Yearly Archives: 2019

  1. This Quiz Will Make You Bombinate With Joy

    Watch out, this Word of the Day Quiz might exacerbate your sesquipedalian tendencies. | April 29 – May 5, 2019 If the quiz doesn’t display, please try opening in the Chrome browser. Interested in Words of the Day from the past? Check out this one that we brought to life …   Tell us your favorite word from this week below (and share it with …

  2. Celebrating 20 Years Of Word Of The Day!

    It’s hard to believe, but this month marks 20 years of daily lexical morsels from Word of the Day. What started as a small audience of intrepid logophiles, who braved spotty dial-up connections for their quotidian word fix in 1999, has blossomed into a vibrant community of Word of the Day devotees, who bring context, conversation, inspiration, and personal connections to our selections every day. …

  3. Finding Love And Friendship Through Words With Friends

    If you  don’t play Words With Friends, you may be missing out. Not just on the hours of stimulating fun its throngs of devoted followers say it provides, but on some great friendships, romance, and other opportunities as well. What is Words with Friends? Brief primer for those not familiar with WWF: The word game lets players challenge each other to build words, much like …

  4. Is It OK To Say I’m OCD?

    That one picture hanging slightly crooked on the wall. The car stereo volume left on an uneven number. The one floor tile that breaks the pattern. There are plenty of things that can make our skin start to crawl because they’re just a little bit … off. And, in these scenarios we tend to break out that little acronym that so perfectly describes those annoying …

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    When Did “Fat” Become An Insult?

    by Ashley Austrew The word fat holds a complicated place in our society. As an adjective, it joins words like tall, hairy, fluffy, or bright. But, unlike those descriptors, fat isn’t neutral. It’s so often framed as a negative—and used as an insult. However, the body positivity movement, fat activism, and popular books and television shows centered on fat characters are proving that narrative is wearing thin. …

  6. How To Name A Cocktail

    An Anatomy Of Cocktail Names Through History by John M. Cunningham The cocktail renaissance of the 21st century, in which craft-cocktail bars have proliferated and classic cocktails are back in fashion, has proved that there is a true art to inventing and mixing drinks. But, what about naming them? For some bartenders, bestowing a name upon one of their newly devised concoctions can be the …

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    Why Did “Noon” Use To Mean 3:00?

    To most, the word noon signifies a specific time of day–namely, 12:00 midday (aka “lunchtime”). But, surprisingly, the term noon wasn’t always shorthand for midday at 12:00; in fact, it used to refer to a different time of day altogether. First, some history. Clocks and watches are relatively new inventions. Though some timekeeping devices, like sundials and water clocks, have been used for thousands of years, …

  8. This Quiz Will Give You A Frisson

    Does your brainchild hurt from all that groupthink? Kick back with this Word of the Day Quiz! | April 22 – 28, 2019 If the quiz doesn’t display, please try opening in the Chrome browser. Tell us your favorite word from this week, and share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter!

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    What Kind Of Songs Get To Be Called “Country Music”?

    by Ashley Austrew What comes to mind when we say country music? Pickup trucks and cowboy hats? Garth Brooks and Patsy Cline? How about West African string instruments and Atlanta-based hip-hop? Past and present, country music—and what gets to be called country music—is far more complex than many realize. What is country music? Country music is defined as “a style and genre of largely string-accompanied American popular …

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    Terms Used By People Who Identify As Two Or More Races

    by Nicole Holliday When I was a kid, I always just assumed that everyone in the world called people like me “mixed,” because in the 1990s in central Ohio, where I grew up, mixed almost always referred to folks like me, who had one black parent and one white parent. The community I grew up in had very few people who identified as anything other …

  11. Enjoy The Yummy Umami Of This Word Of The Day Quiz

    Greetings, my yealings, this week’s facultative Word of the Day quiz hath arrived. If the quiz doesn’t display, please try opening in the Chrome browser. Tell us your favorite word from this week, and share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter!

  12. Is “Anti” Actually An Inclusive Term?

    When we think of positive language, anti isn’t the first word that comes to mind. In fact, anti seems like the very opposite of it. The word is a verbal line in the sand—a division between people who are for something and those who are against it. So, it might surprise you to know that the negative anti is being hailed as a more inclusive way to …