Now in its eighth year, the Williamsburg Spelling Bee has gained a reputation as the "Hipster Spelling Bee" (thanks to the ever-hip denizens of the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn). But really, it's just an excuse for some good old-fashioned spellin' fun in a convivial crowd. On Monday night, Robert Moy was crowned the winner of this year's Bee, and the Visual Thesaurus was happy to be a sponsor for the final event.  Continue reading...

President-Elect Obama says we're "now on a glide path to reduce our forces in Iraq." He also says we're "on a glide path for long-term sustainable economic growth." What's up with all the gliding?  Continue reading...

Dorothy G. of Teeswater, Ontario writes in with today's Mailbag Friday question:

I have always used bran-new to imply "unused," "just out of the package," etc. But when I look it up, I also find brand-new. Entirely too many years ago, if I used brand-new, I was assured that it was merely a mispronouncing of bran-new. I'd appreciate knowing the difference.

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Another week, another Word of the Year selection! The latest comes from the editors at Webster's New World Dictionary, who have selected the useful verb overshare. They define it as: "to divulge excessive personal information, as in a blog or broadcast interview, prompting reactions ranging from alarmed discomfort to approval." It's certainly a word that captures the zeitgeist of the Age of Too Much Information.  Continue reading...

President-Elect Obama has begun to assemble his nominees for Cabinet posts — something he had promised to do, in his first post-election press conference, "with all deliberate haste." If deliberate means "marked by careful consideration or reflection," and haste means "overly eager speed (and possible carelessness)," doesn't that make "deliberate haste" an oxymoron?  Continue reading...

It's a special journalistic edition of Mailbag Friday! Today's question comes from Molly Eichel, assistant editor at Philadelphia City Paper:

I was hoping you could help me out with a linguistic conundrum. I work at the Philadelphia City Paper and I wrote a blog post about the inclusion of the word meh into the upcoming edition of the Collins English Dictionary. I think meh doesn't deserve a spot in a reference book; it's slang at best and sound effect at worst. A blogger at Philadelphia Weekly disagrees. I would really like to hear your thoughts on the matter, so it becomes a legitimate discussion rather than a spat between two bloggers. What do you think about meh's inclusion into a dictionary?

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Yesterday, our "Editorial Emergency" duo of Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner launched a salvo against a common usage of the word nonplussed, a word they "wager more people get wrong than right." That opens an interesting can of worms: if a word or phrase used to have Meaning A, but more people now use it with Meaning B, is it time for the Meaning A folks to stand aside?  Continue reading...