Databases like the Google Books Corpus can also be used to follow text over time. For example, as the women’s suffrage movement grew around 1910, words relating to women’s rights grew in popularity and frequency of usage. This is part of a complete...
Do pregnant women enjoy pickles and ice cream? Linguists from the American Dialect Society have been discussing this recently. They found that the expression pickles and ice cream once referred simply to the conjoining of two unrelated things, sort...
“They shot the white girl first.” That’s how Toni Morrison’s novel, Paradise, begins, and it’s a great example of an irresistible first line. Martha shares others sent in by listeners. She also reads from a Michael Cunningham essay about why a first...
gynocritic n.— «Elaine Showalter has now undertaken this daunting venture.…She once coined the term “gynocritic” for critics freed “from the linear absolutes of male literary history.”)» —“Writing Women” by Katie Roiphe New York Times Mar. 8, 2009...
abortuary n.— «According to the testimony of several women who have had abortions at the Planned Parenthood abortuary, women don’t usually see the doctor/abortionist until they are in the room and prepped for the abortion.» —“New South Dakota Bill...
firefly moment n.— «Guests of the Women’s Resource Center enjoyed Embracing Firefly Moments at the Plantation Golf and Country Club with author/speaker Barbara Braunstein. Barbara kept the attendees in stitches with humorous anecdotes and lessons...
