Vocabulary.com executive producer and lexicographer Ben Zimmer and director of curriculum development Georgia Scurletis will host a live Twitter discussion with English teachers on Monday night from 7 to 8 p.m. EST at #engchat on "Word Play: Gamifying Vocabulary Instruction." Continue reading...
Here's our shortlist of books to read with your students before, during, and after Black History Month, each paired with a ready-made vocabulary list. Continue reading...
Here's our shortlist of books to read with your students before, during, and after Black History Month, each paired with a ready-made vocabulary list. Continue reading...
In the newest chapter of the late-night television wars, "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien has announced that he won't go along with NBC's plan to bump his show to a midnight time slot to make way for Jay Leno at 11:30. After O'Brien made his announcement, he was the recipient of an immediate outpouring of support online. Thousands joined the Team Conan Facebook group, while thousands more expressed their allegiance on Twitter using the #TeamConan hashtag. Where did all this "Team" talk come from? Continue reading...
In an essay on writing in last week's The New Yorker, John McPhee describes drawing boxes around "perfectly O.K." words in a search for the "mot juste." Meanwhile, Virginia Woolf tells us words are a messy tangle that will always elude our best efforts to tie them down. Continue reading...
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." Continue reading...
Ever since I wrote an On Language column for the New York Times Magazine about the authenticity of the dialogue on the AMC series "Mad Men," my inbox has been full of questions about words and phrases that have appeared on the show. The most recent episode, set in early 1965, was particularly rich in expressions that set off people's linguistic radar. Here's a look at four questionable examples from the episode. Continue reading...
Jane Austen's masterwork Pride and Prejudice turns 200 today! Join the birthday celebration by quizzing yourself on words that may smack more of 1813 than they do of 2013 with our Vocabulary List "50 Words from Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice." Or check out the dozens of Pride and Prejudice Vocabulary Lists our users have made. Continue reading...