A.Word.A.Day - The Magic of Words

Hi All,

Today's blog post is all about words - complicated words, simple words, definitions, synonyms, antonyms and homonyms!  Its a veritable feast of 'word' information!

There are lots of definition websites on the internet - but one of the better ones is A.Word.A.Day

Visit the site by clicking on this link or the link above.

So what's so great about AWAD (A Word A Day hereafter) you ask?  Well, users can subscribe to AWAD and have an email delivered to their inbox each day with a new word and definition!  Click here for more information about subscribing to AWAD. FYI, there is a premium edition for $45/year.

Click on this link to find out what today's AWAD is. Note that each AWAD entry includes the way the word is pronounced - so that you can sound intelligent in a conversation when you use a particularly excellent AWAD . You can also listen to the way the AWAD is pronounced by clicking on the speaker icon.

The meaning of the word is included in a sentence or two.  And the etymology of the word is included; which is basically how the word came into being.  Finally, there is a section on the usage of the word - and it is included in a sentence so readers can notice the context of the word.

Users are able to make their own comments based on the entry, etymology or definition of the word.

Users can click on the AWAD Archives to find definitions of prior words.  The archive is chronological by year - and it goes back to 1994!!!!

Finally, readers can click on this 'About Us' to learn more about Wordsmith and AWAD.  You can even send them an email to ask a question, make a comment or voice your opinion.

One last thing...click on this link to find all the dictionaries that the Farmingdale Public Library has in its collections!

Enjoy the site and your newly found words!

Regards,
Stu

Because You Can Never Have Too Many Dictionaries!

Hi All,

I've been waiting for just the right time to talk about OneLook Dictionary Search.  What is it you ask?

Simple, type in a word and you'll get links to all the dictionaries that OneLook links to for the definition of the world search for. 

See link below for a search for 'bluebird'.  Results are divided into categories - general, computing, medicine, miscellaneous and more depending on the word searched for. 

Examples of dictionaries included in the search are vast - including: Wikipedia. Merriam-Webster.com, Oxford Dictionaries, American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Vocabulary.com, Macmillan Dictionary, Webster's New World College Dictionary, Free Dictionary and Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913 edition).

Pretty cool.  Now you can - if that is you wont - trace the definition of a particular word over time.

And, too boot...the site has a reverse dictionary. Which means you can type in a word or a phrase and a the results will b related words.....the opposite of how a dictionary works!

Enjoy the site and the definitions!

Regards,
Stu

Watch Your Language!

Hi all,

Would you like to learn something new every day? I have a simple, painless and free way to do just that!  Word-of-the-day.  On the internet. Via email.  Let me explain.

Word-of-the-day (WOTD hereafter) is something that lots of websites send out -well every day.  Signing up in many cases is free and very, very easy to do.

Oxford English Dictionary lets users sign up for WOTD by clicking on this link.

Dictionary.com lets users sign up for WOTD by clicking on this link. 

Merriam-Webster lets users sign up for WOTD by clicking on this link. 

Oxford English Dictionaries  has another site for WOTD - click here for that one.

As if the above links aren't enough - or if they aren't to your liking - click on this link from MakeUseOf.com. The title of this link is 10 Websites to Learn a Word a Day and Enrich Your Vocabulary and you can find the article by clicking on this link.   

Enjoy the links and your newly found vocabulary!

Regards,
Stu

Banned Books - Read Them When You Can!

Hi All,

Librarians love lists of banned books - we just want to help patrons get the right book to them at the right time and on the right topic!

Here's a list of banned book websites - and in some cases why the particular books were banned.

20 Beloved Books & Why They Were Banned - MSN Lifestyle

All About Banned Books Week 2016 - ALA website

Banned Books Week - from the Banned Books Week website

11 Books That Were Banned For Completely Ridiculous Reasons - Barnes & Noble

List of Books Banned By Governments - Wikipedia

Banned Books: Complete List of 144 Books and the Reasons Why They Were Outlawed - PostDesk

Common Reasons For Banning Books - Butler University

Banned Books That Shaped America - Banned Books Week.org

Banned Books With Reasons Why - The Book Escape

10 Beloved Children's Books Banned For the Stupid Reasons  - ListVerse

Enjoy the lists and books!

Regards,
Stu

Acronym Finder

Hi All,


Have you ever wondered what the acronym gif, or jpeg means? Or what about IMDB or LOL or MLS or IMHO or RBI or ROFL? 

Well, the one thing all these letters have in common is that they are acronyms.  They all stand for the letter of a word in the phrase.  For example...FBI stands for 'Federal Bureau of Investigation'.  And LOL stands for 'Laugh Out Loud' - usually in the context of a text message.  You get the idea.

So...with Acronym Finder you can find more than 1,000,000 human-edited definitions.  According to the site, Acronym Finder is the world's largest and most comprehensive dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms.  Combined with the Acronym Attic, Acronym Finder contains more than 5 million acronyms and abbreviations. 

The site is easy to search and loads quickly. 

Enjoy the site!

Regards,
Stu

Hi All,

Have you ever wondered what LOL, FWIW or ROFL mean when you see them used on social media like Facebook or Twitter?

Indeed - so have I. And just in the nick of time comes a website called 'Internet Slang Words'.  Basically users type in the acronym or the word and you'll find a quick definition of the word or slang. Easy-peasy!

Click on this link for the 50 most popular 'look ups' for internet slang, acronyms and initialisms.

Click on this link to find the definition of a random acronym, initialism, or slang-words. 

Click here to make a suggestion for the site to include.

Finally, click on this link to find words, slang, acronyms or initialism's alphabetically.

Enjoy the searching!

Regards,
Stu

That's Punny!

Hi All,

I've heard the quote, "A pun is the lowest form of humor - when you don't think of it first."   Well, it might be true - but there are some awesome pun websites on the web. 

For example, there is a website called WebEnglishTeacher - which has categorized lists of puns.  There are puns in categories like Irreverent Puns, De-tales, Useful Conversions and more.
Memebase has a list of visual puns - seriously, they are really, really funny.

Click on this link from Techeblog.com which as a link to 24 Funny Puns By Internet Geeks That Might Have You Rolling - and they will - they are funny!

Click on this link from PunGents.com for recently posted puns and Pun of the Day.  Click here for Puns by Topic. 

Finally, click on the following links to find other punny websites on the web.
1. 26 Puns That Are Too Clever for Their Own Good
2. Badpuns.com
3. Pun of the Day

And of for a more serious look at the word pun - click on this link from the Oxford University Press link for an article entitled, 'The Dubious History of the Pun'.  The entry is fun, educational and interesting - and well written.

Finally, click on this link to the library card catalog - which goes to the Farmingdale Public Library's holdings on the topic of puns.  

Enjoy the links - and keep on punning!

Regards,
Stu

I'm so Confused - Words That are Easy To Mix Up

Hi All,

There are over 250,000 words in the English language. Bet ya didn't know that!!! Click here for a link that talks about the number of words in the English language.

Since there are so many darn words, we can mix a lot of them up. Click here for About.com link that discusses confusing words!

Click here for some commonly misused, misspoken and misspelled words.

And just to confuse matters, there are other terms that describe variously missued words in English. For instance homonyms are words the same as another in sound and spelling but different in meaning.Click here for a list of homonyms!

Homophones are words pronounced the same as another but different in meaning, whether spelled the same way or not. Click here for a list of homophones!

Antonyms are words opposite in meaning to another. Click here for a list of antonyms - it is a very comprehensive list!

Synonyms are words having the same or nearly the same meaning as another. Click her for a list of synonyms. http://www.carlscorner.us.com/Synonyms/Synonymlist1.pdf

Let me confuse you even more...click on this link for a list of the 100 Most Mispronounced Words and Phrases in English. Fun stuff, eh? Okay, and now click on this link for the 100 Mos Misspelled Words in English.

To remedy all of this confusion and mispelling and mispronciating, you might want to use these next few links! Enjoy the site and have some fun with your newly found cache of sites!

Dictionary.com - a great online dictionary
Thesaurus.com - a great dictionary of synonyms and antonyms

Regards,
stu

Fun, Evocative, Descriptive Words - a whole bunch of them!

Hi All,

Just wanted to post a somewhat whimsical post today since it is a fairly sunny Friday morning in mid Spring. Even more important is that it is not raining! Woohoo!

Okay...sorry 'bout that folks. I intended on posting on Friday morning, but stuff happens and well, I wasn't able to get back to the post that day.

Forthwith, some words that you might find appealing, interesting, useful, educational and lots of fun to repeat with kids and children!


UNCTUOUS
WHIMSICAL
CHERUB
GESTALT
ZEPHYR
OBSEQUIOUS
SERVILE
NUCLEAR
GACK...

and of course there are many, many others in the whole of the English language.

If you are interested in learning new words on a daily basis, you might want to subscribe to AWAD - which is an acronym for 'A Word a Day'. Essentially the site sends you the definition of a new word each day. It is not a spam site and is pretty interesting.

Click here for the link to AWAD. Oh, and it is very easy to sign up and to leave the email list.


Finally, click on this link to Dictionary.com for meanings of these words - if any of them are new to you that is...

Enjoy!
Stu

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Semordinlap Palindromes - Backwards and Forwards

Hi All,

Yes, I know, two days in a row with a blog entry. I'm on a roll now!

Yesterdays' blog entry was just a bit stuffy and formal and well, too button-down. I'm going to change that today that's for sure. Just trying to mix it up for my readers!

Readers might have noticed the strange words in the title of todays' post...

So what the heck is a semordinlap? Well, actually I'm trying (possibly not succeeding) to be funny. You see a palindrome is (click here) 'a word, line, verse, number, sentence, etc., that reads the same backword as forward. For example, the phrase 'madam, I'm adam' or 'poor Dan is in a droop' are examples of palindromes. So...the word 'semordinlap' is actually the word 'palindromes' backwards'.

Click here for a list of 886 palindromes that someone created...go figure. Click here for another list of 50 palindromes - note that these are just words that are spelled the same backwards and forwards. Kind of cute.

Okay, now for another interesting website...you've probably heard of NASA - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration? Well, they do amazing things for the space and earth sciences. Click here to view the main NASA website. Some links that you might find interesting include 'News', 'Missions', 'Connect', and 'Multimedia'. Click on any of the words and you'll go to that particular part of the NASA website.

One of the best parts of the NASA site is the Image of the Day gallery - click here to view the link. So, what does the image gallery do for you? It is a day by day link of images dealing with things related to NASA (including missions, topics of interest relating to NASA, people topics and much more). If you like science, astronomy and 'things' related to outer space this is a neat site for you to bookmark or make a favorite.

Regards,

Stu

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