Lingua Franca
Language blog of the Chronicle of Higher Education
I have posted weekly to Lingua Franca since August 2011. My posts are available at
http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/author/ametcalf/
Links to some recent posts:
20/20 vision
Trump's ironies
Gender self-identification
LGBTQQ21A and other gender abbreviations
Readability and understandability
Legibility of capital letters
Avoiding bias in language
The Dictionary in the courtroom
Translation: A history of synonyms
Really bad spelling
Sidestepping the semicolon
"needs changed"
OK's 177th birthday
OK Day, March 23
The Double Meaning of "bi-"
Complete list of all my Lingua Franca posts:
2011
8.26. Some Rules Are Nice and Simple. But . . .: like drinking 8 glasses of water daily, we obey rules that are false 19
9.5. Dreadful sorry, Clementine: Loss of thou 21
9.13. A Lessen in Grammar: Less recedes in the face of usage strictures, fewer advances 28
9.18. But vs. Though: A Distinction that Matters [see 4.24.2014] 25
9.25. The iPad of Words: OK is a word we didn’t imagine we’d need, till it was invented 5
10.6. Teflon and Velcro Writers: smooth writing vs. writing that grabs you 7
10.11. Ortholinguistry: Filling the Gaps in Language: current neologisms, also sibling as example of gap not filled 13
10.17 Sex and prepositions: Prepositions are shockingly promiscuous 9
10.26. Dr. Joke-All and Mr. Hide: Author who enjoys publication of book, vs. Writer who is embarrassed to say it’s not done 1
10.30. Use Strong Verbs: A Fairy Tale: Tongue-in-cheek praise of verbs that do not use the weak –ed past tense and participle inflection. 25
11.6. You Guys: Evolution of the phrase starting with Guy Fawkes 20
11.17. The Phenomenology of Error: Joseph Williams CCCC 32.2 May 1981: 152-168
http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/schaffner/Williams%20Error.pdf
7
11.23. Happy Mexico Day: The turkey is a bird from Mexico 14
11.29. Night and Winter: How days and seasons were measured in Old English 9
12.8. Words of the Years: history of American Dialect Society vote 6
12.12. From Newt to Tweet: 2 Decades of Words of the Years: American Dialect Society Words of the Years: compared with Time’s choice of Person 3
12.18. It’s Tebow Time . . . Maybe: quarterback who snatches victory and who kneels in prayer: possible word of the year 10
2012
1.11. Banished and Revived: Lake Superior State University words 4
1.17. From Aa to Zydeco, It’s in DARE::Volume 5 published, completing the alphabet 3
1.26. Dead End for a 19th Century Linguist: Edward Rulloff the murderer 4
2.1. Multiplying Modals: double and triple modals.12
2.10 and 2.13. Another Linguist, Another Murder: Thomas E. Murray 6, 6
2.24. Hot Dog! Comments on Etymology history and new issue7
2.28. Birth of the Teenager: not till 20th century 2
3.8. American English n 3D: Richard W. Bailey’s Speaking American 2
3.12. Happy Birthday, OK 8
3.21. Death of a Dictionary? Or an Abduction? Webster’s New World 4
3.30. Language Purity?Woof! How French words entered English: language purity now impossible 25
4.3. Gems of One Syllable: examples from great writers 8
4.12. Nicknames for the Heroic and Divine: Epic variation in vocabulary 1
4.16. OK, Pay Me: You can’t copyright OK because you can’t copyright a word 12
4.25. “ He Seems to Be Enjoying Himself”: Bloomfield’s secondary and tertiary responses to language 14
5.4. Disjoined at the Hip: different generational uses of hip, hippie, hipster 16
5.8. A Shindy for DARE :symposium and party celebrate Volume 5 publication 6
5.17. Decline and Fall of a 4-letter Word: ain’t 12
5.21. The Oldest Profession: lexicographer (dictionary before language, also Adam) 20
5.31. Naming Rights: people are the authority for pronouncing their named 28
6.8. Cheers for the Varsity: varsity used to be great; examples of songs and cheers 10
6.12. Not Hole: not mistakenly omitted from “not guilty” and “Wicked Bible” 10
6.21. Weeding the Gardens of Language: we differ on which words are weeds 4
6.25. An Arch Mistake: Latin error on arch at University of California, Berkeley 14
7.9. Destination Destination: noun modifier as in “destination wedding” 6
7.18. My Mistake? BFD!: my error on origin of expression; how to predict success of new words 11
7.27. The Murmuring of Innumerate Nouns: Noun becomes noncount when it modifies another noun 27
7.31. At Least 2 Words We Can Do Without: journalists’ use of “at least one” 28
8.9. Limericks: a Lingua Franca Contest: with my own examples 85
8.13. Hello, New New England: American Speech article on receding eastern New England pronunciation 25
8.22. Lingua Franca’s Winning Limerick, a Labor of Love 14
8.31. “Thank You for the Light”: 1936 vocabulary in Fitzgerald story only now published in The New Yorker 2
9.11. The Mystery of ‘9/11’: who invented it? why did it catch on? 15
9.20. With a Nasal Drawl: not a precise description 9
9.24. Freeway, Come Home! variants of freeway: interstate, expressway 20
10.3. A New Contest, Centered Around Usage: correctness of centered around plus contest for new grammatical rule 200
10.12. One for the Usage Books: contest winners 7
10.16. Weird Words Won’t Win: to succeed, new words must be unobtrusive 7
10.25. How to Talk Presidential: be dignified and down to earth 3
10.29. Trick or Treat! 20th century innovation 2
11.7. Elect (Name Here) in 2016! contest for presidential slogan next time around 32
11.16. Taxing Your Credulity: contest winner 4
11.20. Farewell to the Words of Yesteryear: words of 2011 now nearly forgotten 6
11.28. An Orphan Finds a Loving Home: Webster’s New World with Houghton Mifflin 2
12.3 Why Do New Words Survive? 5 Rules: FUDGE factors for success 9
12.12 Darkness Visible: Lucus a Non Lucendo: language is conventional, not logical; erroneous logical explanations of etymology in Plato and for OK 11
12.21 Merry Holidays! why say Merry instead of Happy Christmas? 13
2013
1.2 In Memoriam: Extension 720: Milt Rosenberg’s talk show on WGN-AM Chicago often discussed language; canceled after 38 years 5
1.7 The #Word of the Year: #Hashtag: results of WOTY vote 6
1.16 The Most Demanding Science: Homage to Eric Hamp: his “Historical linguistics is the most advanced and demanding known human science” in Comments on Etymology 7
1.25 Coming to the Internet: the Dictionary of American Regional English: invitation to beta test the online version 3
2.1 How We Speak: history and current contents of American Speech 6
2.7 Mother Hubbard’s Bone, Alexander Pope’s Tea: rhymes provide clues to earlier pronunciations 9
2.14 Loving Words: words I love: OK, jazz, blurb, doozy, scofflaw, you guys, sylvanshine, groovy, cool, like, couch potato: invitation to contribute 44
2.18 The Grammar of (Newspaper) Headlines: 10 rules distinguish headlines from standard grammar 27
2.27 The Poetry of Headlines: difficulty of writing headlines; contest invitation
3.8 Creative Challenge: Ireland Gets a Head: winner of headline-writing contest 7
3.12 An Academic Matter: French Academy admits native English speaker; no academy for English 21
3.21 Happy Birthday, OK! brief history; celebrate anniversary 8
3.25 OK, the Gentle Giant: unlikeliness of its creation and survival; doesn’t browbeat to say OK 8
4.3 100 Years of Jazz: San Francisco Bulletin columnist April 5, 1913 on newly invented baseball term jazz 7
4.9 DARE Up in the Air Dictionary of American Regional English needs money to go online and continue updating 2
4.16 Tips of the Slung: spoonerisms 40
4.25 Time Traveler’s Language Guide: present-day words we could use in speaking Old English and Proto-Indo-European 6
4.29 Petting Peeves: invitation to invent new pet peeves in language vocabulary and usage 45
5.8 Adam’s Folly: invitation to improve on Adam’s (English) names for animals 11
5.17 Hot Dog! antedating to Nashville in 1886 10
5.21 Prospecting for Antedates: online databases make possible discovery of earlier instances of words: empathy, (basketball) guard, persnickety, gin rummy, drone 2
5.30 Redefining the Dictionary: going online makes for different kinds of dictionaries; report on meeting of Dictionary Society of North America 12
6.12 Unabridged Online: Merriam-Webster Unabridged now online, updating 1961-Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 13
6.21 Unabridged Commentary: use of unabridged for big dictionaries 9
6.25 Hobson-Jobson, Definitely: origin of name for 19th century glossary of English spoken in India 7
7.8 Reduplication Station: Piggly Wiggly, Hobson-Jobson and other examples 20
7.17 Couples and Couplets: reading couplets to professor is romantic, according to Susan Choi’s novel. Readers invited to share couplets. 21
7.23 A Shark Takes a Bite: sharknado is Pullum’s term) a frankenword combining two disparate elements, or (Lewis Carroll’s) a portmanteau word. 21
7.30 Initialisms with “&” Need a Name: contest for term to describe this category 31
8.8 Monitoring “Moniker”: the word loses slang connotations 16
8.12 Ah, Louisville! American Speech article by Jennifer Cramer says Louisville is on the border between Southern “ah” and Northern “ah-ee” pronunciation for I. 14
8.21 Slips of the Brain: opposites attract for mistaken substitutes: vowel for consonant, ancestor for descendant 21
8.30 OK Glass! OK used with Google Glass and with Apple computers as command 4
9.2 Breaking Good: negative words used positively: killer, shut up, insanely good, wicked, smashing, sick, bad 8
9.12 This Means Wah! French voilá rendered as Wahl ah! 42
9.16 No Synonyms, Please: we try to differentiate bag and sack rather than allow synonyms 34
9.25 Pop Up, Pop Down: pop-up stores, restaurants, magazine 4
10.4 Talkin’ About Politics: both Virginia gubernatorial candidates appeal to voters by droppin’ gs 4
10.8 Word of the Year? Obamacare! with procedure for choosing ADS WOTY 7
10.17 My Selfie, My Self: my favorite for 2013 Word of the Year 9
10.21 Dude! copious 1883 newspaper examples of dude, from Comments on Etymology 26
10.30 What’s Not to Like? like introducing speech allows us to show not just what was said but how 24
11.2 Making Hey: Southern hey replacing hi throughout the country 24
11.12 On Line in New York City: online with Internet may cause New Yorkers to wait in line like the rest of us 7
11.21 So Long, Solon! name of Athenian legislator is origin of alternative designation for “senator”; now in disuse 10
11.25 Louisville, Anyone? pronunciation of city name 9
12.4 Reversing the Selfie: the unselfie pictures people doing good deeds 1
12.13 DARE in the Air: Dictionary of American Regional English now available electronically by subscription 2
12.16 A Bite of DARE: digital Dictionary of American Regional English has maps and pronunciations not available in the print version. 2
2014
1.10 Blame It on the Sophomores: freshman is still popular because it is balanced by sophomore 30
1.14 Unexamined Words: usually we don’t pay attention even to obvious etymological evidence in words like once, baseball, cupcake 8
1.23 Happy Otchig Day!: alternative names for groundhog, from DARE 5
1.27 Cute Words: cute is majorly feminine 9
2.5 Best Regards: usage books call for “in regard to,” but “in regards to” is more common 9
2.13 Dry Spell: few are interested in spelling reform 20
2.17 175 Years OK: anniversary on March 23 5
2.26 Garden-Variety Clichés: a weed is an unwanted plant, a cliché is an unwanted word or phrase; neither is by nature a weed or cliché 22
3.7 Hello! used first for telephone greeting in 1870s 12
3.11 Goodbye, Goodbye. . . : goodbye as a loving word in an 1855 ballad 7
3.20 Scripture for OK Day: text of first article containing OK, March 23, 1839 Boston Morning Post 6
3.24 Life-Saving Punctuation: semicolon tattoo prevents suicide because it “is used when a sentence could have ended, but didn’t.” 19
4.2 In Style: newspaper style aims to be unobtrusive 32
4.11 The Latest Style: new additions to AP stylebook include LGBT, selfie, Snapchat, emoji, gurdwara, halal 7
4.15 Over and Over Again: AP style now permits over meaning “more than” 27
4.24 But: difference between but and though [see 9.18 2011] 9
4.28 Yes I Said Yes I Will Yes: art installation in Boulder, Colo. public library: “YES!” 8
5.7 Putting On the Kibosh: possible origin of kibosh as “whip” in early 19th century (from Comments on Etymology) 5
5.16 STEM Sells: earlier abbreviation for Science, Technology, Engineering, Math was less desirable SMET 12
5.24 EDM and the Selfie: Electronic Dance Music “Selfie” by the Chainsmokers 11
5.30 Ketoohamonk Wuske Ketoohomaonk: revival of Wampanoag Indian language in Massachusetts 0
6.4 Language Anarchy: without enforcers of correctness in the Middle Ages, English did fine 11
6.10 Bad Spell: against archaic spelling for Spenser’s poetry 4
6.19 Spenser’s Allegorical Trap: don’t focus on allegory in the Faerie Queene 19
6.23 Like as the Waves Make Towards the Pebbled Shore: Spenserian stanza 3
7.7 The First Dude: Robert Sale Hill’s poem January 14, 1883 New York World 8
7.15 The Sylly Season: etymology and spelling of syllabus and its plural 8
7.24 When a Dude Is Not a “Dude”: early use of Dude as name or nickname 9
7.28 Boom. No, BOOM! use of boom for emphasis 5
8.6 The Ultimate Dude: TR? Roosevelt as possible cause of undandifying dude 5
8.15 The Great Dog Robber: personal attendant of general or admiral 4
8.19 LGBTQQ2IA: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning, intersexual, asexual; also QUILTBAG 23
9.2 What’s Your PGP? Preferred gender pronoun 16
9.11 First-world Problems: definition of first world 21
9.15 Why? Favorite question word 6
9.24 Great Question! Questions require response 7
10.3 Smile, Smile, Smile: World War I song “Pack Up Your Troubles” 7
10.7 Dusting Off the Abacus: origins discussed in October 2014 issue of Comments on Etymology 2
10.16 Looking at American Speech: Summer 2014 issue of the journal American Speech 21
10.20 Ebola, the Word 7
10.29 Two Dictionaries: Merriam-Webster’s New International and the birth of Webster’s New World 7
11.7 F.S.M.: the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, 50 years ago 4
11.11 Humanities Need a STEM: an acronym for fields of study 115
11.20 An Angel for the Humanities: RAPHAEL as acronym for fields of study in humanities 17
11.24 Acknowledging the Corn: etymology of corn 10
12.3 Will Selfie Stick? The selfie stick 3
12.12 Vape-ing Till Ready: Oxford Dictionaries chooses vape (to smoke an e-cigarette) as word of the year 4
12.16 Waiting for the Word of 2014 possible choices 1
2015
1.8 D-Day for Word of the Year: choice to be made this week 16
1.13 A Real Tweet for Linguists: Use of Twitter for research 1
1.22 O Canada! In New Orleans: Katie Carmichael finds French Canadian pronunciation in New Orleans 21
1.26 Hashtags Hammer Grammar (or Not): hashtags follow conventional grammar rules 6
2.6: Dibs: the Great Northern Parking Tradition: saving shoveled parking space 26
2.13 Greek Gift: Triskaidekaphobia: fear of Friday 13: 2
2.17 Going Native: “native” advertising 8
2.26 Greek Weekend: Oi Day and Cerberry Day 7
3.2 OK: Konspicuous, Kurious, Komical: spelling of OK 7
3.11 Coming and Going: in ”Bear Went over the Muntain” by Alice Munro 11
3.20 Monday is OK Day: reasons it’s greatest word 9
3.24 Me and I, sailing to Skye: both me and I used in theme song for TV series Outlander 7
4.2 Naming the Numbers of March Madness: inviting suggestions for round of 64, 32, and 2: 18
4.6 Requiem for a Dictionary? Or Life Support? Dictionary of American Regional English is running out of money 3
4.15 The Double Meaning of ‘Bi-‘: Twice (a year, etc.) or once every two 12
4.20 Getting Down to Brass Tacks – and Silver Ones: tacks used for coffins 10
5.1 May Day! May Day! May Day! Celebration and call for help 12
5.5 Our Own Devices :left to our own; computers as devices now 8
5.15: To Be or Not to Be: Needs and Wants: the midlands construction “needs fed, need bathed etc. 22
5.20 Their Excellencies, the Conference of Secretaries: “secretary” has low prestige 5
5.26 A Really Bad Spell: very bad spelling 11
6.4 Spelling Out the Consequences: English Spelling Society aims at reform 57
6.9. A Nation of Hackers: we invent hacks to make us more effective and efficient 4
6.19 Nibbling Away, synonyms for “snack” 12
6.24 Killer Compounds, words like cutthroat 12
6.29 Translation: A History of Synonyms: historical synonyms for “translation” 5
7.9 The Dictionary on Trial: use of dictionaries in the courtroom 11
7.14 Busy B’s at DARE: online updating 7
7.24 Revealing American Speech: May 2015 issue: 6
7.29 Fit for a New Century: “fitness age”: 15
8.1: Bias: Mark My Words: markedness hinders bias-free language: 27
8.21 Theatricals: spelling of theater: 11
8.26 Artisans and Crafts: we live in artisanal times: 10
8.31 Take It Away: the takeaway: 11
9.10 Top o’ the Morning: of without f: 23
9. 15: Ice Cream, Iced Tea, and Sundaes: 4
9.23 A Million Missing Words: The Search Is On: Wordnik searches for words not yet in dictionaries: 12
9.30 Papal Language: 3
10.4 Happy Birthday, Lingua Franca! 8
10. 14 Skedaddle, Selfie and Many More Words of the Generations: my new book: 12
10.19 Just Shoot Me! 9
10.29: SPIDER’s Web of Worrisome Words: radical magazine at Berkeley 50 years ago: 7
11.4 Basic WOTY [Word of the Year]: 20
11.9 WOTY Primaries Begin at Merriam-Webster and Oxford Dictionaries: 8
11.19 A Day in the Life of a Lexicographer: David Barnhart: 9
11.24: “Giving” Words: contest for words ending in –giving 33
12.1 Here’s Your Very Own “Merry”: mythical word club: also winner of “-giving” 6
12.9 Why Early Etymologists Embarrassingly Err: 10
12.14 Digital DARE Update: Half Price Holiday Special: 0
2016
1.5 Thinking Swiftly (Tom Swifties): 18
1.13 So They Say (they as gender-neutral singular pronoun): 9
1.17 Take a Deep Breath (suffix –arian): 5
1.27 W.S. Gilbert: Rhyme and Reason: 17
2.1 Floating Along on Mardi Gras (etymology of parade float): 1
2.10: Fool ‘ish’ Ways (“ish” used by Millennials): 14
2.16 A Plague of Plagiarism (different definitions) 34
2.21 And the Winner Is . . . (pause before announcing) 10
3.2 OK, Happy 177 th! (birthday of OK 3.23.1839) 9
3.7 The Trumptionary (words referring to Donald Trump, collected by David Barnhart) 0
3.17 The Trumptionary, Part 2 (more of Barnhart’s Trump lexicon) 7
3.22 OK, Presidential Hopeful? Celebrate Today (3.23 birthday of OK) 2
3.27 Sloganeering for President (campaign slogans) 7
4.6 Sidestepping the Semicolon (avoiding use of it) 21
4.11 Instant Readability (Internet tool for measuring) 16
4.21 Readability, Understandability, and ETS (formulas) 1
4.26 O Tempora, O Mores! (spelling of alum–) 25
5.4 Vivat Academia! (Latin mottos on college seals) 7
5.11The Good Old Teen Years (How we name years in the 21st century) 4
5.19 DARE to Carry Guts to a Bear (new entries for online DARE) 0
5.26 Selfies with Sunnies (sunglasses) 3
5.31 Bully Pulpits and Pulpit Bullies 11
6.5 The ‘L’ You Say (Chicago’s rapid transit) 8
6.15 The Great Bloviators (Davy Crockett, Harding, Trump?) 4
6.20 Half Time for WOTY (Word of the Year categories) 11
6.30 There’s Trump, OK? (use of OK by Trump) 5
7.6 Capital Capitals (capital letters legibility) 13
7.11 Adviser Advisory (journalists’ spelling of adviser) 16
7.21 You Can’t Make This Stuff Up (sentence) 12
7.26 The Pink of Fashion (“pink” line of clothing) 14
8.2 Sidestepping Haters (haters used increasingly) 20
8.7 Gender Self-Identification: M or W? 8
8.17 New in DARE: Bird’s Nest on the Ground (summer installment of DARE updates) 3
8.22 Trump: Ironies in the Fire (can’t tell whether he’s being ironic) 3
9.1 My 20/20 Prediction (with Class of 2020, puns on vision will increase) 13
Good Night, September 22! (etymology of equinox)
9.15 Good Night, September 22! (equinox and solstice) 11
9.21 M22: Highway Sign and Trademark (Michigan highway) 5
9.26 The Vocative in Crisis (losing its surrounding commas) 18
10.6 Welcome to Norwood University (VP candidate Pence’s mistake for Longwood) 1
10.12 The Perils of Being a Cubs Fan 9
10.16 Greetings and Salutations: Endangered Species (email beginnings) 23
10.21 Trumptionary 3: Barnhart’s Never-Finished Dictionary of Politics 7
10.26: Just What the Politicians Need: 50,000 More Words of Slang (Green’s Dictionary of Slang now available online) 1
11.8: T Time: Real Money (“Trillion with a T”) 3
11.14 From N.H. to La.: Dictionary of American Regional English Update No. 6: 2
11.26 Hey, You Guys! Listen Up! (Sexist word is also gender neutral) 23
12.7 Words for a Year of Fear (preview of candidates for WOTY 2016) 7
12.12 ‘Bigly’ Is Huge (Trumpian candidate for WOTY) 5
12.21 Hashtag Christmas and Emoji New Year! (new categories for Word of the Year) 1
2017
1.3 A Perfectly Nice Drink (Hot Toddy) 3
1.9 Homeland Generation: What’s the Word? (distinctive vocabulary of those born 2005 or later) 9
1.19 Hoosiers, Suckers, Badgers, and Wolverines (Government Publishing Office adopts Hoosier as official name for residents of Indiana) 8
1.25 Call It Macaroni (etymology of that word, according to Comments on Etymology) 3
1.29 An OK Day in March (March 23, 1839 birthday of OK) 1
2.8 Trumping the Extremists (extreme in political language) 2
2.13 Happy Valentine’s Day! (With the Intelligent Basketball) (malapropisms) 18
2.23 Bowery Dance with Boilo? (quarterly online update of Dictionary of American Regional English) 0
2.28 Ay Ay Ay (Spanish extreme expression) 7
3.5 Unicorns and Their Opposite (LuLaRoe leggings) 0
3.15 A Dash of Zhouzh (definition) 9
3.20 OK, OK, Happy 178th Birthday! 7
3.30 Virginia Festival of the Book (last weekend, First Amendment Wall, etc.) 5
4.4 You Say EEther, I say AYEther (mystery of who says which) 28
4.9 Language Birthers (false origins imputed for words) 26
4.19 Weighty Words of Yesteryear (typed on typewriter, set in metal type) 7
4.24 Truly Weighty Words (composing room with Linotypes) 7
5.4 Trump: Down to Earth but Not Dignified (qualities expected of a president) 8
5.9 News, False and Fake (Margaret Atwood on False) 5
5.18 ‘Crawdaddy,’ ‘Boomba,’ and a ‘Bounce-Around”:An Online Update of Regional Words (Dictionary of American Regional English) 6
5.24 Fake New Words? (How can we be sure a “new” word is really new? 7
5.29 Genuine New Words (independently invented multiple times) 6
6.8 A Lexicographical Bildungsroman (Kori Stamper’s Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries) 9
6.15 Lexicographers Luxuriate in Barbados (meeting of Dictionary Society) 2
6.18 Among the Old New Words (75 years of new words column in American Speech) 11
6.28 Repeal and Replace—or Revise? Obamacare! (partisan labeling for health care reform) 4
Language blog of the Chronicle of Higher Education
I have posted weekly to Lingua Franca since August 2011. My posts are available at
http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/author/ametcalf/
Links to some recent posts:
20/20 vision
Trump's ironies
Gender self-identification
LGBTQQ21A and other gender abbreviations
Readability and understandability
Legibility of capital letters
Avoiding bias in language
The Dictionary in the courtroom
Translation: A history of synonyms
Really bad spelling
Sidestepping the semicolon
"needs changed"
OK's 177th birthday
OK Day, March 23
The Double Meaning of "bi-"
Complete list of all my Lingua Franca posts:
2011
8.26. Some Rules Are Nice and Simple. But . . .: like drinking 8 glasses of water daily, we obey rules that are false 19
9.5. Dreadful sorry, Clementine: Loss of thou 21
9.13. A Lessen in Grammar: Less recedes in the face of usage strictures, fewer advances 28
9.18. But vs. Though: A Distinction that Matters [see 4.24.2014] 25
9.25. The iPad of Words: OK is a word we didn’t imagine we’d need, till it was invented 5
10.6. Teflon and Velcro Writers: smooth writing vs. writing that grabs you 7
10.11. Ortholinguistry: Filling the Gaps in Language: current neologisms, also sibling as example of gap not filled 13
10.17 Sex and prepositions: Prepositions are shockingly promiscuous 9
10.26. Dr. Joke-All and Mr. Hide: Author who enjoys publication of book, vs. Writer who is embarrassed to say it’s not done 1
10.30. Use Strong Verbs: A Fairy Tale: Tongue-in-cheek praise of verbs that do not use the weak –ed past tense and participle inflection. 25
11.6. You Guys: Evolution of the phrase starting with Guy Fawkes 20
11.17. The Phenomenology of Error: Joseph Williams CCCC 32.2 May 1981: 152-168
http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/schaffner/Williams%20Error.pdf
7
11.23. Happy Mexico Day: The turkey is a bird from Mexico 14
11.29. Night and Winter: How days and seasons were measured in Old English 9
12.8. Words of the Years: history of American Dialect Society vote 6
12.12. From Newt to Tweet: 2 Decades of Words of the Years: American Dialect Society Words of the Years: compared with Time’s choice of Person 3
12.18. It’s Tebow Time . . . Maybe: quarterback who snatches victory and who kneels in prayer: possible word of the year 10
2012
1.11. Banished and Revived: Lake Superior State University words 4
1.17. From Aa to Zydeco, It’s in DARE::Volume 5 published, completing the alphabet 3
1.26. Dead End for a 19th Century Linguist: Edward Rulloff the murderer 4
2.1. Multiplying Modals: double and triple modals.12
2.10 and 2.13. Another Linguist, Another Murder: Thomas E. Murray 6, 6
2.24. Hot Dog! Comments on Etymology history and new issue7
2.28. Birth of the Teenager: not till 20th century 2
3.8. American English n 3D: Richard W. Bailey’s Speaking American 2
3.12. Happy Birthday, OK 8
3.21. Death of a Dictionary? Or an Abduction? Webster’s New World 4
3.30. Language Purity?Woof! How French words entered English: language purity now impossible 25
4.3. Gems of One Syllable: examples from great writers 8
4.12. Nicknames for the Heroic and Divine: Epic variation in vocabulary 1
4.16. OK, Pay Me: You can’t copyright OK because you can’t copyright a word 12
4.25. “ He Seems to Be Enjoying Himself”: Bloomfield’s secondary and tertiary responses to language 14
5.4. Disjoined at the Hip: different generational uses of hip, hippie, hipster 16
5.8. A Shindy for DARE :symposium and party celebrate Volume 5 publication 6
5.17. Decline and Fall of a 4-letter Word: ain’t 12
5.21. The Oldest Profession: lexicographer (dictionary before language, also Adam) 20
5.31. Naming Rights: people are the authority for pronouncing their named 28
6.8. Cheers for the Varsity: varsity used to be great; examples of songs and cheers 10
6.12. Not Hole: not mistakenly omitted from “not guilty” and “Wicked Bible” 10
6.21. Weeding the Gardens of Language: we differ on which words are weeds 4
6.25. An Arch Mistake: Latin error on arch at University of California, Berkeley 14
7.9. Destination Destination: noun modifier as in “destination wedding” 6
7.18. My Mistake? BFD!: my error on origin of expression; how to predict success of new words 11
7.27. The Murmuring of Innumerate Nouns: Noun becomes noncount when it modifies another noun 27
7.31. At Least 2 Words We Can Do Without: journalists’ use of “at least one” 28
8.9. Limericks: a Lingua Franca Contest: with my own examples 85
8.13. Hello, New New England: American Speech article on receding eastern New England pronunciation 25
8.22. Lingua Franca’s Winning Limerick, a Labor of Love 14
8.31. “Thank You for the Light”: 1936 vocabulary in Fitzgerald story only now published in The New Yorker 2
9.11. The Mystery of ‘9/11’: who invented it? why did it catch on? 15
9.20. With a Nasal Drawl: not a precise description 9
9.24. Freeway, Come Home! variants of freeway: interstate, expressway 20
10.3. A New Contest, Centered Around Usage: correctness of centered around plus contest for new grammatical rule 200
10.12. One for the Usage Books: contest winners 7
10.16. Weird Words Won’t Win: to succeed, new words must be unobtrusive 7
10.25. How to Talk Presidential: be dignified and down to earth 3
10.29. Trick or Treat! 20th century innovation 2
11.7. Elect (Name Here) in 2016! contest for presidential slogan next time around 32
11.16. Taxing Your Credulity: contest winner 4
11.20. Farewell to the Words of Yesteryear: words of 2011 now nearly forgotten 6
11.28. An Orphan Finds a Loving Home: Webster’s New World with Houghton Mifflin 2
12.3 Why Do New Words Survive? 5 Rules: FUDGE factors for success 9
12.12 Darkness Visible: Lucus a Non Lucendo: language is conventional, not logical; erroneous logical explanations of etymology in Plato and for OK 11
12.21 Merry Holidays! why say Merry instead of Happy Christmas? 13
2013
1.2 In Memoriam: Extension 720: Milt Rosenberg’s talk show on WGN-AM Chicago often discussed language; canceled after 38 years 5
1.7 The #Word of the Year: #Hashtag: results of WOTY vote 6
1.16 The Most Demanding Science: Homage to Eric Hamp: his “Historical linguistics is the most advanced and demanding known human science” in Comments on Etymology 7
1.25 Coming to the Internet: the Dictionary of American Regional English: invitation to beta test the online version 3
2.1 How We Speak: history and current contents of American Speech 6
2.7 Mother Hubbard’s Bone, Alexander Pope’s Tea: rhymes provide clues to earlier pronunciations 9
2.14 Loving Words: words I love: OK, jazz, blurb, doozy, scofflaw, you guys, sylvanshine, groovy, cool, like, couch potato: invitation to contribute 44
2.18 The Grammar of (Newspaper) Headlines: 10 rules distinguish headlines from standard grammar 27
2.27 The Poetry of Headlines: difficulty of writing headlines; contest invitation
3.8 Creative Challenge: Ireland Gets a Head: winner of headline-writing contest 7
3.12 An Academic Matter: French Academy admits native English speaker; no academy for English 21
3.21 Happy Birthday, OK! brief history; celebrate anniversary 8
3.25 OK, the Gentle Giant: unlikeliness of its creation and survival; doesn’t browbeat to say OK 8
4.3 100 Years of Jazz: San Francisco Bulletin columnist April 5, 1913 on newly invented baseball term jazz 7
4.9 DARE Up in the Air Dictionary of American Regional English needs money to go online and continue updating 2
4.16 Tips of the Slung: spoonerisms 40
4.25 Time Traveler’s Language Guide: present-day words we could use in speaking Old English and Proto-Indo-European 6
4.29 Petting Peeves: invitation to invent new pet peeves in language vocabulary and usage 45
5.8 Adam’s Folly: invitation to improve on Adam’s (English) names for animals 11
5.17 Hot Dog! antedating to Nashville in 1886 10
5.21 Prospecting for Antedates: online databases make possible discovery of earlier instances of words: empathy, (basketball) guard, persnickety, gin rummy, drone 2
5.30 Redefining the Dictionary: going online makes for different kinds of dictionaries; report on meeting of Dictionary Society of North America 12
6.12 Unabridged Online: Merriam-Webster Unabridged now online, updating 1961-Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 13
6.21 Unabridged Commentary: use of unabridged for big dictionaries 9
6.25 Hobson-Jobson, Definitely: origin of name for 19th century glossary of English spoken in India 7
7.8 Reduplication Station: Piggly Wiggly, Hobson-Jobson and other examples 20
7.17 Couples and Couplets: reading couplets to professor is romantic, according to Susan Choi’s novel. Readers invited to share couplets. 21
7.23 A Shark Takes a Bite: sharknado is Pullum’s term) a frankenword combining two disparate elements, or (Lewis Carroll’s) a portmanteau word. 21
7.30 Initialisms with “&” Need a Name: contest for term to describe this category 31
8.8 Monitoring “Moniker”: the word loses slang connotations 16
8.12 Ah, Louisville! American Speech article by Jennifer Cramer says Louisville is on the border between Southern “ah” and Northern “ah-ee” pronunciation for I. 14
8.21 Slips of the Brain: opposites attract for mistaken substitutes: vowel for consonant, ancestor for descendant 21
8.30 OK Glass! OK used with Google Glass and with Apple computers as command 4
9.2 Breaking Good: negative words used positively: killer, shut up, insanely good, wicked, smashing, sick, bad 8
9.12 This Means Wah! French voilá rendered as Wahl ah! 42
9.16 No Synonyms, Please: we try to differentiate bag and sack rather than allow synonyms 34
9.25 Pop Up, Pop Down: pop-up stores, restaurants, magazine 4
10.4 Talkin’ About Politics: both Virginia gubernatorial candidates appeal to voters by droppin’ gs 4
10.8 Word of the Year? Obamacare! with procedure for choosing ADS WOTY 7
10.17 My Selfie, My Self: my favorite for 2013 Word of the Year 9
10.21 Dude! copious 1883 newspaper examples of dude, from Comments on Etymology 26
10.30 What’s Not to Like? like introducing speech allows us to show not just what was said but how 24
11.2 Making Hey: Southern hey replacing hi throughout the country 24
11.12 On Line in New York City: online with Internet may cause New Yorkers to wait in line like the rest of us 7
11.21 So Long, Solon! name of Athenian legislator is origin of alternative designation for “senator”; now in disuse 10
11.25 Louisville, Anyone? pronunciation of city name 9
12.4 Reversing the Selfie: the unselfie pictures people doing good deeds 1
12.13 DARE in the Air: Dictionary of American Regional English now available electronically by subscription 2
12.16 A Bite of DARE: digital Dictionary of American Regional English has maps and pronunciations not available in the print version. 2
2014
1.10 Blame It on the Sophomores: freshman is still popular because it is balanced by sophomore 30
1.14 Unexamined Words: usually we don’t pay attention even to obvious etymological evidence in words like once, baseball, cupcake 8
1.23 Happy Otchig Day!: alternative names for groundhog, from DARE 5
1.27 Cute Words: cute is majorly feminine 9
2.5 Best Regards: usage books call for “in regard to,” but “in regards to” is more common 9
2.13 Dry Spell: few are interested in spelling reform 20
2.17 175 Years OK: anniversary on March 23 5
2.26 Garden-Variety Clichés: a weed is an unwanted plant, a cliché is an unwanted word or phrase; neither is by nature a weed or cliché 22
3.7 Hello! used first for telephone greeting in 1870s 12
3.11 Goodbye, Goodbye. . . : goodbye as a loving word in an 1855 ballad 7
3.20 Scripture for OK Day: text of first article containing OK, March 23, 1839 Boston Morning Post 6
3.24 Life-Saving Punctuation: semicolon tattoo prevents suicide because it “is used when a sentence could have ended, but didn’t.” 19
4.2 In Style: newspaper style aims to be unobtrusive 32
4.11 The Latest Style: new additions to AP stylebook include LGBT, selfie, Snapchat, emoji, gurdwara, halal 7
4.15 Over and Over Again: AP style now permits over meaning “more than” 27
4.24 But: difference between but and though [see 9.18 2011] 9
4.28 Yes I Said Yes I Will Yes: art installation in Boulder, Colo. public library: “YES!” 8
5.7 Putting On the Kibosh: possible origin of kibosh as “whip” in early 19th century (from Comments on Etymology) 5
5.16 STEM Sells: earlier abbreviation for Science, Technology, Engineering, Math was less desirable SMET 12
5.24 EDM and the Selfie: Electronic Dance Music “Selfie” by the Chainsmokers 11
5.30 Ketoohamonk Wuske Ketoohomaonk: revival of Wampanoag Indian language in Massachusetts 0
6.4 Language Anarchy: without enforcers of correctness in the Middle Ages, English did fine 11
6.10 Bad Spell: against archaic spelling for Spenser’s poetry 4
6.19 Spenser’s Allegorical Trap: don’t focus on allegory in the Faerie Queene 19
6.23 Like as the Waves Make Towards the Pebbled Shore: Spenserian stanza 3
7.7 The First Dude: Robert Sale Hill’s poem January 14, 1883 New York World 8
7.15 The Sylly Season: etymology and spelling of syllabus and its plural 8
7.24 When a Dude Is Not a “Dude”: early use of Dude as name or nickname 9
7.28 Boom. No, BOOM! use of boom for emphasis 5
8.6 The Ultimate Dude: TR? Roosevelt as possible cause of undandifying dude 5
8.15 The Great Dog Robber: personal attendant of general or admiral 4
8.19 LGBTQQ2IA: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning, intersexual, asexual; also QUILTBAG 23
9.2 What’s Your PGP? Preferred gender pronoun 16
9.11 First-world Problems: definition of first world 21
9.15 Why? Favorite question word 6
9.24 Great Question! Questions require response 7
10.3 Smile, Smile, Smile: World War I song “Pack Up Your Troubles” 7
10.7 Dusting Off the Abacus: origins discussed in October 2014 issue of Comments on Etymology 2
10.16 Looking at American Speech: Summer 2014 issue of the journal American Speech 21
10.20 Ebola, the Word 7
10.29 Two Dictionaries: Merriam-Webster’s New International and the birth of Webster’s New World 7
11.7 F.S.M.: the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, 50 years ago 4
11.11 Humanities Need a STEM: an acronym for fields of study 115
11.20 An Angel for the Humanities: RAPHAEL as acronym for fields of study in humanities 17
11.24 Acknowledging the Corn: etymology of corn 10
12.3 Will Selfie Stick? The selfie stick 3
12.12 Vape-ing Till Ready: Oxford Dictionaries chooses vape (to smoke an e-cigarette) as word of the year 4
12.16 Waiting for the Word of 2014 possible choices 1
2015
1.8 D-Day for Word of the Year: choice to be made this week 16
1.13 A Real Tweet for Linguists: Use of Twitter for research 1
1.22 O Canada! In New Orleans: Katie Carmichael finds French Canadian pronunciation in New Orleans 21
1.26 Hashtags Hammer Grammar (or Not): hashtags follow conventional grammar rules 6
2.6: Dibs: the Great Northern Parking Tradition: saving shoveled parking space 26
2.13 Greek Gift: Triskaidekaphobia: fear of Friday 13: 2
2.17 Going Native: “native” advertising 8
2.26 Greek Weekend: Oi Day and Cerberry Day 7
3.2 OK: Konspicuous, Kurious, Komical: spelling of OK 7
3.11 Coming and Going: in ”Bear Went over the Muntain” by Alice Munro 11
3.20 Monday is OK Day: reasons it’s greatest word 9
3.24 Me and I, sailing to Skye: both me and I used in theme song for TV series Outlander 7
4.2 Naming the Numbers of March Madness: inviting suggestions for round of 64, 32, and 2: 18
4.6 Requiem for a Dictionary? Or Life Support? Dictionary of American Regional English is running out of money 3
4.15 The Double Meaning of ‘Bi-‘: Twice (a year, etc.) or once every two 12
4.20 Getting Down to Brass Tacks – and Silver Ones: tacks used for coffins 10
5.1 May Day! May Day! May Day! Celebration and call for help 12
5.5 Our Own Devices :left to our own; computers as devices now 8
5.15: To Be or Not to Be: Needs and Wants: the midlands construction “needs fed, need bathed etc. 22
5.20 Their Excellencies, the Conference of Secretaries: “secretary” has low prestige 5
5.26 A Really Bad Spell: very bad spelling 11
6.4 Spelling Out the Consequences: English Spelling Society aims at reform 57
6.9. A Nation of Hackers: we invent hacks to make us more effective and efficient 4
6.19 Nibbling Away, synonyms for “snack” 12
6.24 Killer Compounds, words like cutthroat 12
6.29 Translation: A History of Synonyms: historical synonyms for “translation” 5
7.9 The Dictionary on Trial: use of dictionaries in the courtroom 11
7.14 Busy B’s at DARE: online updating 7
7.24 Revealing American Speech: May 2015 issue: 6
7.29 Fit for a New Century: “fitness age”: 15
8.1: Bias: Mark My Words: markedness hinders bias-free language: 27
8.21 Theatricals: spelling of theater: 11
8.26 Artisans and Crafts: we live in artisanal times: 10
8.31 Take It Away: the takeaway: 11
9.10 Top o’ the Morning: of without f: 23
9. 15: Ice Cream, Iced Tea, and Sundaes: 4
9.23 A Million Missing Words: The Search Is On: Wordnik searches for words not yet in dictionaries: 12
9.30 Papal Language: 3
10.4 Happy Birthday, Lingua Franca! 8
10. 14 Skedaddle, Selfie and Many More Words of the Generations: my new book: 12
10.19 Just Shoot Me! 9
10.29: SPIDER’s Web of Worrisome Words: radical magazine at Berkeley 50 years ago: 7
11.4 Basic WOTY [Word of the Year]: 20
11.9 WOTY Primaries Begin at Merriam-Webster and Oxford Dictionaries: 8
11.19 A Day in the Life of a Lexicographer: David Barnhart: 9
11.24: “Giving” Words: contest for words ending in –giving 33
12.1 Here’s Your Very Own “Merry”: mythical word club: also winner of “-giving” 6
12.9 Why Early Etymologists Embarrassingly Err: 10
12.14 Digital DARE Update: Half Price Holiday Special: 0
2016
1.5 Thinking Swiftly (Tom Swifties): 18
1.13 So They Say (they as gender-neutral singular pronoun): 9
1.17 Take a Deep Breath (suffix –arian): 5
1.27 W.S. Gilbert: Rhyme and Reason: 17
2.1 Floating Along on Mardi Gras (etymology of parade float): 1
2.10: Fool ‘ish’ Ways (“ish” used by Millennials): 14
2.16 A Plague of Plagiarism (different definitions) 34
2.21 And the Winner Is . . . (pause before announcing) 10
3.2 OK, Happy 177 th! (birthday of OK 3.23.1839) 9
3.7 The Trumptionary (words referring to Donald Trump, collected by David Barnhart) 0
3.17 The Trumptionary, Part 2 (more of Barnhart’s Trump lexicon) 7
3.22 OK, Presidential Hopeful? Celebrate Today (3.23 birthday of OK) 2
3.27 Sloganeering for President (campaign slogans) 7
4.6 Sidestepping the Semicolon (avoiding use of it) 21
4.11 Instant Readability (Internet tool for measuring) 16
4.21 Readability, Understandability, and ETS (formulas) 1
4.26 O Tempora, O Mores! (spelling of alum–) 25
5.4 Vivat Academia! (Latin mottos on college seals) 7
5.11The Good Old Teen Years (How we name years in the 21st century) 4
5.19 DARE to Carry Guts to a Bear (new entries for online DARE) 0
5.26 Selfies with Sunnies (sunglasses) 3
5.31 Bully Pulpits and Pulpit Bullies 11
6.5 The ‘L’ You Say (Chicago’s rapid transit) 8
6.15 The Great Bloviators (Davy Crockett, Harding, Trump?) 4
6.20 Half Time for WOTY (Word of the Year categories) 11
6.30 There’s Trump, OK? (use of OK by Trump) 5
7.6 Capital Capitals (capital letters legibility) 13
7.11 Adviser Advisory (journalists’ spelling of adviser) 16
7.21 You Can’t Make This Stuff Up (sentence) 12
7.26 The Pink of Fashion (“pink” line of clothing) 14
8.2 Sidestepping Haters (haters used increasingly) 20
8.7 Gender Self-Identification: M or W? 8
8.17 New in DARE: Bird’s Nest on the Ground (summer installment of DARE updates) 3
8.22 Trump: Ironies in the Fire (can’t tell whether he’s being ironic) 3
9.1 My 20/20 Prediction (with Class of 2020, puns on vision will increase) 13
Good Night, September 22! (etymology of equinox)
9.15 Good Night, September 22! (equinox and solstice) 11
9.21 M22: Highway Sign and Trademark (Michigan highway) 5
9.26 The Vocative in Crisis (losing its surrounding commas) 18
10.6 Welcome to Norwood University (VP candidate Pence’s mistake for Longwood) 1
10.12 The Perils of Being a Cubs Fan 9
10.16 Greetings and Salutations: Endangered Species (email beginnings) 23
10.21 Trumptionary 3: Barnhart’s Never-Finished Dictionary of Politics 7
10.26: Just What the Politicians Need: 50,000 More Words of Slang (Green’s Dictionary of Slang now available online) 1
11.8: T Time: Real Money (“Trillion with a T”) 3
11.14 From N.H. to La.: Dictionary of American Regional English Update No. 6: 2
11.26 Hey, You Guys! Listen Up! (Sexist word is also gender neutral) 23
12.7 Words for a Year of Fear (preview of candidates for WOTY 2016) 7
12.12 ‘Bigly’ Is Huge (Trumpian candidate for WOTY) 5
12.21 Hashtag Christmas and Emoji New Year! (new categories for Word of the Year) 1
2017
1.3 A Perfectly Nice Drink (Hot Toddy) 3
1.9 Homeland Generation: What’s the Word? (distinctive vocabulary of those born 2005 or later) 9
1.19 Hoosiers, Suckers, Badgers, and Wolverines (Government Publishing Office adopts Hoosier as official name for residents of Indiana) 8
1.25 Call It Macaroni (etymology of that word, according to Comments on Etymology) 3
1.29 An OK Day in March (March 23, 1839 birthday of OK) 1
2.8 Trumping the Extremists (extreme in political language) 2
2.13 Happy Valentine’s Day! (With the Intelligent Basketball) (malapropisms) 18
2.23 Bowery Dance with Boilo? (quarterly online update of Dictionary of American Regional English) 0
2.28 Ay Ay Ay (Spanish extreme expression) 7
3.5 Unicorns and Their Opposite (LuLaRoe leggings) 0
3.15 A Dash of Zhouzh (definition) 9
3.20 OK, OK, Happy 178th Birthday! 7
3.30 Virginia Festival of the Book (last weekend, First Amendment Wall, etc.) 5
4.4 You Say EEther, I say AYEther (mystery of who says which) 28
4.9 Language Birthers (false origins imputed for words) 26
4.19 Weighty Words of Yesteryear (typed on typewriter, set in metal type) 7
4.24 Truly Weighty Words (composing room with Linotypes) 7
5.4 Trump: Down to Earth but Not Dignified (qualities expected of a president) 8
5.9 News, False and Fake (Margaret Atwood on False) 5
5.18 ‘Crawdaddy,’ ‘Boomba,’ and a ‘Bounce-Around”:An Online Update of Regional Words (Dictionary of American Regional English) 6
5.24 Fake New Words? (How can we be sure a “new” word is really new? 7
5.29 Genuine New Words (independently invented multiple times) 6
6.8 A Lexicographical Bildungsroman (Kori Stamper’s Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries) 9
6.15 Lexicographers Luxuriate in Barbados (meeting of Dictionary Society) 2
6.18 Among the Old New Words (75 years of new words column in American Speech) 11
6.28 Repeal and Replace—or Revise? Obamacare! (partisan labeling for health care reform) 4
