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Articles about Words
Word RoutesExploring the pathways of our lexicon
Word-Lore, Nerd-Lore
Everybody knows the word "nerd," but its origins are surprisingly difficult to track down.
To be called a nerd these days isn't such a bad thing -- it can even be a statement of pride, a way of owning up to an all-consuming passionate interest, particularly in something technological or pop-cultural (or both). It has been reclaimed as a positive label in much the same way as geek has. The cartoonish '80s movie The Revenge of the Nerds turned out to have some prescience, as nerdy types from Bill Gates to Mark Zuckerberg have come to rule so much of 21st-century life. So it's only natural to wonder, where did the word nerd come from?
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Dog EaredBooks we love
In Dictionary Battle, Scrabblers Become Squabblers
What counts as a word in Scrabble? The pros disagree.
Earlier this week we featured an excerpt from Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis, an entertaining look at the world of competitive Scrabble, now published in a tenth anniversary edition with a special afterword on the latest Scrabble developments. Here we present another excerpt from the afterword, about the raging debates over what words to include in the official Scrabble dictionary.
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Dog EaredBooks we love
How a Carpenter Set a Scrabble Record (Or Did He?)
A Scrabble record was broken unexpectedly and led to contention among Scrabblers.
Ten years ago, Stefan Fatsis published the book Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players. Since then, Scrabble has become even more competitive, thanks in part to the publicity from Word Freak. Fatsis has just released a tenth anniversary edition, with an afterword on the last decade's developments. Here we present an excerpt from the afterword about an astounding match that "rocked the Scrabble world."
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Behind the DictionaryLexicographers Talk About Language
The Linguistic Impact of 9/11? "9/11" Itself
Ten years later, "9/11" has become firmly entrenched in our lexicon.
The terrorist attacks on 9/11 happened ten years ago, and although everybody remembers what they were doing at that flashbulb moment, and many aspects of our lives were changed by those attacks, from traveling to shopping to going online, one thing stands out: the only significant impact that 9/11 has had on the English language is 9/11 itself.
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Word RoutesExploring the pathways of our lexicon
Taking Issue with "Ground Zero"
The argument for saying good-bye to a potent 9/11-related phrase, ten years on.
In a speech on Tuesday anticipating the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that it was time to retire the name "Ground Zero" when referring to the World Trade Center site. "We will never forget the devastation of the area that came to be known as 'Ground Zero,'" Bloomberg said. "But the time has come to call those 16 acres what they are: The World Trade Center and the National September 11th Memorial and Museum." That's quite a mouthful.
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Behind the DictionaryLexicographers Talk About Language
Payback Time
"Revenge" and "vengeance" are popular words in movie titles nowadays.
The movies have me in a venge-ful mood these days. Among the surfeit of superhero movies this summer there was Captain America: The First Avenger. This movie, along with Thor and last summer's Iron Man 2, is a prelude to next summer's The Avengers, showcasing the Marvel superhero team that features these characters.
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Word CountWriters Talk About Writing
Oral History: Of Spoken and Written Words
Why do writers increasingly use "verbal" instead of "oral" these days?
Merrill Perlman considers why writers avoid the word "oral" and use "verbal" instead.
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