By: Lizzie Furey,
on 10/12/2016
Strangely, both bless and curse are rather hard etymological riddles, though bless seems to pose less trouble, which makes sense: words live up to their meaning and history, and bless, as everybody will agree, has more pleasant connotations than curse.
The post Blessing and cursing appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Lizzie Furey,
on 9/7/2016
This post has been written in response to a query from our correspondent. An answer would have taken up the entire space of my next “gleanings,” and I decided not to wait a whole month.
The post Our habitat: booth appeared first on OUPblog.
When I got home from work Friday the box with my new Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus was on my porch. Ooh, it was heavy! I ripped open the box and was delighted to find a big, beautiful hardcover book. I was expecting a paperback so happiness right from the start.
Not until Saturday afternoon was I able to sit down with my new treasure. When I say treasure I really mean it because this is not your mass market collegiate Roget’s piece of poo. I can say that because I used to have one of them. I got it in high school to help me through those five paragraph English class essays in which it is very important to impress the teacher with your giant vocabulary. At least from a student perspective. No doubt high school English teachers shed many a tear over the failed attempts at verbal acrobatics their students insist on perpetrating. That is probably why my freshman teacher made us read Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. If only we actually paid attention.
I took Roget’s off to college with me. I must have used it through the years. A lot. By the time I sent it to the great recycling bin in the sky a few years ago, the pages were thoroughly foxed, the cover creased and worn, and the spine cracked. I used it because there was no alternative when searching for the perfect word. When the magic internet came along Roget sat collecting dust. But Google isn’t any better than Roget really, just more convenient and less dusty.
So why would I want a brand new thesaurus? I didn’t until I read Michael Dirda singing the praises of the Oxford American in an essay in his book Browsings. Now that I have had a chance to look the book over I wonder if I can make you want one too?
I said the book is beautiful, right? A lovely blue and white jacket on the outside. On the inside an easily readable font in a size many times above microscopic. In fact, if the book weren’t so heavy I could hold it up just far enough away that I can read it without my glasses on. These eyes are over forty and I must say it was the freakiest thing when my optometrist told me at thirty-nine that my eyes will likely begin needing a little extra help at forty. Pshaw! I snorted. Then a year later I was back in her chair telling her the letters in my books were looking a little fuzzy. At first I tried to pass it off as power of suggestion but I couldn’t make that last very long. The paper is bright white but not glaring and the thickness is just right – not so thin you are terrified of ripping the pages as you turn them but not so thick that they aren’t flexible and easy to thumb through.
While the book is a pleasure, it is what’s inside that really counts: Rabbit hole. You know how when you have a really good dictionary like the OED or American Heritage and you can get lost for hours just looking up words, leaping from one entry to another? Tell me this happens to you too and I am not out all alone in left field here. This thesaurus is just like that. Words leading to more words.
Each entry tells you the part of speech, uses the word in context and suggests antonyms. There are also little “more information” boxes for words that cause grammar nightmares like backward/backwards. There are also little boxes that offer helpful suggestions, providing a “word link” or “choose the right word” or the best ones, “reflection.” The reflection is a little tiny thought about the word by one of a number of writers like Zadie Smith, Lydia Davis and the dastardly Michael Dirda who made me buy this magnificent book. There are also quotes sprinkled throughout and word clouds sometimes appear to provide a visual representation of frequently associated words that might go with that adjective you just looked up.
In the middle of the book appears a section called “Word Finder.” The pages are bordered in light gray so you can easily open to this section when you pick up the book. Here you will find thematic lists in case you want to know what all the chemical elements and their symbols are. Or lists of dog breeds or different types of restaurants or cheeses. There is also a list of words considered archaic (darbies = handcuffs), “literary” words (clarion, slay, visage), and common Latin phrases.
There are more gray-edged pages at the back of the book. These are dedicated to basic grammar, spelling and punctuation. Nothing elaborate, just the basics in case you need help with your dangling participle or whether you need a comma there.
This is a thesaurus intended for writers after all. But it also serves word-lovers well. It would be especially marvy when paired with a good dictionary so they could talk to each other. This baby will be talking with my American Heritage. They will be canoodling on my desk together. I expect they will get along well. Sorry Google.
It isn’t too late to add this to your list for Santa or find a copy for your favorite word nerd. Almost guaranteed to be love at first sight.
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By: Connie Ngo,
on 7/2/2015
Jonathan Green, an expert lexicographer and contributor to The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, gives us the rundown of the sweet terms and phrases that have been re-imagined and incorporated into slang.
The post Going sour: sweet words in slang appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Karen Cioffi,
on 5/1/2015
No matter what business you’re in, words are at the crux of everything. Whether it’s an in-house note, instructions, guides, web copy, content writing, fiction writing, book marketing, entertainment . . . You get the idea. Words instruct, alert, command, teach, enlighten, encourage, amuse . . . and they motivate. There are powerful words. There are magically motivating words. There are words
By: Margot Finke,
on 4/28/2015
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By: Sara Burrier,
on 3/11/2015
As I came to the end of the Sweet Easter collection yesterday, doubt started to overwhelm me. It had already begun creeping into the space of my heart, but yesterday I was submerged and left bobbing for some kind of clarity. Did I do ok? Was this strong enough?? Is it what my agent wanted??? Will it sell????
The art licensing realm is quite different than what I'm accustomed to. I had a system to my art, always got great feedback, and I thought I knew what I was meant to do! I thought "I'm going to paint fantasy, and that's that. That's me! It's what I do!". I am learning, quickly, that nothing, NOTHING, is "That's that.". EVERYTHING is changing, all....the.....time.
That includes my art. What I'm accustomed to is, as my friend put it best, being comfortable. Art for licensing is stretching me so thin that I'm being redefined, challenged, pulled out of my box. I am usually the one teaching my students to get outside of their comfort zone, and to get outside of the "box" we choose to place ourselves in. Time to take a big bite out of my own teaching! I'm comfortable with my subject matter, my compositions, and techniques. I'm not playing anymore.
This has led to doubt. I feel helpless, lost, without faith, no trust, and begin to think I just don't have what it takes. But doubt is a LIE. It's the biggest lie out there that you'll ever find. It just takes a grain of doubt to bring your entire soul down. At least...that's usually how it rolls with me. That doubt must, I repeat, must be replaced by JOY.
By: Kurtis Scaletta,
on 1/24/2015
I groan when they show writers in movies or TV shows worrying about word choice, as if all writing is poring through a thesaurus trying to find just the right word. That almost never comes up for me. I worry a lot more about characters and story than whether I describe a thing as “shiny” or “glossy,” and find these depictions irritating.
Considering the fact that every movie and TV show is written by someone, it’s amazing how shallow their portrayals of writers are.
— Alex Irvine (@alexirvine) January 21, 2015
But that’s where I’m at right now. Two sisters in my story-in-progress are arguing about something (actually multiple things at once, like arguments often go) and one [verbs] at her sister and [verbs] out of the room. The girl groans and stomps, or she growls and storms, or she exhales in frustration and clomps… but none of these sentences capture her vocalization the way I hear in my head, or the way a small body exits a room in anger. (I cringe at the word “flounce,” though it may be technically accurate, it seems to be in the realm of “spunky” and “sassy” for words that delegitimize the way girls act and feel).
Allegedly any language has the ability to express any idea, despite Sapir, Whorf, and Orwell’s claims to the contrary, but I’m not convinced. The word “march” makes me visualize the rigid gait of a soldier; words like “stomp” and “clomp” suggest a heavy-footed oaf, and “storm” seems fast-moving, not a furious exit with time for smoldering sideways glances.
As for the first verb, I don’t want her to come across as a pig, or a dog, or a dragon, with the huffing and snorting and growling.
If I don’t get a grip on this sentence soon I will expel my breath in an annoyed manner and leave the manuscript in a brusque manner.
I am not a New Year's Resolution type of person. I'm not much of a goal setter, either. Everyone says to make your goals precise and reachable, but when I've done this, I inevitably fail, and then feel like a failure. I don't think that's the point of setting goals, or making resolutions, so I gave up on that. Besides, I'm not a super organized person, so making a resolution in my mind often means I can't even remember it next month, Even if I write it down, I find that I easily forget it. And if I do manage to remember it, by the time I do, the goal has often been revised or circumstances have changed in such a way that the goal no longer even applies.
Here's an analogy from yoga class. Often, the yoga teacher will have each person silently set an intention for the class session that day as we let go of the rest of the world to focus on yoga for this one hour. Usually my intention is something along the lines of "I just want to make it through the class." While I love yoga, it does push my physical limits sometimes, especially when balance or strength are elements of the pose, so sometimes getting through it is all I can hope for.
I feel the same way about life sometimes. Just getting through the day ahead--or the week, month, etc.--is my best goal.
So, I don't do resolutions.
However, my friend and fellow writer, Joanna Marple, wrote this blog post the other day, and it really spoke to me. Instead of resolutions, she suggests we choose a word that we wish to be the focus and intention for the coming year. Hers is serendipity.
I can get behind this kind of thinking. I chose the word EXPAND. In all areas of my life--work, friends, writing, music, travel, cooking, all of it--I can focus on expanding my horizons, increasing the number of new experiences, looking at things in new ways. It makes me think of expanding my mind by reading, listening, and learning. Expanding my circle of people, especially writing people.
This isn't a goal or resolution I can fail at. I can expand my life in so many ways that every day provides opportunities. Maybe it's just a mindset or a mind game, but this feels so much more useful than resolution making. So I'm on it.
If you'd like to join in, feel free to comment with your word and what it means to you. Otherwise, just keep on writing, which is what I'm going to do.
By: Catherine Fehre,
on 12/7/2014
Seinfeld famously added a ton of terms to English, such as low talker, high talker, spongeworthy, and unshushables. It also made obscure terms into household words. Shrinkage and yada yada existed before Seinfeld, but it’s doubtful you learned them anywhere else.
Another successful Seinfeld term has gone under the radar: Jerk Store. The term was coined in “The Comeback,” when George is unselfconsciously stuffing his face with shrimp during a meeting. A co-worker sees George’s gluttony and says, “Hey, George, the ocean called. They’re running out of shrimp.” George is speechless, but later he crafts a comeback: “Oh yeah? Well, the Jerk Store called, and they’re running out of you.” The episode shows George going to absurd lengths to find a way to use his comeback, as well as his friends’ unwanted workshopping of the joke.
In a way, that workshopping has never ended—at least on Twitter, which is likely the largest collection of jokes, good and bad, by professionals and amateurs, ever created. Many of those jokes involve formulas, and the Jerk Store has become a popular one. On Twitter, every day is the Summer of George.
Most variations start with “The Jerk Store called,” which is as trusty a joke starter as “Relationship status:” and “When life hands you lemons.” From there, the joke can go just about anywhere. Comic Warren Holstein makes a food joke out of the formula: “The Jerk Store called but I couldn’t understand their thick Jamaican accents.” Matt Koff reveals what would likely happen to a real-life Jerk Store: “The Jerk Store called. It’s closing because it couldn’t compete with Amazon. :(“ Some use the formula to comment on politics: “The Jerk Store called; they’re no longer hiring because of fear of Obamacare mandates.” I particularly like this joke, which finds the funny in sadness: “The jerk store called. We didn’t chat for long but it was good to hear their voice. It was good to hear anyone’s voice. I’m so alone.”
Other tweeters abandon the formula when making Jerk Store jokes, like Laura Palmer: “I’m applying at the Jerk Store and I need references.” This holiday tweet sounds like perfect storm of jerkdom: “Looking forward to the Black Friday deals at the Jerk Store.” Food trends also get spoofed: “when will the jerk store start getting organic jerks. tired of getting these jerks full of gmos.” Here’s a particularly clever joke, playing on an annoying Frankenstein-related correction: “Actually, the jerk store’s monster called.”
This term/joke formula isn’t going anywhere for at least a few reasons. Seinfeld is still omnipresent in reruns, and I reckon the entire series is imprinted on the collective unconscious. Plus, the world is full of jerks. The following are some recent epistles from the Jerk Store to help you get through the polar jerk-tex. Jerk Store might never make the OED, but it’s one of the most successful joke franchises in the world.
The jerk store called, you left your credit card at the register. They are open until 8 if you want to pick it up today.
— Chris Hallbeck (@ChrisHallbeck) November 17, 2014
The Jerk Store called. They miss you. They love you. They just want you to come home.
— ben (@benicus_rex) November 13, 2014
The jerk store called. I didn't answer because I think it's unethical for jerks to be commodified & under a socialist system they'd be free
— thxgvng internet dad (@Fauxgyptian) September 15, 2014
O my sod, I am sorry for my sins w/ all my heart. In choosing to look out & failing to look within, I have ∞ voicemails from the jerk store
— lanyard (@lanyardigan) September 12, 2014
the jerk store called & they said that making television references from the 90s won’t stop the decay of all things. kind of a weird message
— dire dire deer (@m_kopas) November 17, 2014
I'm looking for a girl who's George at the Jerk Store and Elaine on the dance floor.
— Scott Dooley (@scottdools) August 23, 2014
The jerk store called.
The v-necks are on backorder Chad.
— Dani Fernandez (@msdanifernandez) June 8, 2014
The Jerk Store called, they're out of 30th anniversary DVDs with Steve Martin commentary
— Mattheim Sussroller (@suss2hyphens) May 18, 2014
The Jerk Store called…. again… [sigh]… dude, just give them back their shopping cart
— lemons (@respected_loner) June 28, 2014
Hey, the Jerk Store called, but there is a new Jerk Outlet out by the highway and they have much better prices let's go on Saturday.
— Trademarked Name™ (@rj_white) June 17, 2014
Who would even OPEN a jerk store?!
— |\/|∆®|{•├┤Ø%û5 (@markhoppus) October 31, 2014
Headline image credit: Seinfeld logo. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The post The Jerk Store called…and called and called appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Douglas McLennan,
on 11/4/2014
“The royalty arrangements went on for 35 pages. What if the film is distributed overseas? Pages of possible countries, rights and proceeds. What if the film becomes a TV show? More possibilities. What if the TV show goes into syndication? On cable? Network? Overseas syndication? And what if there are action figures?”
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By: Matthew Westphal,
on 11/4/2014
Modern Farmer‘s founding editor describes it as “the farming magazine for media professionals”. Sound silly? It won a National Magazine Award after only three issues.
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By: Suzi Steffen,
on 11/3/2014
By: Douglas McLennan,
on 10/31/2014
“For a fiction writer, editing an anthology offers multiple lessons. You learn directly from the stories, but also from the lives of the writers and from the process of acquiring the stories. The information you gather seems more like intelligence, because you’re often a detective trying to solve an inexplicable case.”
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By: Matthew Westphal,
on 10/31/2014
An interview with Michael Denneny, who co-founded the pathbreaking literary magazine Christopher Street and was the first man to make a career out of editing and publishing serious gay novels.
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By: Suzi Steffen,
on 10/30/2014
“At some point, it’s just you and the poems. You haven’t been told to read a poem, you haven’t been assigned a poem to critique, you haven’t been told a book’s really great, so you’re just picking up books that either speak to you or don’t. You’re just looking through book after book after book trying to find something engaging.”
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By: Matthew Westphal,
on 10/30/2014
At the International Festival of Authors in Toronto, Andrew Wylie “call[ed] Amazon ‘the equivalent of ISIS,’ 50 Shades of Grey ‘one of the most embarrassing moments in Western culture,’ and self-publishing ‘the aesthetic equivalent of telling everyone who sings in the shower they deserve to be in La Scala’.”
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By: Suzi Steffen,
on 10/29/2014
“What does this mean for authors? Should we give up on interactive fiction? No, I don’t think so, but I do think we need to be aware from the outset it that it may have to be limber enough to straddle several mediums and formats.”
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By: Suzi Steffen,
on 10/29/2014
“That essay Langston [Hughes] wrote, ‘The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain’ — I’m thinking of both sides of his argument in that. One is that obviously you’re always a black writer, but also you have to work with your gifts first and shut that out when you’re actually composing. What do you guys think? That’s how I approach it, but it might be naïve.”
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By: Matthew Westphal,
on 10/28/2014
“Seventy-five years ago on Sunday, writer William Carlos Williams helped inaugurate what would become this country’s most famous literary reading series, at New York’s 92nd Street Y Poetry Center.” (includes audio clips)
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By: Suzi Steffen,
on 10/28/2014
So how did “the balcony scene” (there is no balcony in the scene) in “Romeo and Juliet” become the most famous Shakespeare scene ever?
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By: Suzi Steffen,
on 10/28/2014
“She admits: ‘I’ve no problem in confessing that I’ve not had any time to read for the past two years. I read a lot of notes, a lot of legislative texts, news, AFP stories, but I read very little,’ squirming when it was noted that a culture minister might, well, enjoy partaking of a novel or two here or there.”
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By: Suzi Steffen,
on 10/27/2014
“The binary between children’s and adult fiction is a false one, based on a limited conception of the self.”
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If you have experienced bullying in any form - If you love someone who has experienced bullying in any form - And if YOU have been a bully (in any form)………. THIS —>>>>>> (all photography and artistic/director credit goes to Kaleigh Steward at KaleighJPhotography )Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: #nothing, #pictureworthathousandwords, #worthless, @shiftingart.com, antibullying, bullying, bullying…
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By: Matthew Cheney,
on 7/16/2014
"raised in a sewer"Hyperbole in service of comedy? Or your (not so) secret inner feelings?
"Don't be a moron"
"You dumb mouthbreather"
"Smack a crowbar upside your stupid head"
"you write like a spastic"
["spastic"?]
"Go back to preschool"
"Get out of the gene pool"
"Try your best to not drool"
I think people who have been bullied and abused tend to use rules in the hopes that rules will save them. ... But it’s easier to like formal systems of rules when those rules usually protect you. If you live in a country where the laws were made by people like you, and are usually enforced in ways that protect you, it’s easier to be enamored of technical adherence to the law. And, by analogy, to prescriptive sets of rules like “standard English” grammar. It’s also easier to feel affection for systems of rules when people like yourself usually get a say in constructing them.Pedants need to feel superior, and displaying their (often inaccurate) opinions of grammar, usage, style, and spelling is a way to access such feelings of superiority. My life might suck, but at least I'm not one of those horrible people who splits infinitives or uses numbers in words!
Not all nerds are abuse survivors, so perhaps other nerds (as adults) value rule-following because they believe the key to their economic success. From there, it’s easy to jump to victim-blaming: the line of thought that goes, “If other people would just learn and follow the rules, they would be successful too.”
Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies—
"God damn it, you've got to be kind."
Picture is worth a thousand hurtful words. So important for bullying to stop. Thank you for posting this.
Is this a request for photos regarding bullying?
No. if you follow the link you will see the photographer who took this. My daughter was the model she used to paint on the special effects.
Thank you, Kathleen. I think the photographer did a great job of telling a story and capturing what bullying does to the spirit.