From the category archives:

Great Words

Age of Apoplexy, by Kurt Andersen

October 24, 2007

Are the Controversial Comments of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Really So Threatening? Kurt Andersen, author of the novel HeyDay and host of NPR’s Studio 360, writes in New York Magazine : For a while now, I’ve fretted that we’re turning into a nation of weenies and permanently enraged censors, that too many of us are afraid of [...]

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Word Spy – Manilow method

July 11, 2006

Manilow method n. The discouragement of loitering in public places by broadcasting music that is offensive to young people, particularly the songs of singer Barry Manilow. Word Spy – Manilow method

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Another Word For Thesaurus?

February 12, 2006

What’s another word for thesaurus? –Steven Wright Word Mania Are you just plain sick of a word, like “empowerment,” or an expression, like the vaguely obscene “bottom line”? Do you wish they’d just go away? You can nominate them for banishment at The Banished Words List. Try a new add-in dictionary if you’re sick of [...]

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Great Quotations

February 6, 2006

Quotations in my work are like wayside robbers who leap out armed and relieve the stroller of his conviction. –Walter Benjamin Great Quotations Brainy Quote is one of the best sites on the Internet for finding an apt quotation or browsing by author or topic. Michael Moncur’s The Quotations Page is also good, but lately [...]

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My Favorite Dictionaries

February 3, 2006

Dictionaries For Professional Writers “Leaf through a dictionary or try to make one, and you will find that every word covers and masks a well so bottomless that the questions you toss into it arouse no more than an echo.”–Paul Valery Webster’s Third New International Dictionary is not new any more (1993), but it’s still [...]

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