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  1. Word Routes

     Mailbag Friday: "Out-Physical"
    Fri Oct 24 00:00:00 EDT 2008

    Today's question for Mailbag Friday comes from our own puzzlemaster, Brendan Emmett Quigley, who's been watching a lot of football. "What gives with all these sportscasters saying 'Team A out-physicaled Team B'? Physical, last time I checked, is an adjective and not a verb, right?"

    Brendan's question reminds me of a saying attributed to the great philosopher Calvin (the one from "Calvin and Hobbes," of course): "Verbing weirds language."

  2. Word Routes

     Mailbag Friday: "Landslide"
    Fri Nov 07 00:00:00 EST 2008
    Jon D. of King of Prussia, Pa. writes in with a Mailbag Friday question: " There has been a lot of talk about a landslide victory during this recent presidential election. Not being sure if we actually experienced one or not, I was wondering if you could educate us on what the term actually means and its historical context in describing elections."

  3. Word Routes

     Mailbag Friday: "Jerry-Rigged"
    Fri Dec 19 00:00:00 EST 2008
    My mention earlier this week of the word gerrymander (after Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry, blamed for the tortuous redistricting in his state in 1812) inspired some free association. One commenter posited a connection to the jerry of jerry-built ("shoddy; of inferior workmanship and materials"), though it turns out that word only shows up about half a century after Gerry first gerrymandered. Jerry-built, in turn, led another reader to wonder, "What about jerry-rigged? I've heard that it's really supposed to be jury-rigged."

  4. Word Routes

     Mailbag Friday: "Meh"
    Fri Nov 21 00:00:00 EST 2008

    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?

  5. Word Routes

     Mailbag Friday: Feeling "Nauseous"
    Fri Mar 06 00:00:00 EST 2009
    Last month a usage dispute broke out in the comments section here on the Visual Thesaurus. Our "Evasive Maneuvers" columnist Mark Peters described a friend who "started feeling nauseous." Two commenters objected to this use of nauseous, saying that the word properly describes someone or something that is sickening, and that the word Mark should have used is nauseated. Who's right?

  6. Word Routes

     Mailbag Friday: "Dude"
    Fri Sep 19 00:00:00 EDT 2008

    VT subscriber Kcecelia of San Francisco, CA writes in about yesterday's Visual Thesaurus Word of the Day: dude. She observes that the word's current usage has little to do with its more historical sense, "a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance":

    Last month a 20-something man in an Oregon gas station punctuated his conversation with me with references to me as dude. I am a 55-year-old woman. Also, people say duuuude as an exclamation or interjection. I sometimes say dude myself in a more joking manner to people I am with who are sprinkling it liberally into their conversation. I do not mean that they are a fop or a dandy.

    Especially now that Todd Palin, husband of Gov. Sarah Palin, is in the news as Alaska's "First Dude," this is a good time to reflect on the peculiar history of this all-American word.

  7. Word Routes

     Mailbag Friday: "Taking Your Lumps"
    Fri Feb 06 00:00:00 EST 2009
    Greg H. of Boston, MA writes in with today's Mailbag Friday question: "When President Obama was interviewed about Tom Daschle's decision to bow out of the nomination process for Health and Human Services, he gave this mea culpa: 'Did I screw up in this situation? Absolutely. I'm willing to take my lumps.' I understand he means that he's taking the blame for the situation, but where do the 'lumps' come from?"

  8. Word Routes

     Mailbag Friday: "Phoning It In"
    Fri Oct 17 00:00:00 EDT 2008

    It's time once again for Mailbag Friday! Marc T. of New York, NY writes: "John McCain recently said that he put his campaign on hold to work on the Senate bailout package because 'it's not my style to simply phone it in.' Why do we talk about doing something in a lackluster or perfunctory way as phoning it in? Who originally did the phoning in, anyway?"

    The history of American slang is often illuminating, and this is no exception: tracing the origins of this expression tells an intriguing story about the intersection of the technological and the theatrical.

  9. Word Routes

     Mailbag Friday: "Regime" or "Regimen"?
    Fri Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2009
    Today's Mailbag Friday question comes from Bob D., a doctor from Newton, Massachusetts. Bob asks: "What is up with the constant misuse of the word regime? It drives me crazy. It is like regimen never existed."

  10. Word Routes

     Mailbag Friday: "Funner" and "Funnest"
    Fri Oct 03 00:00:00 EDT 2008

    Jennifer A. of Concord, CA writes:

    Recently, Apple launched some new products, including the new iPod Touch. According to the slide shown at the keynote presentation, this is the "funnest iPod ever." Ugh. I grew up with my parents correcting the use of funnest and funner so this is like fingernails on a chalkboard for me. Not only was the word used in the presentation, but it's right there on the Apple.com homepage too.

1 2 3 4 5 Displaying 11-20 of 103 Results