Vocabulary.com Blog
Articles about Fun
The baseball season is in full swing now, and as a long-suffering fan of the New York Mets, I've learned to content myself with the small pleasures of the game. The Mets started the season with a road trip, going 3-3 — not bad, I'll take it. Pitching in today's home opener at Citi Field is R.A. Dickey, who has emerged as a fan favorite, not just for his way with a knuckleball, but for his way with words.
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Word RoutesExploring the pathways of our lexicon
Crossword Tournament 2011: Another Win for "Steely" Dan
Another year of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is in the books, and Dan Feyer has solidified his place as the seemingly unbeatable king of the crossword world. Puzzlemaster Brendan Emmett Quigley joins us again with his wrap-up of the action from Brooklyn.
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Live from Brooklyn, puzzlemaster Brendan Emmett Quigley is providing exclusive commentary from the 2011 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Brendan's got the scoop on all the action at the end of the first day of competition.
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This weekend, the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott will once again host the 34th American Crossword Puzzle Tournament — the premier annual gathering of word nerds. Presided over by New York Times puzzle editor Will Shortz, the ACPT promises to provide just as much competitive drama as past years.
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Blog Excerpts
How to Talk Super Bowl
The Pittsburgh Steelers meet the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl this weekend, and the Washington Post has a guide to Pittsburgh and Wisconsin lingo. Steelers fans might say, "Redd up the house, company's comin!" A Packers touchdown might be greeted with "Uff-da!" Read all about it here.
Blog Excerpts
From Smashmouth to Ground & Pound
In advance of the Super Bowl, Visual Thesaurus editor Ben Zimmer tackles the aggressive lingo of football in his "On Language" column for The New York Times Magazine. Read the column here, and listen to sportswriters discuss the column on Slate's "Hang Up and Listen" podcast here (starting at 33:30).
In this special edition of Evasive Maneuvers, our euphemism-meister Mark Peters reviews a new book on verbal evasions, Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms by Ralph Keyes. According to Keyes, euphemisms serve as "an excellent way to determine what we find embarrassing."
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