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Word Court
word fugitives, word games, neologisms, barbara wllaraff politics language. … More »
Visit Barbara Wallraff’s blog, at barbarawallraff .theatlantic.com, to see more commentary on language and to submit Word Fugitive queries and words that meet David K. Prince’s need. Readers whose queries are published and those who take top honors will receive an autographed copy of Wallraff’s most recent book, Word Fugitives. More
Barbara Wallraff, a contributing editor and columnist for The Atlantic, has worked for the magazine for 25 years. She is also a weekly syndicated newspaper columnist for King Features and the author of Word Fugitives (2006), Your Own Words (2004), and the national best-seller Word Court (2000). Her writing about language has appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Wilson Quarterly, The American Scholar, and The New York Times Magazine.
Wallraff has been an invited speaker at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, the National Writers Workshop, the Nieman Foundation, Columbia Journalism School, the British Institute Library of Florence, and national or international conventions of the American Copy Editors Society, the Council of Science Editors, the International Education of Students organization, and the Journalism Education Association. She has been interviewed about language on the Nightly News With Tom Brokaw and dozens of radio programs including Fresh Air, The Diane Rehm Show, and All Things Considered. National Public Radio's Morning Edition once commissioned her to copy edit the U.S. Constitution. She is a member of the American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel. The Genus V edition of the game Trivial Pursuit contains a question about Wallraff and her Word Court column.
word fugitives, word games, neologisms, barbara wallraff politics language. Submit … More »
A visit to a rugged and beautiful California haven that is all the more lovable for its idiosyncrasies… More »
word fugitives, word games, neologisms, barbara wallraff politics language. Submit … More »
What do you think? Discuss this article in Post & Riposte. word fugitives, word games, neologisms, barbara wllaraff politics language. Submit … More »
word court, word games, neologisms, barbara wallraff politics The Court Record language. … More »
DAVID WILLIAMS, of London, England, writes, "Growing up in Montreal, where French and English mingle more than they do in many places, I was accustomed to ordering an entrée before the main course, even on English-language menus. When I moved to the States, I found that the entrées in fact were the main course and that an appetizer whetted the palate. Now that I'm in London, I can't find entrées anywhere and have to be content with starters.…… More »
word fugitives, word games, neologisms, barbara wllaraff politics language. Submit … More »
Marie Galante and Les Saintes are islands that the French have been keeping for themselves… More »
Evelin Sullivan, of Redwood City, California, who had asked for help in finding this word fugitive in the first place, wrote again to propose a coinage: jigglit. A couple of people suggested fussgadget. Bob Israel, of Westford, Massachusetts, proposed computer, explaining, "I've never seen one that didn't require regular trickery to keep it going." Several people proposed wife, husband, or spouse. … More »
Adeline Green, of Glendale, California, writes, "It seems to me that Democrat as an adjective is used consciously by Republicans as a term of disparagement. I am amazed that Democrats have not made an issue of this, for I believe that the use of the word in this manner has a subtle influence. Perhaps there should be an open discussion of what is either a nasty attitude or bad grammar."… More »
Some readers who responded enjoyed supplementing their coinages with examples. Jim Felde, of Concord, California, mentioned "attempting to pull out a tree stump by tying a rope to the car's bumper and thereby wrenching the latter from the vehicle" in the course of proposing fixasco. Richard Leeman, of Scotts Valley, California, told a story from his childhood: "On a cold winter day in Milwaukee, when our frozen car wouldn't start, my father laid some tarred hemp…… More »
J. P. McCullough, of Darien Center, New York, writes, "In the sense of 'unclothed,' Webster's 10th Collegiate shows nuder as an adjective: nude, nuder, nudest. How can one person be nuder than another? Either you are so or you are not. Will you please clarify?"… More »
Purists regard using a helicopter to reach luscious mountain locales as somehow unfair. Let them. … More »
word court, barbara wallrafff Unfiled language. … More »
Not only New England has fall foliage worth traveling to see—Canada's uncrowded Maritime Provinces do too… More »
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