We gather in the poetry corner of the Lounge this month to spend some time with a good old-fashioned poem written back in the day when rhyme and meter were an expected part of the package. Along the way, we marvel at the staying power of a few sturdy English words.  Continue reading...

Lexicographer Jonathon Green is the editor of Cassell's Dictionary of Slang and the world's foremost authority on this rather rich subject. Here he argues the rationale behind his particular bailiwick:

There are, in round figures, some 100,000 words and phrases in the slang vocabulary. That's half a millennium's coinage, of course, and it's not just British English.

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Here are a few favorite blogs of dictionary editor Erin McKean, who we interviewed in this week's "Behind the Dictionary" feature. Make sure to check her own blogs, one on language called Undefined, and one on sew-it-yourself dresses called A Dress A Day!

Cat and Girl, "off-kilter comics"

Cool Tools, "just what the man said"

Crabwalk, "a writer for the Dallas Morning News daily paper"

Heaneyland!, "my friend Francis's blog, mostly puzzles, comics, and wry daily observations"

Language Hat, "a linguistics-in-action blog"

43 Folders, "productivity blog; fun tricks to do stuff faster"

This Is Broken, "Mark Hurst's blog showing examples of bad design and interaction"

Toothpaste for Dinner, "another off-kilter comic"

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:

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Erin McKean, dictionary editor and author of Weird and Wonderful Words, recommends these books:

Word Origins... and How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone by Anatoly Liberman

The Warden of English: The Life of H.W. Fowler by Jenny McMorris

Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends by David Wilton

Lapsing Into a Comma: A Curmudgeon's Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print--and How to Avoid Them by Bill Walsh

Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon by Michael Adams ("Just in case any of you thought I was joking, the essay on ephemeral language is worth reading even if you've never seen an episode of Buffy," says Erin)

Check out these blogs on linguistics, language and, as one writer put it, "other geekery."

Tenser, said the Tensor

Language Geek

Lexical Matters

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