Merriam-Webster has a nifty (first known use 1865) site on the web called Time Traveler. You can use it to find all the words that were first recorded in print in a certain year. Such as the year of your birth, for example. The year of my birth, 1949, was especially rich in new words. … Continue reading The Word Time Traveler
Words
My UK Expert
I checked in with my UK Expert the other day. I explained what I had discovered when I used the Translate apps to get the Spanish word for America, that they came back with “Estados Unidos”, and I went through the whole story that I wrote up a few days ago. What I wanted to … Continue reading My UK Expert
What’s the Name of This Country?
When I went to elementary school, I remember believing that the name of the country that I lived in was the United States of America. It was right there in the Pledge of Allegiance. It was one of several countries on the continent of North America, and as the continent was called North America, the … Continue reading What’s the Name of This Country?
OK
I watch a fair number of foreign movies and TV shows, both those originating in other English speaking countries as well as some from countries that speak a different language. I’m frequently surprised at how many references to American culture they contain. Perhaps it’s not that much of a surprise in the English speaking countries, … Continue reading OK
A Little of This and That
In Paul Krugman’s recent column, “Bezos, Backlash and Zombies”, he wrote about the recent appearance of Jeff Bezos on CNBC and how he lied his way through the whole interview: Public discourse about taxes and inequality is, even more than discussion of other economic topics, infested with zombies — ideas that should be dead, having … Continue reading A Little of This and That
F Bombs and Other Expletives
When did I start using strong language? Certainly not when I was in high school. The group that I mostly hung out with didn’t use strong language, so neither did I. At least not on any kind of regular basis. I recall when I arrived at Penn State and heard so many other guys, especially … Continue reading F Bombs and Other Expletives
Ralph/Rafe
I received some feedback the other day on my claim that the British English pronunciation of the proper name “Ralph” is “Rayff”. It ain’t necessarily so, said my correspondent. A friend of mine from the island of Jersey told me that "Ralph" is just pronounced "ralf" in the UK like we Americans do. She said … Continue reading Ralph/Rafe
Quick Takes
Quote of the day: I am terribly shy, but of course no one believes me. Come to think of it, neither would I.—Carol Channing According to Ashley Cullins in her new book, Your Favorite Scary Movie, the writer of the original Scream movie, Kevin Williamson, was inspired to create that horror film by of all people, … Continue reading Quick Takes
I Before E
In case you haven’t seen it, this pic is apparently making the rounds: Don’t you just love the English language?
America’s Most Misspelled Words
Over on Language Log there’s a post on America's Most Misspelled Words. They did an analysis of Google search data using the following methodology: We used Google Trends to discover the most misspelled words and Ahrefs to find the number of searches. Americas most misspelled words can be discovered in Google Trends by searching for … Continue reading America’s Most Misspelled Words