Sports Aggression
A look at the role of competition in sports violence.
Hardcore Dictionaries
Ammon Shea wonders what makes a dictionary “hardcore”.
BEA Dispatch
Purdy, Director of Publicity, is in LA this weekend at Book Expo America. He will be reporting from the action for those of us left in NYC. Live from the convention floor of BEA in LA. For those not in the know BEA stands for Book Expo America, the largest convention of publishers, media, bookstore […]
Buckle up your mirdle! Euphemisms from heck
Mark Peters looks at euphemisms.
Assess – Podictionary Word of the Day
Charles Hodgson explores the word “Assess”.
How Dictionaries Ruined My Scrabble Game
Ammon Shea explains how dictionaries ruined his Scrabble game.
What Every beginning Dictionary Reader Should Know
Ammon Shea shares some advice for beginning dictionary readers.
The First Blogger
William Safire blogs about blogs.
Know Your Nonsense–A Lexical Guide to Horse Apples
Mark Peters looks at synonyms for “bullshit”.
Lotus – Podictionary Word of the Day
Welcome to podictionary. My name is Charles Hodgson For almost three years now I’ve been producing podictionary – the podcast for word lovers and I’m very pleased to now be able to bring a weekly episode to the OUPblog. Every Thursday I’ll be posting a word-of-the-day podcast here. There are two main differences between podictionary […]
Calling all tonguesters: Refresh your gossip with old words
Mark Peters guest blogs for Ben Zimmer.
This Day In History: Happy Birthday Tolkien
Happy birthday J.R.R. Tolkien!
Should “Decimate” be Annihilated?
Ben Zimmer looks at the word “decimate”.
Redefining the word “Human” – Do Some Apes Have Human Ancestors?
Aaron Filler looks at what makes humans- “human.”
Quixotic Coinages: The Failure of the Epicene Pronoun
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’.
The Past is Present
Morton Keller looks at our polarized political present in light of our past.