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  1. Word Routes

     How "Kung Fu" Entered the Popular Lexicon
    Fri Jan 17 00:00:00 EST 2014
    When Run Run Shaw, a giant of the Hong Kong entertainment industry, died earlier this month at the ripe old age of 106, I took the opportunity to look at a term with which he was intimately connected: kung fu. In the 1970s, martial-arts movies from the Shaw Brothers studio (and its Hong Kong rival, Golden Harvest) firmly planted kung fu in the global consciousness. But I was surprised to learn that kung fu as we know it was actually born on American soil.

  2. Candlepower

     Duds We Love, Duds We Don't
    Thu Jan 16 00:00:00 EST 2014
    Here's a riddle for you: How is clothing similar to a bomb that doesn't detonate or a seed that doesn't sprout? No, the answer is not "They're all useless." (Sorry, nudists.) Rather, they all share a single label: duds.

  3. Word Count

     Sorry, Lynne Truss, English is Not Doomed
    Wed Jan 15 00:00:00 EST 2014

    Recently Lynne Truss, professional pedant, declared in her Telegraph column that English is "doomed."

    Her proof? Someone wrote "It maybe time to act on this" in an email to her.

  4. Word Count

     Why You Should Try This Magic Bullet for Writers
    Tue Jan 14 00:00:00 EST 2014
    I was speaking at a conference several years ago and talking about mindmapping. I spotted one tall, skinny guy in the middle of the very large hotel conference room, smiling and nodding his head vigorously. I could also see a few rather grumpy faces — people who looked either disappointed or disbelieving. A few even looked angry!

  5. Behind the Dictionary

     Selfie's Children: The Productive "-fie" Suffix
    Mon Jan 13 00:00:00 EST 2014
    To many, the selfie — a picture of yourself, taken by yourself and shared on social media — is a sign of rampant narcissism. I tend to share that belief. Even before I heard the word, I thought there was something mentally amiss with my Facebook friends who posted over a hundred head shots of themselves. However, as a lexicographer, I have to admit the selfie trend is now broader than the self.

  6. Word Count

     Word Tasting Note: A "Ghost" Story
    Fri Jan 10 00:00:00 EST 2014

    Ready for a ghost story? In the latest installment of his "Word Tasting Notes," James Harbeck has a ghost story about the word ghost.

    This word has a ghost in it, a little guest in the host: a letter h, symbol of a soft breath, here seen but not heard — like many a spectre.

  7. Word Count

     The Power of Reading Good Books
    Thu Jan 09 00:00:00 EST 2014
    The single most valuable thing an aspiring writer can do to improve his or her work may be stated in three words: Read good books! Unfortunately, the statement begs the question, what makes a good book? The book you prize I may scorn; the book that thrills me may bore you.

  8. Behind the Dictionary

     Why is the Word of the Year "Because"? Because...
    Wed Jan 08 00:00:00 EST 2014
    For 24 years, the American Dialect Society has chosen a Word of the Year at its annual meeting in January. Typically, the word has been a noun or verb that has risen to prominence during the previous year. But this year, strong candidates such as selfie and twerk ultimately lost to a word that isn't a noun, verb, or adjective; doesn't describe some cultural phenomenon; and has been in continuous use in English for more than 700 years: because. How did that happen?

  9. Word Count

     Hamming It Up: Too Many "Bad Actors"
    Tue Jan 07 00:00:00 EST 2014
    When it gets cold and wintry, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said, "alongside acts of goodwill and kindness, a major storm like this also brings out bad actors who take advantage of their customers." (If they're lousy at pretending to be good Samaritans, why are they a threat?)

  10. Evasive Maneuvers

     Inappropriate and Uncertain Difficulties with Personal Deportment
    Mon Jan 06 00:00:00 EST 2014
    I hate inappropriate and uncertain events. Don't you? So does the American College of Cardiology. An article about that group reveals a lame-o lexical band-aid: "The cardiology group replaced the 'Inappropriate' label with 'Rarely Appropriate.' Another category—cases in which there's medical doubt—will switch from 'Uncertain' to 'May be Appropriate.'"
66 67 68 69 70 Displaying 671-680 of 3488 Results