Dictionary Evangelist

The (Previous) Week in Dictionary Evangelism

Possibly doesn't count as outright evangelism -- perhaps it's merely evangelism-adjacent -- but this week's Boston Globe column is on Hulkspeak in Hulktweets.

Thesaurus evangelism: Wordnik launches a new thesaurus, with a really cool word-comparison-shopping feature (dreamed up & implemented by my awesome co-workers, with special props to Kumanan and John).

There's a new ODE out! It includes vuvuzela, only a month after the end of the World Cup! (And only two months after it showed up in Wordnik, as discovered by Language Log commenters.) That must have taken a little bit of last-minute page finagling. 

Thanks, Mental Floss!

Mental Floss included this blog in their roundup of Niche English Language Blogs. I think they're trying to guilt me into posting more often -- seems like it worked!

Lots of great blogs in the list, including one of my all-time favorites, The Rosa Parks of Blogs. Just go check it out, you won't regret it. 

And: bonus new word: erinnophily, the study of decorative labels. 

Somewhat Related

Two recent pieces out and about on the Interwebs:

Something in School Library Journal about online dictionary resources, which included this fantastic illustration:

 

And my semi-regular column in the Boston Globe about online style resources. (I should really link to all the columns I do for the Globe, huh?)

Long Time No See

Hey folks! Yes, my blog got moribund there for a while (but my other project is going well ...) Some recent activity: I wrote in the Boston Globe about Dictionary Day. You can follow me on Twitter for a semi-regular feed of new(ish) or unusual words. I have a Tumblog for odd lexical-ish things. (And there's always the dress blog ... )

Pop!Tech Words!

Well, it took me much, much, much longer than I thought to update with the great new words created at Pop!Tech ... that's the problem with conferences, the rest of your work doesn't hit the "pause" button while you're at them! Pop!Tech, as you may or may not know, is a fabulous conference in Camden, Maine, where people talk about (among other things) new technology. But not just in a shiny, trade-show way -- no, this is about technology that helps people live better, healthier, more fulfilling lives. (By the way, if you watch anything from the most recent Pop!Tech, it should be this talk.) But -- on to the words! First off, the winner: -- attachmeant -- the file you have to resend because you forgot to attach it the first time. (from Julie Meyer) Tied for second and third were: -- polydundant -- of a phrase that is redundant through the use of words from two or more languages that have the same meaning, e.g., Panera Bread Company. (from Annaliese Hoehling) -- pretoxicated -- the state in which sufficient alcohol has been consumed to be intoxicated, but before feeling intoxicated. (from Tierney O'Dea) Some other favorites from the workshop ... -- forblogen -- unsuitable or unavailable to be blogged about, "don't post about our new beta, it's still forblogen." (Also Julie. :-)) -- techumanitarian -- someone who uses technology to promote social good. (from Michelle Riggen-Ransom, a Pop!Tech blogger -- she should know, right?) -- sustetic -- achieving sustainability through aesthetics (i.e., the object is so beautiful you don't want to throw it away, you want to reuse it). (from Jens Martin)

Labels: bootcamps, neologism, poptech

Words: Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts (Free Tickets!)

Does that title grab you? Then you should attend the talk of the same name at the New York Public Library this Thursday! Roy Blount Jr. & Jean Strouse on Words: Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts Thursday, October 23 at 7 p.m. Berger Forum (Room 227), NYPL, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street The mischievous and gifted wordsmith Roy Blount Jr. talks with Jean Strouse about his forthcoming book, Alphabet Juice, which has already been dubbed "hilarious, brilliant, provocative and suaviloquent." Don't miss this rare New York City appearance! Roy Blount Jr., a regular guest on NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" has written 20 previous books, including Long Time Leaving: Dispatches from Up South and Be Sweet: A Conditional Love Story. Jean Strouse is the Sue Ann and John Weinberg Director of the Dorothy and Lewis B Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, and the distinguished author of Morgan: American Financier and Alice James: A Biography. Tickets ar $15 General Admission; $10 Library Donors and Seniors. But they are FREE for students with valid identification AND for readers of this blog who use the discount code "BLOUNT" at checkout to receive free tickets! Visit Smarttix at www.smarttix.com or by calling the Smarttix box office at (212) 868-4444 to reserve your seat today.

Labels: events

Dictionaries in the funny pages ...

Thanks to Marc for the link!

Labels: comics

Some Perfectly Cromulent Words

... are included in a piece I wrote in the Boston Globe, which ran today -- check it out here. Many thanks to Jan Freeman for letting me keep her chair warm while she's on vacation!

Labels: Globe, guest-columnizing, neologism

iSummit Sapporo talk

I'm in Sapporo, Japan, and I talked at the iSummit yesterday ... here's a slidecast of the talk if you would like to hear about the horrible dystopia we'd all be living in if language weren't free.

If Language Weren't a Commons ...

view presentation (tags: isummit08)

Yes, that first slide is blank. Do not adjust your set.

Labels: isummit08, talks

Dictionary piece in the Boston Globe yesterday

Yesterday a piece I wrote about Johnny Carrera's Pictorial Webster's ran in the Boston Globe ... check it out, if beautiful art books inspired by dictionaries are topics of interest.

Labels: art, Globe, webster