We’re a wordy bunch, we English speakers. According to the Oxford Dictionaries’ Lexico website (“How Many Words Are There in the English Language?”), “The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1989, contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. To this may be added around 9,500 derivative […]
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Words, Ideas, Fireworks, and Other Powerful Forces
By Kelley Lindberg Today we’re celebrating the 4th of July. Usually, if we spend any time at all considering why we are celebrating this holiday, we think of the Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence. But this year, July 4 falls the day after the 150th anniversary of the Union victory at […]
100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know
By Kelley Lindberg Ten years ago, the editors of the American Heritage dictionaries created a book called 100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know. It’s a humbling list. I only knew 75 for sure. As a writer, I hang my head. I decided to go through the whole list in the […]
