|
|
Search the Site
-
Word Count
Emergency! Seven Ways to Avert a Writing Crisis
Wed Dec 17 00:00:00 EST 2008
A few months ago, I ended up in Emergency for 15 hours. (Long story; it was nothing serious.) But the debacle caused me to miss a deadline. The client was the picture of understanding but for me, a former daily newspaper editor, it was deeply embarrassing.
-
Word Routes
Eponyms in the Making?
Tue Dec 16 00:00:00 EST 2008
Every now and then, a prominent person achieves so much notoriety that his or her name enters the language as an eponym. Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry gave us gerrymander, after carving a salamander-shaped electoral district that favored his party in 1812. Major Vidkun Quisling was a Norwegian officer who collaborated with the Germans during World War II, so quisling came to mean "a traitor to one's country." And when Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court was quashed in 1987, it was said that he got Borked by his opponents. Now there are a couple of names in the news that just might lend themselves to new eponyms.
-
Teachers at Work
Slang and the Achievement Gap
Mon Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2008
Last week, Visual Thesaurus contributor and New York public school teacher Shannon Reed shared some experiences about the richness of student slang that she had encountered. Here is a counterpoint to Shannon's piece, from a new member of the VT sales staff, Elissa Seto. Before joining the VT team Elissa taught science at an urban middle school in the South Bronx. While a fan of slang, Elissa is also concerned about how student reliance on nonstandard speech may be symptomatic of what educators call the achievement gap.
-
Backstory
Tish Cohen, Author of "Inside Out Girl"
Fri Dec 12 00:00:00 EST 2008
My close friend is a family therapist and once told me her favorite clients are children with non-verbal learning disorders, because of their loving dispositions—naiveté, clumsiness, big hearts, and an utter inability to connect with other children. She loves that they talk too close, constantly knock things over, say the wrong thing, and still get lost on the way to the restroom down the hall in an office they've been coming to for five years. Often they can't walk up the stairs and talk at the same time, their clothes are inside out and their lack of motor skills means they can't brush their own teeth. If you tell them to jump in a lake, they probably will. Frustrating, to say the least.
-
Blog Excerpts
"It Has a Lot of Commas"
Thu Dec 11 00:00:00 EST 2008
From Three Percent, the blog of the University of Rochester publishing house Open House Books, comes word of a stupendous literary feat. The French writer Mathias Énard has published a 517-page novel entitled "Zone," and the whole thing (aside from a few pages of flashbacks) consists of a single 150,000-word sentence! Don't know French? No problem: Open House is publishing an English translation, due out in 2010.
-
Word Routes
The "Hipster Spelling Bee" (Sponsored by the VT!)
Wed Dec 10 00:00:00 EST 2008
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.
-
Word Routes
Happy Landings on the "Glide Path"
Tue Dec 09 00:00:00 EST 2008
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?
-
Blog Du Jour
Latino Lit
Tue Dec 09 00:00:00 EST 2008
-
Teachers at Work
Appreciating Student Slang: My Bad, So Good
Mon Dec 08 00:00:00 EST 2008
Teachers sometimes feel like their students live in a different linguistic world. The varieties of English spoken by students these days may be jam-packed with slang and other colloquialisms largely impenetrable to their teachers, especially when there's a difference in cultural background. Though the teacher's job is to train students in the proper use of standard English, can that be balanced by an appreciation of the diversity of student slang? To answer that question, we're checking in with two teachers with experience in the New York City public school system. First up is Shannon Reed, who writes regularly for our Teachers At Work section.
-
Word Routes
Mailbag Friday: "Brand-New" or "Bran-New"?
Fri Dec 05 00:00:00 EST 2008
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.
|
|
250 251 252 253 254
Displaying 2511-2520 of 3488 Results
