¡Ay, caramba! Merriam-Webster is embiggened by 850 newly cromulent words — including one from The Simpsons
Last week, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary announced in a tweet that they had added 850 new words to the dictionary. One of them bears very special significance to generations of dedicated Simpsons fans. The… Read more »
Japan’s go-to dictionary revises two entries: “LGBT” and “Shimanami Expressway”
Publishers of Japan’s most respected dictionary, Kōjien, corrected two definitions this year, for “LGBT” and “Shimanami Expressway,” according to the Japan Times. Though most Americans probably won’t understand what was up with “Shimanami Expressway,” the issue… Read more »
You can’t spell “Donald Trump” without D-O-T-A-R-D
Name-calling is an integral part of politics. I’m proud to say that we here at MobyLives are not above it. We’ve called our sitting president a number of naughty things… Read more »
A few cool things about today
Hello! Here are a couple of quick things for you to enjoy on a bewildering Thursday. Today is the Episcopal Church’s day to commemorate W.E.B. Du Bois. Did you know the… Read more »
Zyzzyva and other pleasant and not-so-pleasant changes to the OED
Growing up in a very American family, I often had to listen to actual, bona-fide, real exhortations on America’s principal compendium of words, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. “Look at this fine pinnacle of… Read more »
Buzzfeed re-allows unironic usage of the word “millennial”
“Millennial.” It sounds like a class of elusive flower that blooms once every thousand years. And while we know the word actually refers to the demographic born between the early eighties and the early… Read more »
Welcome to the working week
Oh, hi. How was your weekend? Well you look terrific. Rested. Ready for another run of holding up and getting by, seven more days living under a president who’s basically… Read more »
Merriam-Webster will not abide Trump’s degradation of language
Throughout the 2016 election we marched alongside dictionary publisher and darlings of the Revolution Merriam-Webster. Today, we’re pleased to report that they’re still at it, offering their snarky and informative resistance as a cupped… Read more »
No words for a Trump presidency? Here are a few
We here at MobyLives had a good bit of fun tracking trends in online Merriam-Webster searches during the 2016 race for the White House. We enjoyed a chuckle when Donald Trump reached for… Read more »
“Sounds good. Doesn’t work.” Buzzwords from the first presidential debate
We’ve recently written about a venerable dictionary publisher admonishing mankind for its racism and intolerance on Twitter. Today, in connection with the Monday night’s first presidential debate, the story is more like a… Read more »