More Dictionary Fun

August 20, 2012

Actually, my favorite segment of Ask the Editor is called Octopi. This is where I really began to enjoy watching these videos. I looked for it on YouTube and it's kind of amazing to see the strong feelings people have about this. I mean, there are people like me who say ♫ ♥♥ I love this Video! ♪ ♥ and then there are some very strong opinions about whether or not Ms. Stamper is correct. She has an advantage in that she is actually an associate editor for Merriam-Webster so her credentials are already kind of established. She also has in her favor the fact that she is entertaining – especially in this video – while most of the other people leaving comments simply sounded bitter. One way or another, though, I suppose it's worth it if this program inspires dialogue about words and language.

I have to admit that Octopus is not my favorite word, but her presentation of the word makes up for it. Who would have thought that a linguist would have so much personality? (Well, I would because I know some, but in general who would have thought?)


Enjoy.

eArnie

Ask the Editor


June 11, 2012

So, I was writing a letter, listening to music and periodically cleaning/vacuuming The Room. (It's really coming along, by the way.) Anyway, I looked up a word on Merriam Webster's site and there was a video of one of my favorite words.

This brings up many questions. Does having a set of favorite words make me a nerd? (Not the contemporary-chic/computer-programmer/rich kind of nerd. Just the good old-fashioned socially inept bozewad.) How about if I stopped what I was doing, paused the music and watched the video? Did anybody else even know that Merriam Webster has videos about words? It's called Ask the Editor. My favorite contributor is Kory Stamper, but I like all of them. (The other two are Peter Sokolowski and Emily Brewster.) (Does having a favorite Merriam Webster Ask the Editor host speak poorly of my social skills?)

Anyway, here's the video that stopped my activities and rocked my evening.

Have a good night.

e A r n i e