Vocabulary.com Blog
Articles from August, 2014
Students around the country can take part in a new, nationwide challenge: the Vocabulary Bowl, a competition in which schools vie to see who can master the most words and come out on top of the yearlong Vocabulary.com leaderboard for the 2014-15 school year.
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In the world of branding, coined and contorted names often hog all the attention. Less commented-on are the successful contemporary brand names with long pedigrees: "real" dictionary words that have been used by English speakers for centuries.
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Blog Excerpts
"YOLO" Enters Oxford Dictionaries
Among the new words just added to Oxford Dictionaries is "YOLO," an acronym for "You Only Live Once." Loyal readers will recall that our own Ben Zimmer has been on the YOLO beat for a couple of years. Read his August 2012 Word Routes column, "Further Adventures of YOLO," here, and read about how his Boston Globe column helped put the word on the map here.
Dept. of Word Lists
White Sox Pitcher Chris Sale's Postgame Vocab Challenge
White Sox pitcher commits to a new word for every start
Deadspin reports this week on White Sox pitcher Chris Sale's personal vocabulary challenge: "After nearly every start this season...Sale has met a specific objective: Incorporate a predetermined word into his postgame conference."
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Vocabulary Shout-Out
Would You Prefer a "Quiz," "Diagnostic," "Test," or "Evaluation"?
A teacher on Facebook wants to know
Recently a math teacher and Facebook friend of Vocabulary.com posted to her Facebook page: Would you rather take a "quiz," "diagnostic," "test," or "evaluation?" Responses to the post were clear. Everyone would rather take a quiz. A quick look at the blurbs for these words on the Vocabulary.com website explains why.
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Like has a new meaning. The word used to mean 'feel affection for,' 'take pleasure in,' or 'enjoy.' Now, thanks to Facebook, like can also mean, "Yes, I read what you wrote," or just a noncommittal "uh huh."
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Here is the latest in a series of tips on usage and style shared by Mignon Fogarty, better known as Grammar Girl. One of Mignon's correspondents inquires about when setup should appear as a single, unbroken word, and when there should be a space or a hyphen between set and up.
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