Word Routes
Exploring the pathways of our lexicon
2012 Spelling Bee: 50 Survive the Preliminaries
May 31, 2012
By Ben Zimmer
BROWSE BY DATE:Articles from MAY 2012Word RoutesExploring the pathways of our lexicon2012 Spelling Bee: 50 Survive the Preliminaries May 31, 2012 By Ben Zimmer![]() Behind the DictionaryLexicographers Talk About LanguageProgressive Reform May 30, 2012 By Neal Whitman
In a class for speakers of English as a foreign language, Neal Whitman found himself teaching odd five-verb forms like "will have been being seen" and "would have been being seen." How did we end up with such unusual verb pile-ups?
Continue reading...
Article Topics:
It's time once again for the Scripps National Spelling Bee! The preliminaries are today, and the nationally televised semifinals and finals are tomorrow (May 31). Visual Thesaurus editor Ben Zimmer will be live-tweeting the competition tomorrow on the VT Twitter feed and reporting on the results here in his Word Routes column. In the meantime, read Ben's observations on tricky spelling here and here, and try the super-addictive Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee!
Word CountWriters Talk About WritingExplaining "Fell" in "One Fell Swoop" May 29, 2012 By Stan Carey
For years I've been reading the phrase at/in one fell swoop, and even using it occasionally, without ever examining it closely. I knew what it meant ("all at once"), and that it came from Shakespeare, but only recently did I stop and wonder: What's that fell doing there?
Continue reading...
Article Topics:
On the last Monday in May, Memorial Day is celebrated in the United States. But wait: is celebrated the right word? Would it be more appropriate to say Memorial Day is observed? Wendalyn Nichols, an experienced editor and lexicographer, guides us through this usage quandary.
Continue reading...
Article Topics:![]()
We're revving up for the Indianapolis 500 with a racing-themed crossword puzzle. Solve it and you could win a Visual Thesaurus T-shirt!
Continue reading...
Teachers at WorkA column about teachingUsing Music to Connect Literature May 24, 2012 By Michele Dunaway
Almost 30 years ago, back in the stone ages of 1983 when records debuted on vinyl and the idea of iTunes just another science fiction, my Advanced Placement English teacher Claudine Vignery taught me something I still use today. She taught me that everything is connected. At the end of a unit she'd let us listen to music. She'd pick out a song, put it on the record player, and for around three to four minutes we'd sit quietly and listen.
Continue reading...
|