I have long been a bit disposed (and definitely not predisposed) to peeve about pre- words that don't really require pre-. Lately I have added a new peeve, actually a lexicographer's lament, about words that begin with the complementary prefix post-. These two prefixes share the quality of suggesting a timeline, and the problematic nature of both of them arises when the reader or listener isn't quite clear on where to land on that timeline, or what is happening there.
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Topic : WordsCandlepowerAd and marketing creativesCrisp, Crispy, Krispy, Krispies February 13, 2017 By Nancy Friedman
If you're a fan of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, I have some bad news for you: The English language is notoriously anti-minimalist. English loves multiples and hangs onto old words while continuously adding new ones. I could dig up many examples, but today I want to talk about just one pair, crisp and crispy, both of which mean essentially the same thing. Except when they don't.
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Article Topics:Evasive ManeuversEuphemisms old and newRights for Robots and Other Alternative, Orderly, Restrictive Rubbish February 7, 2017 By Mark Peters
Though I made a case for alt-right as 2016's Euphemism of the Year, the American Dialect Society went in another direction, those rascals! They selected locker-room talk, which is a pretty solid euphemism, though I'm not sure it made the top ten twaddlesome terms of 2016. This year is young, but there's already a candidate I suspect everyone and their uncle is going to support or at least suggest for 2017's euphemism of the year: alternative facts.
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Behind the DictionaryLexicographers Talk About LanguageA "Dumpster Fire" of a Year January 11, 2017 By Nancy Friedman
At its annual meeting the American Dialect Society selected dumpster fire as its word of the year for 2016 and set a precedent by including an emoji in its announcement of the vote.
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Article Topics:Evasive ManeuversEuphemisms old and newWhat is the Euphemism of the Year? January 4, 2017 By Mark Peters
The American Dialect Society will be meeting in early January to present papers and share research about our ever-evolving language. They'll also pick the Word of the Year, along with many other categories—including Euphemism of the Year. Here's a list of suggested contenders.
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Article Topics:Language LoungeA Monthly Column for Word LoversYou Say You Want a Resolution? January 1, 2017 By Orin Hargraves
It would be an interesting social experiment to bring the language surrounding New Year's Resolutions more into line with the meaning of resolution—that is to say, the act of declaring a firm intention to act.
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Article Topics:Dog EaredBooks we loveAn Insider's Look at the Creation (and Endless Recreation) of the Oxford English Dictionary December 19, 2016 By Mark Peters
Just as the OED will never be finished documenting the English language, there's always more to tell about the OED itself. So the latest addition to the historical record of our greatest historical dictionary—The Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by lexicographer Peter Gilliver—is most welcome.
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