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  1. Evasive Maneuvers

     Demising and Shaming the Euphemisms of 2013
    Wed Dec 04 00:00:00 EST 2013
    Losing your job is scary. It raises many frightening questions. Can you find another job? How will you pay the bills in the meantime? Where will you get health insurance? Most importantly, what tacky and ridiculous euphemism will mask your firing so a corporate supervillain can sleep at night?

  2. Wordshop

     Taking the Long View: Exploring Words Across Literature
    Tue Dec 03 00:00:00 EST 2013
    Words can be thought of as historical artifacts; they carry with them a stamp of time and place, and sometimes it's important to take the long view and think about words outside their immediate context and use a broader perspective.

  3. Language Lounge

     An Enduring Legacy?
    Mon Dec 02 00:00:00 EST 2013
    Google's Ngram Viewer, especially with its addition of wildcard searching, provides an inexhaustible trove of material for understanding the ways that speakers and writers impart influential nuances to the connotations of words over time. The legacy of any particular word is subject to the whims of the people who use it.

  4. Blog Excerpts

     How "Black Friday" Spawned "Cyber Monday"
    Mon Dec 02 00:00:00 EST 2013
    In case you haven't heard, today is "Cyber Monday," the day that retailers have decided we should all be flocking to make online purchases for our holiday gift list. Last year, Ben Zimmer explained how the advent of "Black Friday" led to the branding of "Cyber Monday" and other days in the Holy Week of shopping.

  5. Contest

     The Visual Thesaurus Crossword Puzzle: November Edition
    Fri Nov 29 00:00:00 EST 2013
    Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season, so we've got an appropriately shopping-themed crossword this month. Solve it and you could win a Visual Thesaurus T-shirt!

  6. Blog Excerpts

     Back in Black: On the Origins of "Black Friday"
    Thu Nov 28 00:00:00 EST 2013
    On Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, Americans kick off the holiday shopping season with a bang. We look back to a Word Routes column by lexicographer Ben Zimmer exploring the origins of the phrase "Black Friday." It is not, as many believe, the day when retailers' balance sheets change from red to black.

  7. Candlepower

     The One and Only Thanksgivukkah
    Tue Nov 26 00:00:00 EST 2013
    It's being called a once-in-an-eternity event: the convergence this week of the American holiday of Thanksgiving with the first day of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Thanksgiving plus Hanukkah equals opportunity for marketers and wordsmiths alike, for whom the brand-new holiday dubbed "Thanksgivukkah" is a bonanza of merchandising... and wordplay.

  8. Behind the Dictionary

     Why Do We Say "Monkey See, Monkey Do"?
    Mon Nov 25 00:00:00 EST 2013
    Imitation for a good reason, imitation for a stupid reason, or imitation just by instinct: "Monkey see, monkey do" covers them all. But what's with the non-standard grammar? Why isn't it "Monkey sees, monkey does"? Or "What a monkey sees, it does?"

  9. Word Routes

     For Dr. Who's Anniversary, the Story Behind "Dalek"
    Fri Nov 22 00:00:00 EST 2013
    While Americans this week have marked the sad anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination, there is a more pleasant commemoration going on as well. On Nov. 23, 1963, the day after Kennedy died, the BBC first broadcast the science-fiction series "Doctor Who." The franchise is still going strong 50 years later. To celebrate, let's look at one of the lexical contributions of "Doctor Who": the name for the nefarious alien race, "Dalek."

  10. Teachers at Work

     Small Things That Change Lives: How Teachers Make a Difference
    Thu Nov 21 00:00:00 EST 2013
    Every day, teachers make a difference. In this time when teachers are seen as incompetent and lazy, and when we are being blamed for societal ills and failing students and schools, I wanted to provide some positive affirmation, something beyond that bumper sticker cliché of "If You Can Read This, Thank a Teacher." After all, teaching goes beyond the classroom, beyond our instruction, and beyond the love of words.
69 70 71 72 73 Displaying 701-710 of 3488 Results