Why do Brits and Americans spell certain words differently? A colourful tale of dictionaries, politics, and national identity ensues here.
Posts Tagged 'Dictionary'
Colour or Color – How British And American Spelling Diverged
Published April 24, 2017 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: American, British, Dictionary, English, history, lexicography, lexicon, Linguistics, video
13 Little-Known Punctuation Marks [info-graphic]
Published October 7, 2016 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: acclamation point, asterism, authority point, certitude point, Dictionary, doubt point, English language, exclamation comma, info-graphic, infographic, interrobang, irony mark, lexicography, love point, question comma, rhetorical question mark, sarcmark, snark mark
Mental_floss posted an info-graphic, that outlined a few punctuation marks that could be useful, if they gained acceptance.
Contronyms – Words That Are Their Own Opposites [video]
Published March 17, 2016 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: Contronyms, Dictionary, English language, lexicography, opposite meaning, video
The Real Origin of OK [video]
Published July 10, 2015 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: Dictionary, language, lexicography, OK, okay, video, word origin
Words That Aren’t What You Think They Are [video]
Published May 6, 2015 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: bombast, Dictionary, eke out, just deserts, language, left in the lurch, lexicon, one fell swoop, sleight of hand, video, whet your appetite, words
The Ampersand – All You Need To Know
Published May 1, 2015 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: Ampersand, Dictionary, grammar Nazi, language, lexicography, punctuation, text design, typography
We see the symbol all of the time. Elegant, curved, infinitely malleable. But what’s the origin of the mysterious and ubiquitous ampersand? How can you choose which one is the best version to use? Read on to uncover all you wanted to know about this ancient tool of text:
Incredibly Interesting Stuff About 15 English Words
Published October 21, 2014 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: cabbaged, Dictionary, eighty-eight, four, happenchance, intransigence, lexicography, lexicon, lull, muzz, quadruplications, SWIMS, typewriter, uncopyrightable, wizard
Let’s face it, some words are a lot more interesting than others. But then again, some words are secretly interesting—they might seem straightforward on the surface, but hidden behind them is some remarkable quirk or bizarre piece of trivia that sets them apart. Check out fifteen examples of words that are a lot more interesting than they seem.
Find out what is unusual about eighty-eight, happenchance, and more HERE.
Why Brits and Americans Spell Differently
Published October 13, 2014 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: American English, British English, Dictionary, lexicography, Merriam-Webster, spelling, video
The Last Person Who Speaks Wukchumni [video]
Published August 29, 2014 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: American Indian, dead language, Dictionary, history, language, lexicography, lexicon, Marie Wilcox, Native American language, video, Wukchumni, Yokuts
25 Words For Other Words
Published August 28, 2014 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: anacronym, ananym, autoantonym, autological, backronym, capitonym, contronym, demonym, Dictionary, emordnilap, endonym, English language, exonym, heterological, holonymy, holophrase, homoeosemant, Homophone, hypernym, hyponyms, Janus word, lexicography, lexicology, meronymy, oxytone, paroxytone, proparoxtone, retronym, tautonym, troponym, words
This article, from Mental_floss, concerns 25 are rarely used words that describe unusual parts of the English language. I must admit that nearly every item on this list were unknown to me. Even after reading the explanation, I’m not sure what a troponym is (WordPress’s spell check doesn’t recognize it either). Word nerds will love the article.
Forgotten English Words We Should Bring Back
Published May 30, 2014 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: crapulence, Dictionary, Groaning-cheese, lexicography, lexicon, obscure words, old English
The list includes the words crapulence and groaning-cheese (you won’t believe what that is).
Very Funny Blog – TL;DR Wikipedia
Published April 23, 2014 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: define, Dictionary, encyclopedia, funny, humor, TL;DR, wikipedia