Shame and Guilt: Part 2 – Guilt
Anatoly Liberman looks at guilt and shame.
Anatoly Liberman looks at guilt and shame.
Anatoly Liberman answers questions.
The podictionary word of the week is “yacht”.
A few questions for Casper Grathwohl.
In celebration of the latest edition of The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, we reveal the origins of some everyday words and phrases.
Anatoly gives a candid take on etymology.
Word blending is a full-time sport in the world of dog breeding. Any two breeds, and their appellations, might spawn a blend. Some recent designer breeds, as they are known, include ‘Beagadors’ (Beagle and Labrador), ‘Maltipon’ (Maltese and Pomeranian) and ‘Jackabees’ (Jack Russell and Beagle).
A poem from Michael Manner for poetry month.
[display_podcast] The word clique sounds French doesn’t it. Well, it was. Of course it means “a tight group of people” and is often used in a disparaging way.
By Anatoly Liberman In olden days women were supposed to be sweet, docile, and, if possible, incorporeal. On the other hand, men, subject to the universal law of contrasts, threw their weight about, and, once they “arrived,” demonstrated corpulence. They invented countless offensive words referring to women’s way of walking.
This is, I’m sad to say, the final installment of “From A to Zimmer” on OUPblog. As of next week I’m departing Oxford University Press for a new position as executive producer of ‘Visual Thesaurus’. I’ve greatly enjoyed the platform afforded me by OUPblog, but I’ve always had a niggling concern.
Be sure to read the blog tomorrow because we are going to have a bonanza of language posts! I’m so excited I’m going to pull an Ammon Shea and stay up all night reading my Shorter OED.
Anatoly answers questions that have come up throughout the month.
Ben Zimmer looks at modern spellcheckers.
Ben Zimmer looks at hapax legomena.
Anatoly delves into word history for our entertainment.