce? My fault, I fear. I thought that you'd want what I want. Sorry, my dear. But where are the clowns? Quick, send in the clowns.

OK, I've just broken my number 1 rule of writing by beginning with a direct quote.  Continue reading...

"I don't care how thick he gets, I'm not inviting him!"

I overheard this in Galway recently, and it prompted me to write a few notes on the word thick as it is used in Ireland.  Continue reading...

We're proud to announce a major technological advance for Visual Thesaurus users. We've just released a new version of the Visual Thesaurus that works for the iPad and the iPhone, at no extra cost to subscribers. And whether you're using the VT in your Web browser, on your iPhone, or on your iPad, you'll enjoy lightning-fast load times.  Continue reading...

Visual Thesaurus editor Ben Zimmer is in Montreal for the Dictionary of Society of North America biennial conference. He checked in with the CBC Radio show "Q" to give a preview of his talk on how lexicographers trace hip-hop slang from its earliest roots. You can hear the interview here, starting at about one hour into the June 8th podcast.