Author Archives: John McGrath

by - 1 Comment

Seedy Stories

The number of rock simple yet high concept all text web sites set in Palatino just doubled, with the launch of Seedy Stories. The site, built by Richard Mavis, is a sort of mini-mad-lib machine, which asks you the six basic questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. You can enter as many answers as you’d like, and see random combinations of responses drawn from all answers.

It’s intended as an idea generator, meant to spark thought through permutation, combination, and juxtaposition; a sort of constrained bibliomancy. It just launched, and doesn’t have a lot of content yet; it’ll be interesting to see how it feels when more people have contributed. I’d like to see some ways to interact with other users, which may be forthcoming: Richard says he’ll be adding features regularly.

by

Naming Party

For Wordies in the New York City area, this could be fun: a naming party for a new company. I met these good folks on the NextNY list, where Jonah helps maintain the blogroll. Go for the free food and drink, stay for the company and to show off your mad, mad word skills. I’m going to try and make it, though I’m stuck out in the hinterlands of New Jersey all afternoon tomorrow, so we’ll see.

Naming companies, and web sites, can be amazingly difficult. Especially if you’re trying to find an available domain at the same time. Mein got, coming up with Squirl took frickin’ forever, and in the end we still made the moronic amateur-hour decision to get a .info domain (because we loved the name, but the squatter who owned .com wanted $35k for it). Wordie came more easily, perhaps because I had no intention of building it. Everything is easier when it’s a joke.

by

Other words of this year

Dictionary Evangelist, aka Erin McKean, has posted a list of coulda-been-a-contender words that didn’t make it onto the WotY shortlist, but perhaps should have. They’re solid words, and they’re words. The runners-up on the official OUP list included, to my mind, too many phrases, like “colony collapse disorder” and “social graph.”

Erin’s list: brick, hypermiler, griefer, jatropha, and unconference. Check out the post for the full poop.

There’s a movement afoot to pick a Wordie WotY, curated by the Coed League of Extrawordy Gentlemen, and chosen by popular vote. More details here.

by

There She Is, Locavore

The Oxford University Press, in the role of Country Music Television (or perhaps TLC), has crowned their Miss America: this year’s Word of the Year is locavore. Or as mollusque would have it, proxivore.

Here’s where I finally get to take a Walt Winchell (or perhaps Matt Drudge) turn: a few WotY contenders (though not the winner) made a brief appearance on Wordie last week, courtesy of… well, I won’t say, but they came from on high, and were promptly removed.

That’s right, lexicographic dish! Oh, I would die happy if this became the Page Six of the lexicographic world. Quixotic, maybe, but a boy can dream.

by

When lexicographers strike!

Daniel Cassidy’s “How the Irish Invented Slang” was recently the subject of a flattering (some might say fawning) story in The New York Times.

Grant Barrett, professional lexicographer and the editor of The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English, called bullshit on Cassidy in a post on his blog and here on Wordie. Our own beloved sionnach weighs in as well.

It’s not exactly bareknuckles–this is Wordie, we try to be civilized–but it’s edifying to hear from the pros about what constitutes proper lexicography. I’d like to hear Cassidy’s response (Barrett isn’t the only one to find fault), but as far as I can tell he hasn’t responded to his critics, on Wordie or anywhere else.