Category Archives: Language-Sites

2007 Talk Like a Pirate Day

Posted on September 19, 2007 by Kevin

Arrr! Wednesday, the 19th of September be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Talk like one or get called a bilge rat. The day was started in 1995 and popularized by humor columnist Dave Barry in 2002, even before the … Continue reading →

Posted in HUMOR, LANGUAGE, Language-Sites, Words / Dictionaries | Leave a comment

Contest for aptronyms (aptly named people)

Posted on August 31, 2007 by Kevin

Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of the book Freakonomics, wants to find an aptronym (or aptonym) of a real person better than Paige Worthy (page worthy) the magazine researcher. The top three submissions earn a signed copy of his book or … Continue reading →

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Science fiction words in Oxford English Dictionary, new book

Posted on August 17, 2007 by Kevin

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) seeks to include all English words that are used frequently, including historical citations of their uses. Science fiction works and sci fi/SF criticism/fandom are no exceptions, and you can help with earlier, later, and intermediate … Continue reading →

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Webster’s Medical Dictionary now free online

Posted on July 3, 2007 by Kevin

American dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster has added their medical dictionary to Merriam-Webster Online, which also has their collegiate English dictionary, Spanish-English dictionary, and English thesaurus. Entries also have links to relevant parts of physician-reviewed articles on Healthline. It’s amazing what you … Continue reading →

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2007 International Mother Language Day

Posted on February 22, 2007 by Kevin

Happy UNESCO International Mother Language Day / La journée internationale de la langue maternelle. Here’s what UNESCO says (portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=12871&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html) [EDIT (6/4/10): dead link]: International Mother Language Day (21 February 2007) The theme of International Mother Language Day in 2007 is … Continue reading →

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Happy Boar Year 2007!

Posted on February 19, 2007 by Kevin

Happy New Year! Today, February 18, 2007, is Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year: Traditional , simplified characters: 農曆新年 , 农历新年 Mandarin: Nong2li4 Xin1nian2 Cantonese: Nung4lik6 San1nin4 English: Chinese New Year (somewhat literally: “Lunar Calendar New Year,” literally: “Agricultural Calendar … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreign Languages, LANGUAGE, Language-Sites, Words / Dictionaries | 1 Comment

Trade names: The Name Inspector site

Posted on February 4, 2007 by Kevin

Do you want to know what a linguist/name analyst thinks of brand names and company names? If so, head on over to The Name Inspector blog from linguist Christopher Johnson [via John Cook's Venture Blog]. Here’s part of the entry … Continue reading →

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OED’s historical word-hunt

Posted on January 6, 2007 by Kevin

The second series of Balderdash & Piffle, from the Oxford English Dictionary and BBC Two television network, will be on in the UK this spring. Now they’re soliciting help for origins or earlier uses of 40, mostly British, terms (BBC … Continue reading →

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MS Office embraces Australianisms

Posted on November 18, 2006 by Kevin

If you’re Australian and using MS Word or other MS Office products, you’ll soon get fewer words marked as spelling errors. After a recent online word-survey with over 24,000 voters, Microsoft Office 2007 will include more Australianisms like sickie and … Continue reading →

Posted in Dialects, Foreign Languages, LANGUAGE, Language Technology, Language-Sites, Words / Dictionaries | 1 Comment

Modern celebs in Cockney rhyming slang (book)

Posted on November 10, 2006 by Kevin

If you saw the 1992 movie Chaplin, you heard Charlie Chaplin (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) refer to his suit as a “whistle” and explain that whistle and flute rhymes with suit. That’s (old-time) Cockney rhyming slang, a slang style … Continue reading →

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