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Articles from December, 2012
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List of the Week: 48 Words for the PSAT
List of the Week: 48 Words for the PSAT
Studying for the PSAT? Vocabularian Leigha A. made "My 2012 PSAT Words," a list of 48 words to learn before taking the test, including "words that are used in the definitions of the words I found in the PSAT."
How often do you see an article about the search for the origin of a phrase on the homepage of the New York Times website? Just about... never. And yet the Times today has a story about the history of an expression that we've delved into a couple of times in this space: "the whole nine yards." Diligent word-sleuthing has turned up a rather unexpected predecessor: "the whole six yards."
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Ten Words from Today's NY Times - Dec. 27, 2012
Ten Words from Today's NY Times - Dec. 27, 2012
Learn Ten Words from Today's Times - Dec. 27, 2012.
Then see "Vocabulary Begets Vocabulary: The More You Know, the More You Learn" to understand why learning these words will help you absorb even more as you read.
In his latest Word Tasting Note, James Harbeck presents a baker's dozen of reasons why he likes lagniappe, a word meaning "a small gift, especially one given by a merchant to a customer who makes a purchase."
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Blog Excerpts
A Christmas Potpourri
If you're looking for some reading material this Yuletide season in between sips of eggnog, check out some Visual Thesaurus articles from Christmases past. Merrill Perlman explained the history of some seasonal expressions. Mike Pope considered phrases popularized by Christmas movies. Nancy Friedman told us about made-up holidays. And Ben Zimmer revealed the origins of "eggnog," holiday grog.
Tasty MorselsGood stuff from Vocabulary.com
Gift-Worthy Words (For Last Minute Shoppers)
This holiday season, give the gift of a great wor
Let's face it, not all holiday gifts are created equal. Anyone who has spent the last month hunting down the just-right sweater or book or tablet or nail gun or gold chain knows that the difference between what you're seeing and what you really want to buy can be a mile wide. The same is true of words.
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Americans are approaching an auspicious anniversary: it has been two hundred years since the first known appearance of "Uncle Sam" as an initialistic embodiment of the United States. The earliest example of "Uncle Sam" was found in the December 23, 1812 issue of the Bennington (Vermont) News-Letter. But another town not too far from Bennington — Troy, New York — has maintained that it is the true birthplace of Uncle Sam.
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