Vocabulary.com Blog
Articles from January, 2012
While both words can refer to ways to get rid of something — belly fat, Satan — that's where the similarities end. Exercise is physical activity but to exorcise is to cast out evil.
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Word RoutesExploring the pathways of our lexicon
"Occupy" Named 2011 Word of the Year
Runners-up included "FOMO" (fear of missing out) and "humblebrag."
As the selection of the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year approached, a certain air of inevitability had begun to surround occupy, the word revitalized by the Occupy protest movement. And sure enough, when the assembled throngs met in Portland, Oregon, where the ADS held its annual meeting in conjunction with the Linguistic Society of America, occupy emerged victorious as the Word of 2011.
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Word RoutesExploring the pathways of our lexicon
Now Presenting: The Nominees for the 2011 Word of the Year
Greetings from Portland, Oregon, where the American Dialect Society is having its annual conference. As chair of the New Words Committee, I had the honor of presiding over the nominating session for the Word of the Year. On Friday evening, winners will be selected from the different categories, and then nominations will be made for the overall category of Word of the Year. What do you think the category winners should be, and what should be crowned the Word of 2011?
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Bill Walsh, a multiplatform editor at The Washington Post and longtime usage maven, poses a mathematical question:
If I start with $100 and end up with $250, did that money grow 2 1/2 times? Continue reading...Language LoungeA Monthly Column for Word Lovers
Dialect Wars: Pacific Theater
How American-accented English in the Philippines is surpassing Indian English.
A recent New York Times article reports that the Philippines has now overtaken India as the hub of the outsourced call center. The article contains a telling characterization of the Philippines as "a former United States colony that has a large population of young people who speak lightly accented English and, unlike many Indians, are steeped in American culture."
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Word CountWriters Talk About Writing
"Did You Mean...?": When Ambiguity Foils Communication
Does "semiannual" mean twice a year or every two years? And other stumpers.
In day-to-day discourse, we don't usually encounter terms that are genuinely problematic. If someone throws something at us that's clearly wrong, like calvary for cavalry, we still get it. If my dialect is "She took a cake to the party," whereas yours is "She brought a cake to the party," I'll still understand you.
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