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Articles from 2011
Just in time for the holiday season, Merrill Perlman takes a look at the origins of some yuletide expressions.
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Dog EaredBooks we love
"From Elvish to Klingon": An Impressive Overview of Conlang-ology
A new book explores the fascinating world of constructed languages.
When word nerdom and sci-fi nerdom collide, what do you get? A dictionary-bot that recites definitions while performing the duties of a butler? Someday, I hope that's true. For now, the answer is From Elvish to Klingon: Exploring Invented Languages: a thorough look at invented languages (also known as conlangs, short for constructed languages) from sci-fi and elsewhere.
Continue reading...Word RoutesExploring the pathways of our lexicon
The Year in Words, 2011 Edition
Taking a look back at some lexical favorites.
Yes, it's time for that annual tradition: picking the words and phrases that best define the past year. Did occupy occupy your attention? Were you talking about tiger moms or tiger blood? Or were you paralyzed by the condition known as FOMO (fear of missing out)?
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A dictionary definition is a place to start (or end); it cannot capture a word's essence or connotation. Students need to learn that words — like people — have personalities. Some get along with everybody. Some only get along with other select words. Some are comfortable everywhere, while some have special hangouts or niches.
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Language arts
Word CountWriters Talk About Writing
The Terms of Christmas, Present
Christmas classics have injected many words and phrases into the language.
My wife and I were out Christmas shopping last week and came home with an armload of classic holiday DVDs that we somehow didn't already own. She'd gathered up every title you probably know, and we spent a couple of evenings watching our way through the pile. During this latter-day review of the holiday favorites of our childhood, it struck me that there were a surprising number of terms and phrases that had become familiar either directly from these Christmas classics or from their sources.
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Teachers at WorkA column about teaching
Teaching the Power of Word Coinage
Get students hooked on language by having them make their own words.
Kitty. Tron. Legit. All these words appeared in the 2011 edition of the yearbook I sponsor. Students used these as slang; all three were used to describe something cool. Aside from legit, which seems to have been around for a while, I'm not sure the other two stuck.
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