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Most words can be learned and taught most easily in groups, for example, words used by doctors, terms used every day by car mechanics, vocabulary typically heard in a lawyer’s office. Imagine a photograph of a scientific laboratory with captions on the key elements: test tube, bunsen burner, beaker, pipette, thermometer, technician, lab coat, goggles, periodic table, fume hood, centrifuge. A teacher can walk students through the lab, pointing out the most interesting sights. Quickly and naturally, children learn vocabulary, they have a glimpse of what scientists do, they learn about a new world that may excite their enthusiasm. Words...

Australia's prime minister did not define "misogyny" wrong in a blistering attack on a male rival — the dictionary did. Prime Minister Julia Gillard's fiery speech last week in which she branded conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott a misogynist for a string of allegedly sexist comments he had made in recent years has been lauded by feminists around the world. But Gillard's critics have accused her of hyperbole, pointing to dictionary definitions of misogyny as hatred of women. Sue Butler, the editor of the Macquarie Dictionary, which is regarded as the definitive authority on Australian meanings of words, said Wednesday...

Do you need to reach for the dictionary to double-check the definition of "F-Bomb" and "sexting"? Probably not. But now you could if you wanted to. The Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has added "F-Bomb" and "sexting" to its list of new dictionary entries for 2012 along with the likes of "mash-up," "aha moment," "cloud computing" and "earworm." (An earworm is a song or tune you just can't get our of your head.)

It was first available when Britain was under threat from Napoleon but it has now been re-published for free at the Project Gutenberg online digital library. The book includes gems suchs as 'ace of spades' for a widow, 'all-a-mort' to be struck dumb, and 'angling for farthings', which means to beg out of a prison window with a cap or box. The dictionary has already become an online hit. A selection of words can be found here. Explaining the book in the preface at the time, the author writes "The merit of Captain Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue has...

The Vatican Insider has published an online Vatican dictionary. The site promises that you can understand your faith's terms from "A divinis" to "Zucchetto"! However, there are still a few letters not accounted for. J, K, Q, W, X, Y have no words as of this writing. No "juris"? And don't we have lots of "q" words? Not to fear, I've come up with some of the missing letters from the Diocese of Jackson and thereabouts. I even made child-friendly flashcards to go with them! The rhymes are a bit off but I'm not a poet, and I know it....

American Heritage Dictionary adds 'offensive' to 'anchor baby'By Breann Bierman Updated: Dec 06, 2011 3:30 PM EST PHOENIX (KPHO) - The American Heritage Dictionary has added "offensive" to the definition of "anchor baby" in the dictionary after criticism from Latino groups. Immigrationimpact.com, a project of the nonprofit American Immigration Council, questioned the inclusion of the "anchor baby" definition. On their website, they describe the new definition as "one that was crafted to reflect more accurately just how artificial a term it really is." The online version of the American Heritage Dictionary now defines "anchor baby" as: "Offensive Used as a...

MANCHESTER, N.H. — They have debated on the same stage five times, but rarely have the contrasts between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry been more in evidence than during separate appearances here Friday night. It was Romney the careful technocrat versus Perry the unplugged preacher. snip One such question came from a man who told Romney that “everything you said in your introduction was wonderful” but who questioned some of the details of the former Massachusetts governor’s priorities. “I’m just not seeing how that adds up,” he said. snip An hour later, Perry took the stage at a downtown hotel...

So where have you bought and how? How do you manage it? I somehow cannot wrap my mind around it. Thanks

OXFORD, England - Britain's Oxford University Press said the latest Oxford English Dictionary includes definitions for "muffin top," "tinfoil hat" and the heart symbol. The publisher announced Thursday "muffin top" will feature two definitions, one referring to the top half of a muffin and one referring to "a protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers." The new dictionary also features a definition for the heart symbol, the first symbol to appear in the dictionary, as a synonym for love. "Tinfoil hat" is defined in the book as a popular headgear for those wishing to avoid...

It was first published 126 years ago and is respected the world over. But the Oxford English Dictionary will never appear in print again, its owners have announced. Instead, the 80 lexicographers who have been working on the third edition for the past 21 years have been told the fruits of their labour will exist solely online.   The OED has been available on the internet for the past ten years and receives two million hits a month from subscribers who pay £205 a year, plus VAT, to access it. Oxford University Press says the dominance of the internet...

It blasted its way into our eardrums throughout the World Cup - and now the vuvuzela is set to make a big noise in the dictionary. The long South African horn was used incessantly through every match in the tournament. And the vuvuzela is one of more than 2,000 new words and phrases included in the Oxford Dictionary of English for the first time. Other newcomers include tweetup (a meeting arranged through Twitter), cheeseball (lacking taste or style) and a turducken (a roast dish consisting of a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey). Paywall (which restricts website access to...

The American Minute for April 14, 2010: Noah Webster first published his Dictionary on APRIL 14, 1828. This 26-year project with 30,000 new definitions, standardized spelling and gave American English its identity. Proving unprofitable, the rights were purchased after his death by George and Charles Merriam. In the preface of his original edition, Noah Webster wrote: "In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the...

Taxsperity - The uniquely moronic notion that prosperity can be achieved through increases in taxation. Biparthenasia - The art of killing the opposition party by encouraging them to join your foolhardy efforts. Stimuslush - Urgently passing a bill under the pretense of saving us from depression only to hold on to the money for eighteen months in order to spend it as close to an election as possible. Filibluster - The blatantly false threat of removing the 60 vote cloture requirement in the US Senate. Even if they could, they never would because they know minority status is in their...

A California school district has added a new book to the controversial list of literature that is considered unfit for young eyes. It's the dictionary. The Golden State's Menifee Union School District has yanked all copies of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary from its shelves and is investigating the classic American text for containing "age-inappropriate" words. The trouble started when an inquisitive student got lost somewhere between "oralism" and "orang" and found a rather recent entry to the lexicon: "oral sex," a phrase that has been in common parlance since 1973 but still makes many parents fairly hot under the collar. Menifee...

After being pulled from the shelves for what some saw as racy content, Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary may have the last word in Menifee. A committee of parents, teachers and administrators decided Tuesday to return the dictionaries to the fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms at Oak Meadows Elementary School just days after they were removed over complaints about entries detailing references to various types of oral sex. "The dictionary will go back to the classroom but the parents will be given the option to determine if they want their kids to have access to that dictionary," said Betti Cadmus, a spokeswoman...

A Southern California school district has pulled dictionaries from classrooms because a parent complained when a child came across the term "oral sex." District officials said Friday that the Menifee Union School District -- which serves 9,000 kindergartners through eight graders in Riverside County -- is forming a committee to consider a permanent classroom ban of the Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. A memo from Assistant Superintendent Karen Valdes acknowledged it is a respected resource but district officials found that "a number of referenced words are age-inappropriate." Some parents and free-speech advocates said the district is overreacting. Peter Scheer, executive director...

The Menifee Union School District is forming a committee to review whether dictionaries containing the definitions for sexual terms should be permanently banned from the district's classrooms, a district official said Friday. The 9,000-student K-8 district this week pulled all copies of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary after an Oak Meadows Elementary School parent complained about a child stumbling across definitions for "oral sex." The decision was made without consultation with the district's school board and has raised concerns among First Amendment experts and some parents. Other parents and Menifee residents, though, have praised the district's decision, saying a collegiate-level dictionary is...

New York: Incoming Ulster County judge Donald A. Williams has been sworn into office with his left hand on a dictionary instead of a book of scripture. When the time came to swear in Williams, a Republican, no Bible could be found so the former district attorney took his oath on a dictionary. Williams was unconcerned by the substitution, saying that the swearing-in is ceremonial only. There is no requirement for officials to be sworn in on a Bible but most choose to do so, many with their own family Bible. The substitution in this case reportedly injected 'a light...

Evil has certainly been unleashed. It's a damn firestorm. It sitnks from the top down ......... the free world has been taken siege. And that muhammadan in the White House denands we respect this evil. Molotov Cocktail Found In Downtown Parking Garage CBS3 News hat tip MikeThe discovery was made at about 2:00 p.m. Wednesday inside a parking garagelocated at Callowhill and N. 16th Streets.Philadelphia Police are investigating the discovery of a Molotov cocktail along with anti-Israeli books inside a Center City parking garage. The discovery was made at about 2:00 p.m. Wednesday inside a garage located at Callowhill and...

You'll recall when Obama made the rounds of the Sunday shows last week, he was asked by George Stephanopoulos why a federal requirement to either buy health insurance or pay a penalty isn't a tax. Obama scoffed at the absurdity of the question and ol' George busted out the dictionary to show our Harvard-educated president the definition of a tax. The RNC decided it would make good theater.