On Noah Webster's 250th birthday, Joshua Kendall explains how he "united America with his words." Kendall and others are taking part in celebrations at Yale University, Webster's alma mater.

On Word Face-Off you can look at different word-based analyses of the second presidential debate between McCain and Obama.

Who's more villainous: Iago or Cruella de Vil? Check out The Telegraph's list of the 50 greatest literary villains.

Should words like podcast, Bluetooth, and crowdsourcing be included in mainstream dictionaries? Computerworld talks to leading lexicographers about which high-tech terms make the cut.

David Foster Wallace left a lasting impact on his fellow writers. Edward Champion's Reluctant Habits and McSweeney's Internet Tendency have collected scores of touching tributes.

Jack Kerouac, Zora Neale Hurston, Vladimir Nabokov, William Burroughs, Sylvia Plath: they're all on YouTube, believe it or not. The Guardian has the full list of YouTube's greatest arts footage.

If your interest is piqued by Nancy Friedman's introduction to TwitterLit (TwitLit? Twitterature?), check out more on these "byte-sized stories" from Ars Technica.