Oxford University Press's
Academic Insights for the Thinking World
Last Sunday, in the NY Times, I read a book reviewer taking an author to task for her word use. The reviewer stated that “the last time I checked the American Heritage Dictionary, in spite of how computer trade journalists might choose to use the word, “architect” was not recognized as a verb”.
You don’t have to be an MD or a sick puppy to appreciate the enormous family of humorous medical terms, including ‘peanut butter balls’ (phenobarbitol), ‘horrendoplasty’ (an operation without a sunny forecast), or ‘duck’s disease’ (‘being short’, so-named for the non-NBA-ready stature of quackers).
The podictionary word of the week is “Anathema.”
Anatoly looks at the nickname “Hoosier”.
A few questions for Casper Grathwohl.
Test your wordpower against Oxford’s experts.
Ben’s Place of the Week is Kowloon Peninsula, China.
Elvin Lim looks at the Presidential candidates.
A look at the best overtures.
Why is safe sex so difficult to encourage?
What is sexual pleasure? The concept denoted here is a rather slippery creature, weighted down by considerable pop psychological baggage, and subject to cross-cultural and cross-historical variation. Nevertheless, it is desirable to have some definition of this concept, as an anchor for discussion.
What Cassie has been doing with her week.
Ammon reflects on note-taking.
The podictionary word of the day is “mildew”.
Several times a year I speak on Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), a guest of Kerri Miller’s program “Midmorning News.” We usually advertise some general topic in advance, but, while I am in the studio, listeners are requested to ask any questions they like about word origins, regardless of the overarching theme. Sometimes I […]
Some Greek phrases to get you started.