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  1. Word Count

     Content-Free Prose: Death of Writing or Next Big Thing?
    Wed Jun 29 00:00:00 EDT 2011
    There's a new online threat to writing. Critics of the web like to blame email, texts, and chat for killing prose. Even blogs don't escape their wrath. But in fact the opposite is true: thanks to computers, writing is thriving. More people are writing more than ever, and this new wave of everyone's-an-author bodes well for the future of writing, even if not all that makes its way online is interesting or high in quality.

  2. Word Routes

     The Colorful Origin Stories of "Gringo"
    Tue Aug 25 00:00:00 EDT 2015
    For the Slate podcast Lexicon Valley, I delve into the many stories surrounding the origins of the word gringo, an epithet used by Latin Americans for foreign speakers, typically American Anglophones. Though a great deal of vivid folklore surrounds the word, its actual etymology is just as interesting.

  3. Contest

     The Visual Thesaurus Crossword Puzzle: February Edition
    Fri Feb 22 00:00:00 EST 2013
    It's George Washington's birthday, so this month's puzzle has a Washingtonian theme. Figure out the word chain and you could win a Visual Thesaurus T-shirt!

  4. Dog Eared

     Let's Talk Turkey: A Word That's Waddled Round the Globe
    Tue Nov 25 00:00:00 EST 2014
    Although turkeys were domesticated by Native Americans, turkey itself is not a Native American word. In this excerpt from a new book The Language of Food, linguist and Stanford University professor Dan Jurafsky charts the complicated path the word turkey followed into English, then serves up a slice of etymological pecan pie.

  5. Behind the Dictionary

     Writing Dictionaries
    Mon Oct 09 00:00:00 EDT 2006

    Erin McKean is the editor of the The New Oxford American Dictionary, the New World cousin of the authoritative, if bulky, Oxford English Dictionary (20 volumes!). She fell in love with words early -- Erin's wanted to be a lexicographer since she was eight years old. She got her wish, working on the Thorndike-Barnhart children's dictionaries for eight years after getting a BA/MA in Linguistics. She's been at Oxford since 2000. We spoke to Erin about writing dictionaries:

  6. Blog Du Jour

     Take the Work Out of Advertising
    Wed Jun 28 00:00:00 EDT 2006

    Writing that catchy slogan getting you down? Can't conjure the name of the doohickey your client's marketing? Will the following sites help? Well, not really, but they're fun to check out:

    The Advertising Slogan Generator

    Name-O-Rama

    Random Surrealism Generator

  7. Blog Excerpts

     Buzzword Compliant Dictionary
    Sat Aug 12 00:00:00 EDT 2006
    BuzzWhack defines "buzzwords" as important-sounding words used to impress laypeople, and "buzzwhacker" as a person who gets pleasure out of bursting the bubbles of the pompous. Buzzwhackers out there, this one's for you! BuzzWhack demystifies one buzzword after the other on its site, including this delicious morsel: "Lawn mullet: A lawn that's neatly mowed in the front but uncut in the back." Read more buzzwords debunked here.

  8. Word Routes

     Celebrating the Beatles: Goo Goo Ga Joob!
    Wed Sep 09 00:00:00 EDT 2009
    Today is a big day for Beatles fans: the band's entire catalog is being reissued in digitally remastered form, and the video game "The Beatles: Rock Band" is also set for release. And what better day than 09/09/09, considering the band's love of the number nine (enneaphilia?), from "The One After 909" to "Revolution No. 9." In honor of the latest wave of Beatles nostalgia, I've been mulling over a bit of nonsense from the fertile mind of John Lennon: the timeless chant heard in "I Am the Walrus," "Goo goo ga joob."

  9. Announcements

     Use the Visual Thesaurus from Microsoft Word!
    Wed Aug 03 00:00:00 EDT 2005
    We are beta-testing a new feature that integrates the Visual Thesaurus into Microsoft Word for Windows. It works with your online subscription. Download it today!

  10. Word Count

     Be Kind To Your Readers
    Mon May 28 00:00:00 EDT 2007

    Like many ex-journalists, I pride myself in being skeptical. But my Lou Grant exterior is sometimes defeated by my inner Pollyanna. When that happens, I enjoy reading a blog by Love Is the Killer App author Tim Sanders.

    In an April 3 entry, Tim argues that simply being kind is one of the keys to success. "A 2002 study on customer service found that if you are likeable and competent," he writes, "you have a threefold increase in the likelihood of getting satisfactory service."

122 123 124 125 126 Displaying 1231-1240 of 3460 Results