Vocabulary.com Blog
Articles from 2009
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From LOL to Lulz
Ever wonder how Internet slang mutates, like "LOL" becoming "lulz" and "OMG" becoming "ZOMG"? Grant Barrett has the answers.
Yesterday I had the privilege of appearing on the WNYC radio show Soundcheck to talk about the origins of booing. The news hook was a recent Metropolitan Opera production of La Sonnambula that got booed by the audience thanks to its avant-garde staging. Wall Street Journal drama critic Terry Teachout discussed the booing incident, and I was there to provide some historical and linguistic context.
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Behind the DictionaryLexicographers Talk About Language
The Elements of Style at 50: If You Celebrate, Use the Active Voice
Strunk and White's slender yet influential guidebook The Elements of Style turns 50 this month. Here, University of Illinois linguist Dennis Baron casts a critical eye on some of the book's most famous pronouncements.
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This is a must-read for teachers planning on revamping their vocab instruction! Few educational authors can blend research, theory and practical examples like the vocabulary instruction expert Isabel Beck and her co-authors Margaret G. McKeown and Linda Kucan. This excerpt, from Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction, offers creative ideas about how to motivate "word wizards" of all ages to extend their vocabulary use beyond the classroom walls.
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As a resident of Chicago and citizen of the great state of Illinois, I feel as though I am in the center of the political cosmos, whence all good and bad things emanate.
Where else has given you, in such a short time, the first black President and the first disgraced former governor with a giant rodent living on his head? You're welcome.
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Yesterday in the Language Lounge, we took a look at what happens when a trademark ends up lapsing into generic use. The term genericide came up as a description for this loss of a trademark's protected status. The word raised some eyebrows among our readers, as well it should.
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This month in the Lounge we examine the implications of a silent but deadly usurpation of the language of the People, brought to light by an intellectual property court case.
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