Topic : Vocabulary

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Word Routes

Exploring the pathways of our lexicon

The Manute Bol Theory of "My Bad"
Tue Jun 22 00:00:00 EDT 2010
By Ben Zimmer

After former NBA star Manute Bol died over the weekend, tributes in the sports pages recognized his awesome shot-blocking skills (it helped that he was 7-foot-7) and his equally awesome humanitarian work in his native Sudan. Another frequently cited legacy is that Bol popularized (or even coined) the expression "my bad" as an athletic mea culpa. On the ESPN gabfest "Around the Horn," Bill Plaschke even said of the supposed coinage, "Language experts have pretty much proven this." Let's investigate.  Continue reading...
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Teachers at Work

A column about teaching

Don't Stop Inferrin': More Thoughts on Out-of-Context Vocab
Mon Jun 21 00:00:00 EDT 2010
By Shannon Reed

Wow! What a response my last column received. Any time The Washington Post excerpts your work, you know you're on to something. My thoughts on teaching vocabulary out of literary context struck a chord with many readers, and I thought it would be beneficial for all if I answered a few questions and shared a few further thoughts this month.  Continue reading...
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Word Count

Writers Talk About Writing

Exaggeration Has Me Killed
Fri Jun 18 00:00:00 EDT 2010
By Stan Carey

Stan Carey, a professional editor from Ireland, writes entertainingly about the English language on his blog Sentence First. Here Stan muses on the word "kill" and a special meaning it has in the colloquial English speech of Ireland.  Continue reading...
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Candlepower

Ad and marketing creatives

A Time to Flout, A Time to Flaunt
Thu Jun 17 00:00:00 EDT 2010
By Julia Rubiner

I listen to a lot of NPR. Unless the correspondent is doing a "man in the street"-type interview, the subjects generally appear intelligent, educated and literate. At least they used to. I've heard several malapropisms in recent weeks, some of which are so common that I figure it's time I spoke up.  Continue reading...
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Blog Excerpts

Improve Your Iteracy Literacy
Wed Jun 16 00:00:00 EDT 2010

As its "Cool News of the Day," Reveries Magazine has featured the latest New York Times "On Language" column by Visual Thesaurus editor Ben Zimmer on "the iteracy afflicting Facebook, Google and others." Read more here (and read here for a previous "Cool News of the Day" tied to Zimmer's column on etymythology).
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Word Count

Writers Talk About Writing

May I Show You the Matching Pant?
Mon Jun 14 00:00:00 EDT 2010

Wendalyn Nichols, editor of the Copyediting newsletter, offers useful tips to copy editors and anyone else who prizes clear and orderly writing. Here she tackles the question of how plural pants got transformed into singular pant.  Continue reading...
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Behind the Dictionary

Lexicographers Talk About Language

The Greatest Love of "Awe"
Thu Jun 10 00:00:00 EDT 2010
By Neal Whitman

A recent trip to an amusement park with his sons Doug and Adam got linguist Neal Whitman thinking about the evolution of the word awesome, and how it took such a different historical turn from its sibling awful.  Continue reading...
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