Oxford University Press's
Academic Insights for the Thinking World
Earlier this week I spent an enjoyable hour being interviewed on the Wisconsin Public Radio show “At Issue with Ben Merens.” Though our topic was ostensibly the New Oxford American Dictionary’s choice of ‘locavore’ as Word of the Year, we soon ventured into other word-related matters, such as ‘O’.
Anatoly divulges how seasons make up the year.
Ben Zimmer looks at the history of the word “carbon-summer.”
Anatoly looks at strong and weak past participles.
Ben Zimmer looks at the origin of the word “movie.”
The winner of our “Word of the Century So Far” poll is revealed.
Anatoly takes a look at negative prefixes.
Ben Zimmer looks at the word taze/tase.
Anatoly answers readers’ questions and looks at the origins of bigot.
Anatoly explores pretty’s myriad of meanings from unlikely origins.
Jessica Prentice talks about how she coined the word of the year.
Kindle has arrived! Evan Schnittman reviews the new ereader for us.
Ben Zimmer looks a little bit more closely at the Word of the Year.
Anatoly uncovers how sneaked became snuck.
It’s that time of the year again. It is finally starting to get cold, and the New Oxford American Dictionary is preparing for the holidays by making its biggest announcement of the year. The 2007 Word of the Year is (drum-roll please) ‘locavore’; a trend in using locally grown, seasonal ingredients.
Ben Zimmer looks at “miss steaks.”