Merriam-Webster: Sorry, but "irregardless" is a word

Posted on 07/06/2020 at 02:17 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Brace yourselves, grammar traditionalists. Merriam-Webster has declared that “irregardless” is a word — “it may not be a word that...

Categories: Today in Books

Tagged As: Language, NPR

Merriam-Webster updates definition of racism in online dictionary

Posted on 06/11/2020 at 08:51 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

2020 has been a memorable year for the human species, and it’s a good thing our dictionaries have virtual options...

Categories: Today in Books

Tagged As: Diversity, Language

The actual roots of "social distancing"

Posted on 05/31/2020 at 04:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

When, where, and why did the phrase “social distancing” first appear? If your guess was this past spring over the...

Tagged As: coronavirus / COVID-19, Language, The Guardian

Oxford English Dictionary makes early update with coronavirus words

Posted on 04/15/2020 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

View post titled Oxford English Dictionary makes early update with coronavirus words

One more sign of the times: the Oxford English Dictionary is being updated, ahead of schedule, to reflect new words...

Categories: Today in Books

Tagged As: coronavirus / COVID-19, Language

Open letter: Oxford Dictionary should remove sexist words from definition of "woman"

Posted on 03/03/2020 at 03:30 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Oxford University Press has received an open letter, signed by a number of academics and equality advocates, asking for revisions...

Categories: Today in Books

Tagged As: Language, The Guardian

Author: Singular "they" isn't going away anytime soon

Posted on 02/06/2020 at 02:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Dennis Baron has bad news for some of you out there: singular “they” is here to stay. Baron, author of...

Categories: Author Interview

Tagged As: Author interview, Language, Nonfiction, NPR

Author Philip Pullman: Brexit coin is missing a comma

Posted on 01/29/2020 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Brexit has inspired many a debate in the years since it was proposed. This one, while less significant in the...

Categories: Today in Books

Tagged As: Just for fun, Language, The Guardian

"They" is Merriam-Webster's 2019 word of the year

Posted on 12/10/2019 at 07:57 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Merriam-Webster’s word of the year is the shortest one so far this season: they. But its brevity belies its complexity....

Categories: Today in Books

Tagged As: Just for fun, Language

"Existential" is Dictionary.com's word of the year

Posted on 12/09/2019 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

At first blush, Dictionary.com’s 2019 word of the year seems to be following the doom-and-gloom theme set by other dictionaries’...

Categories: Today in Books

Tagged As: Just for fun, Language

Oxford Dictionaries: "Climate emergency" is the word of the year

Posted on 11/20/2019 at 04:02 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

The next word of the year from a dictionary is along the same theme as the previous one. Oxford Dictionaries...

Tagged As: Just for fun, Language