Dictionary.com is revising numerous of the definitions it provides to eliminate prejudiced language. Here's a link to the story in The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/ ... d-language

Those who are attentious (slang, Urban Dictionary) can find a great many more words with the vowels in order by entering *ious into the search box on the top page. Most, like attentious, are rather uncommon. I particularly liked "aerious," an obsolete term meaning "pertaining to air" because it has ...

While "catnap" usually refers to a short period of sleeping in a manner similar to that of cats, it can refer to the purloining of a cat by persons unknown. If the cat is an expensive purebred champion of the catwalk and is held for ransom, I am sure the popular press would refer to it as a "catnapp...

Dear Dr Goodword, If you were to autotomize your right arm and then receive the requested Steinway piano, the repertoire that you would be able to play would be rather limited. A Pyrrhic result?

In honor of Bloom's Day (June 16), I've been listening to a dramatization of Ulysses by the RTE Players in Dublin. https://www.rte.ie/culture/2020/0610/1146705-listen-ulysses-james-joyce-podcast/ This time the following phrase in the Circe episode leapt out at me (The planets rush together, uttering...

What is the difference between an utterance that is macaronic and one that is code switching? I am acquainted with some people who are equally fluent in Korean, Japanese and English and in the right circumstance and switch among them at the drop of a post-position. Once in my misspent youth I visite...

The Guardian recently had a language rant on the lexical status of "irregardless" and that generated the attached 'sponce in tune form. Lexivores of the Agora will 'preciate it. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/08/to-the-distress-of-wordists-a-dictionary-has-confirmed-the-lexical-v...

Are the principal ingredients of a "Lewisburger" crab, mayonnaise, garlic, chili sauce, etc. served with asparagus, romaine lettuce, etc. on a kaiser roll?

The morpheme you are looking for is "morpheme," sometimes defined as "the most elemental grammatical units in a language" But Dr Goodword argues there are lexemes and morphemes. For his take on this see https://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/ling005.html (Under the general heading of GW Office) An...

In honor of Bloomsday I've been listening to the RTE dramatisation of Ulysses and reading Stuart Gilbert's guide. In his discussion of the rhetorical techniques in the Aeolus episode, Gilbert cites "Dublin's prime favorite" as an example of Pleonasm and "our old ancient ancestors" as an example of T...

I enjoyed H. W.Fowler's discussion of both pleonasm and tautology. Here is one of his examples of a tautology: "It is sheer pretense to suppose that speed and speed alone is the only thing which counts." And here on pleonasm: "Lastly, there are the pleonasms in which, by wrongly repeating a negative...

Mentor, Telemachus and Odysseus, all here just in time for the anniversary
of Bloom's Day

Dear Dr and Mrs Goodword,

I too would like to extend my congratulations and felicitations on your Diamond Anniversary. All the best!

For an etymology (but not a definition) look here https://www.alphadictionary.com/goodword/word/faggot For a definition and an etymology, Merriam-Webster supplies Definition of fascism 1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation...

Philip, I couldn't find charabanc in the Good Word Dictionary so I looked it up using the link to many online dictionaries. I found this one from the American Heritage Dictionary. n. Chiefly British A bus typically used for sightseeing, originally open and pulled by horses. [From French char à bancs...