Vocabulary.com Blog
Articles from January, 2013
From this past Thursday's New York Times: "In case you haven't noticed, some of the most amusing and captivating writing in the city is being produced in the service of cheese." Check out our Vocabulary List "Words for Cheese" drawn from this cheese writing, and an earlier Vocabulary.com blog post "Cheese Words" for a quick primer on cheese vocabulary (and cheese itself).
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Under the HoodThe science of vocabulary building
The Science of Sticking to a Goal
Let Learning Research Work for You
By this point in January, you've probably vacuumed all but the last few crumbs of New Year's Eve confetti out of the rug. Have you kicked your vocabulary-learning resolutions to the curb as well?
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Late last year, there was some controversy in the media over a new book by Sarah Ogilvie about the Oxford English Dictionary's historical coverage of foreign words. The controversy turned out to be a tempest in a teapot, overshadowing the worthy book behind it. Here, Mark Peters has an appreciation of Ogilvie's Words of the World.
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Tasty MorselsGood stuff from Vocabulary.com
Ten Words from Today's NY Times - Jan. 23, 2013
Ten Words from Today's NY Times - Jan. 23, 2013
Learn Ten Words from Today's Times - Jan. 23, 2013.
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.
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Vocabulary
The presidential inaugural address, that quadrennial high point in American political rhetoric, invariably attracts a huge amount of attention. President Obama's address yesterday was the subject of meticulous scrutiny: his word choice, his rhetorical devices, and even his grammar all were analyzed by countless language kibitzers.
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Blog Excerpts
Looking Back on the Oath Flub
President Obama was officially sworn in to a second term by Chief Justice John Roberts yesterday in a private ceremony at the White House. Afterwards, Obama's daughter Sasha told him, "You didn't mess up." But four years ago, the oath didn't go so smoothly, thanks to a misplaced adverb. Ben Zimmer covered the oath flub for his Word Routes column. Read it here: "Taking the Oath of Office... Faithfully."
Savor — and learn! — words from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s impressive personal lexicon with two Vocabulary Lists: Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream" speech and Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" (1963).
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