My Favorites
Least Favorite Word:
traditionTradition is the dirtiest word I know. It represents the power of ignorance and the seductiveness of settling for the conventional, the easy, the thoughtless and the mediocre.
The rhythm of the word offends me too. The d and the second t are so close that they seem as constraining and limiting as the idea. Clipped, military in bearing, without thought or magic.
Favorite Quote:
"This is the true joy of life, the being used by a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."
- George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman
Favorite Topics:
Blogs:
Ben Zimmer on How Technology is Shaping Language
October 8, 2013
- 2 Comments
On Slate, Lexicon Valley Launches a New Language Blog
September 10, 2013
Books:
A Powerful Debunking of Whorfian Exaggeration
April 14, 2014
- 6 Comments
Creativity:
Calling All Writers: Introducing Figment
May 16, 2011
SciPlay, So Far
November 30, 2010
- 2 Comments
Fun:
Scrabble Showdown: "Zen" Versus... "Geocache"?
April 9, 2014
Baseball Lingo, from "Cup of Coffee" to "Southpaw"
April 8, 2014
Grammar:
"Over" Reaction: Copy Editors Gasp at AP Ruling on "Over"/"More Than"
March 21, 2014
- 6 Comments
Language arts:
The Real News About the Redesigned SAT
April 16, 2014
- 1 Comment
The Problem with Punctuation: Some Classroom Findings
March 14, 2014
- 3 Comments
Linguists:
A Linguist Answers, "Why Do I Do What I Do?"
January 17, 2011
Telling the Life Stories of Words
December 7, 2010
Marketing copy:
Copywriting Case Study: Building Business Success
March 17, 2008
- 1 Comment
Business Communicators: Got Metaphor?
February 25, 2008
- 3 Comments
Media:
"Over" Reaction: Copy Editors Gasp at AP Ruling on "Over"/"More Than"
March 21, 2014
- 6 Comments
Poetry:
Celebrate National Grammar Day with a Haiku Cornucopia
March 4, 2014
Politics:
Nobody Likes a Whistleblower (or a Wrayer, Quadruplator, or Emphanist)
February 24, 2014
February 24, 2014
5 Years After Its Discovery, a Washingtonian Typo Lingers
February 17, 2014
- 10 Comments
Reading:
Strangers in Our Midst: Words We Skip While Reading
April 9, 2014
- 4 Comments
For National Reading Month, Finding Vocabulary All Around Us
March 20, 2014
Storytelling:
Type Casting
January 24, 2012
- 2 Comments
Shakespeare and the Hurricane
October 12, 2011
- 5 Comments
Usage:
"Staycation," "Bleisure," and Other Made-Up Travel Words
April 15, 2014
Visual Thesaurus:
Word Cloud: A Film Inspired by the Visual Thesaurus
August 24, 2012
- 5 Comments
Reconsidering the Thesaurus
April 2, 2012
Word Origins:
Baseball Lingo, from "Cup of Coffee" to "Southpaw"
April 8, 2014
A "Final Four" of March Madness Lingo
March 31, 2014
Words:
"Staycation," "Bleisure," and Other Made-Up Travel Words
April 15, 2014
Scrabble Showdown: "Zen" Versus... "Geocache"?
April 9, 2014
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