Oxford University Press's
Academic Insights for the Thinking World
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 […]
Mark Peters guest blogs for Ben Zimmer.
Happy birthday J.R.R. Tolkien!
Ben Zimmer looks at the word “decimate”.
Aaron Filler looks at what makes humans- “human.”
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’.
Morton Keller looks at our polarized political present in light of our past.
An excerpt from Shattered Dreams?: An Oral History of the South African AIDS Epidemic.
Ben Zimmer looks at modern spellcheckers.
Pappano talks about Playing With The Boys.
We’re just five days away from Dictionary Day, the annual celebration of all things lexicographical held every 16th of October. Commemorating the anniversary of Noah Webster’s birth in 1758, it’s largely an opportunity for US school teachers to organize classroom activities encouraging students to build their dictionary skills and to exult in the joy of […]
Anatoly delves into word history for our entertainment.
Language changes through variation. Some people ‘sneaked’, others ‘snuck’. The two forms may coexist for a long time, or one of them may be considered snobbish. Once the snobs die out, the form will go to rest with them. Or the snobs may feel embarrassed of being in the minority and ‘go popular’.
One question I often field in my capacity as OUP’s editor for American dictionaries is, ‘What’s the longest word in the dictionary?’ I don’t hear it as often as ‘How do I get a new word in the dictionary?’ but it still comes up from time to time. My stock answer isn’t very interesting: ‘It depends…’
Ben Zimmer’s follows up on last week’s post, Pouring New Wine Into Old Phrasal Bottles.
Anatoly answers this month’s questions.