by Sue Horner | Jun 11, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Are you getting a little tired of all this ramping up that’s been going on since the start of the pandemic? Testing, in particular, is always being ramped up, or there are calls for it to be ramped up. You might say the use of ramping up is itself ramping up. (Sorry.)...
by Sue Horner | May 7, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Here’s my small wordnerdy nitpick in the interests of accuracy: All those workplaces installing barriers to protect employees and customers during the pandemic are not necessarily using “Plexiglas.” That’s a brand name, like Kleenex. The generic term is “acrylic” or...
by Sue Horner | Feb 13, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
“Amazing” was the go-to word on this year’s Academy Awards red carpet. In fact, if you had a drink every time someone’s gown or Oscar experience or career was said to be amazing, you’d have been drunk before the ceremony even started. At one time, something...
by Sue Horner | Dec 12, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
What topics caught the public’s imagination this year? Which words drove you or your friends to the dictionary? (Asking your Mom doesn’t count.) We’re starting to find out as dictionaries report the popularity of word searches over the year. The searches show...
by Sue Horner | Oct 3, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
As Merriam-Webster likes to say, the English language never sleeps, and neither does the dictionary. Whether we like it or not – and many do get upset about certain changes – modern dictionaries constantly reflect the state of our word nation. We have no one but...
by Sue Horner | Jul 4, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
People are upset with Kim Kardashian because she tried to use (and trademark) the name “Kimono” for her new line of “shapewear.” Her plan was to call it Kimono Solutionwear. Apparently, the uproar was enough that she’s already backed down and is giving “careful...
by Sue Horner | Jun 6, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Wayne State University in Detroit aims to bring back words “worthy of retrieval from the linguistic closet.” (What a great line!) Thus its Word Warriors produce a list each year of some of the English language’s “most expressive — yet regrettably neglected — words.”...
by Sue Horner | Feb 7, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Why say “the earthy scent released when rain hits dry earth” when you could go with “petrichor”? That’s what Merriam-Webster tweeted recently. I love words almost as much as Merriam-Webster, but I would pick the full description. One, it’s wonderfully evocative. You...
by Sue Horner | Jan 9, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Happy New Year, and Happy Word Nerd Day! You know you are a word nerd when… You receive a word-a-day calendar for Christmas (featured today is Occam’s razor, “a scientific or philosophical rule that favors the simplest explanation”). Your Christmas gifts also...
by Sue Horner | Jan 3, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Toxic. Misinformation. Justice. Weaponize. Do these words capture the mood of your 2018? They do for many people, according to the various dictionaries and online sources that track the topics we search for online. Here are the Words of the Year for 2018 that caught...
