Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Here's another interesting source for Bee Words: the Phobia List

I found myself having to look up a word on line (anatidaephobia--it reportedly means fear of being watched by a duck, and one website I saw credits Far Side creator Gary Larson with its coinage--but I could not confirm that on the farside.com site). Looking through all that led to a very interesting website called the Phobia List (www.phobialist.com). Compiled by Fredd Culbertson as an outgrowth of his interest in words and etymology, this list organizes over 500 phobias by name and by definition. Looking through it, I couldn't find anatidaephobia or fear of anything to do with a duck, but it is a source of interesting and unusual words. Here's one for Bee players:
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia- Fear of long words. I just might have to add that to the emergency word list for sudden death overtime!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

This Boston Globe article reminds us all that spelling DOES count

Bad grammar trips up suspected identity thief - The Boston Globe

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Can you imagine someone usurping your identity and then abusing the English language in your name? Yikes.