Letter Boxed lines
It was only this week that I realized that the Congrats screen shows the lines made by the words you’ve spelled.
“Y’all”
From the BBC: Why more people are saying “y’all.”
Recently updated
“Vaccine,” a word of the year.
Recently updated
“NFT” is a word of the year.
Words of the year
“Vax” is first.
Merriam-Webster and Typeshift
The Washington Post reports on a dictionary, a game, and words.
It’s Ciattarelli, dammit
In 1994, Jack Ciattarelli, now the Republican candidate for governor of the state, did indeed attempt to ban cursing in the borough of Raritan. Talk about cancel culture.
Word of the day: furbish
Today’s Zippy has taught me that furbish is a word.
Two skies
“Scudded,” in two books.
Naming of parts
It’s patriarchy, inscribed in the language of anatomy.
Performative again
Arts & Letters Daily recently linked to a short commentary on the word performative. The commentary is crotchety and overwrought, with talk of corruption and senseless violence and infestations of body lice. I’m not linking. It so happens that I wrote what seems to me a far clearer, more helpful, and less wrought commentary on performative back in March. That commentary I’ll link to.
Word of the day: tittuppy
From Jane Austen: "Break down! Oh! Lord! Did you ever see such a little tittuppy thing in your life? There is not a sound piece of iron about it.”
Idiom of the day: clever clogs
“Edmund Elephant is a clever clogs.”
Far Side cave formations
“Oo! Grog run into a . . . a . . dang! Now which kind stick up and which kind hang down?”
“The Invention of ‘Introvert’”
A new episode of the podcast Word Matters.
“Do”
Only Donald Trump would speak of a coup as something to “do.”
“Disobvious”
Peanuts and prefixes.
What’s an inflection point?
Because they seem to be everywhere.
From the television
“The official start of summer.”
Recently updated
Words of the day: Now with names for the chemistry-classroom fixture with sink and Bunsen burner.
Words of the day: estrade and dais
What’s the word for the platform at the front of a classroom where the instructor’s desk stands? Is there a word for it? I was reaching for such a word on Saturday and later found one in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette : estrade.
Heteronyms
In The Washington Post, John Ficarra, a Mad editor, writes about his problem with heteronyms.
“Fending,” &c.
Roz Chast catalogs words for opening the refrigerator and having whatever for dinner.
“Have loved”
A close reading of Kim Potter’s letter of resignation, by Lauren Michele Jackson.
Idiom of the day: soup up
A clue in yesterday’s Newsday crossword — five letters, “Jazzes (up)” — prompted me to (finally) write a post about “soup up.”
Zippy thesaurus
In today’s Zippy: Peter Mark Roget.
Recently updated
I worked up the patience to do some searches for “I ain’t do no drugs” and “I ate too many drugs.”
Drugs, doing, eating
Re: the day’s developments in the Derek Chauvin murder trial: “I ain’t do no drugs” is something people say. “I ate too many drugs” is not. See your nearest search engine for confirmation.
Imaginary word of the day
It came to me in a dream, in the form of an illustration of usage: winching.
False prophesying in the Times
“Prophesied” seems very odd in the newspaper of record. “Falsely prophesied” seems odder still.