Vocabulary.com Blog
Articles from February, 2014
Unpacking arboreal, canine, and monitory reveal wit and fun(!)in a David Gates review of Lorrie Moore's latest collection of short stories, "Bark."
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A "bear market" is one where stock prices fall, and a "bull market" is one where prices rise. But why do financial folks talk about "bears" and "bulls"? The public radio show Marketplace looked into various origin stories and called on our own Ben Zimmer to explain the history.
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As Black History Month comes to a close, we are proud to feature a fantastic new reference book: Bartlett's Familiar Black Quotations. As Henry Louis Gates, Jr. states in the foreword, it is an "impressively researched and documented collection of the finest thought produced by writers throughout the African diaspora." Here we present an excerpt from the preface by the book's editor, Retha Powers.
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Dept. of Word Lists
The End of "Impunity" in Mexico - A Quick Current Events Quiz
Not to mention in the Ukraine
A Mexican drug lord's arrest, Ukraine's new reality, skinnier U.S. preschoolers, and a trove of marine fossils in Chile... Follow this week's news coverage from a vocabularian's perspective by learning 10 words from this week's New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post coverage.
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Dept. of Word Lists
Close Out Black History Month with a Dose of Douglass
Might words from the pen of a great man
Frederick Douglass wrote with fire in his pen, harnessing the specific and powerful language of his day to decry the abomination of slavery in his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
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Topics:
Vocabulary
Tips & Tricks
Beyond Word Walls 2: More Project-Based Ideas for Vocabulary Learning
Parades, Pen Pals, and Love Letter Project Emphasize Vocab
It's always exciting to see new projects teachers design to bring vocab learning to life. Last year we put together a roundup of four great projects we'd come across. Here are four more ideas we've come across recently.
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Topics:
Teaching
Behind the DictionaryLexicographers Talk About Language
Nobody Likes a Whistleblower (or a Wrayer, Quadruplator, or Emphanist)
A law firm that specializes in defending whistleblowers has started a petition on Change.org to persuade dictionaries and thesauruses to ditch their derogatory synonyms for whistleblower in favor of positive terms.
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