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vocabulary

Illustration of three dictionaries in a row.

Running Out of Words: It’s Not a Slippery Slope

January 19, 2021 | Filed under: Gael Spivak

It’s almost inevitable. People who say “we’ve gotten too PC” about language will, at some point in the discussion, claim that if we stop using certain words or phrases, we’ll run out of words to write and talk. Arriving at this spot Who is having these discussions and how does …

Six people of varying ethnicities and genders thinking (expressed by question marks surrounding each of their heads).

Empirical Editors: Fluency

June 9, 2020 | Filed under: Aaron Dalton

This article is part of a series that looks at lessons one can draw from some of the research collected in Aaron Dalton’s “Empirical Research for Editors” list.  “Fluency” refers to how easy or difficult it is to do or process something. I interpret the science in this area through …

Nadir

The Language of Political Commentary: From Nadir to Zenith

April 28, 2020 | Filed under: Barbara McClintock

Jean-Paul Sartre, author of Huis Clos, wrote L’enfer, c’est les autres (Hell is other people). Maybe that’s true in a pandemic. However, in this period of social distancing and self-isolation, we still have the luxury of reading. In particular, I’m rereading the excellent book titled The Mother Tongue – English …

Yeet Citationality: Yippie-ki-yay!

January 15, 2019 | Filed under: James Harbeck

The voting is in, and the American Dialect Society’s Slang Word of the Year is… yeet. Yeet is not so well known to oldsters, but it is in vogue among the youth. Its popularity demonstrates a central fact of how vocabulary spreads. It also leads us to Bugs Bunny, Clark …

Cape Breton

Notes From Away: Cape Breton English

August 5, 2014 | Filed under: Frances Peck

My first job, selling sundries the summer I was 12 to the cottagers and campers who flocked to Cape Breton’s fabled Mira River, was about as far from the language business as you can get. Yet a few days in, I learned a humbling linguistic lesson. Three times the customer …

bowl of sugar

Shy Words

December 17, 2013 | Filed under: Victoria Neufeldt

When I took on the commitment, a year ago, of contributing blog postings about language, I began bravely by tossing out a little ditty that came into my mind, inspired by Dr. Seuss: “New words, old words, shy words, bold words.” Well, I’ve talked about old words and new words, …

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