Vocabulary.com Blog
Articles from November, 2014
The old adage about American and England being "two nations divided by a common language" — wrongly attributed to George Bernard Shaw, who never said or wrote it — may still hold true in some quarters. But in the language of U.S. commerce, it's fast losing its relevance. Terms that once seemed quaintly Olde English to Americans — from "bespoke" to "stockist" — are fast becoming the new normal.
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Tasty MorselsGood stuff from Vocabulary.com
Don't Mess with Texas: Bellaire High Wins Leaderboard
In the Vocabulary Bowl, Bellaire is the school to beat.
Bellaire High School in Bellaire, TX won the school leaderboard banner for October, competing not only against schools across the country, but also with two schools in their own back yard. What does this prove to fans of our yearlong Vocabulary Bowl? Don't mess with Texas.
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Topics:
Vocabulary Bowl
Blog Excerpts
Oxford's Word of the Year is "Vape"
The editors at Oxford Dictionaries have selected their choice for 2014 Word of the Year, and it is "vape," defined as "to inhale and exhale the vapor produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device." Check out Oxford's announcement here. Our contributor Nancy Friedman was on the case back in 2010, in her column, "But Wait, There's Less!" (Nancy also named "vape" one of her Words of 2013.)
Word RoutesExploring the pathways of our lexicon
"Getting One's Goat": Can You Help Solve the Mystery?
In the latest installment of the Slate podcast "Lexicon Valley," I presented the hosts Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield with a bit of a mystery. Where did the expression "get one's goat" come from? Theories abound, but hard evidence of the phrase's early use has only recently come to light.
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Creative writers, this one's for you! A mood-words graphic that's been making its way around the Internet charts the way 100 words describing various emotional states all boil down to fear, anger, happiness, anger, and disgust.
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Welcome to the latest in our series of quick tips on usage and style shared by Mignon Fogarty, better known as Grammar Girl. In this tip, Mignon advises on the usage of toward vs. towards.
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Blog Excerpts
One Troop, Many Troops
As Veterans Day is observed in the United States, a question of military usage continues to pose a puzzle: if "50,000 troops" refers to 50,000 people, then does "one troop" refer to one person? Linguist Neal Whitman looked into the matter on Veterans Day in 2009. Check out his column here.
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