There’s a frisson you get when you meet a word for the first time—feeling pleasantly stumped in between wondering, “What the heck does that mean?” and hurrying off to find out. Martha and Grant talk about some terms that had just...
Is it acceptable to make a brand-new adverb simply by adding an -ly to an adjective? A scientist wants to know, and specifically a term she uses, nuclearly.
A father looking for the best dictionary for his college-freshman son has practical options. Online, OneLook.com searches references such as American Heritage and Merriam-Webster, while the paid Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged runs about $30 a...
Tui from Fort Worth, Texas, wonders how to say gyro, the meat-and-pita sandwich. The Oxford English Dictionary records four pronunciations, and real-world usage includes JEE-roh, JYE-roh, and the more Greek-sounding YEE-roh. The Greek source means...
This week’s language headlines include the publication of new slang dictionary, and an entire book devoted to that tiny piece of punctuation, the period, and a tip-off about audio recordings of famous authors whose voices would otherwise be...
Word nerd Ammon Shea quit his job as a furniture mover in New York City to spend an entire year reading the entire Oxford English Dictionary. The result, in addition to eyestrain, headaches, and skeptics’ puzzlement, was Shea’s new book...