LEXICOGRAPHERS RISE UP
not to be histrionic but I kind of feel like the confluence of Trumpism, algorithmic social media, and LLMs have placed language and the fundamental proposition that words have meaning under unprecedented strain and it’s freaking me out more than a bit
May 31, 2025 at 2:00 PM
LEXICOGRAPHERS RISE UP
People who appreciate the intoxicating euphoria of reading from a real dictionary expertly hand-crafted by diligent human lexicographers.
Also. people who love the Oxford Comma more than some family members.
Also. people who love the Oxford Comma more than some family members.
Who's the audience for a paper dictionary these days? (Serious question.)
September 26, 2025 at 5:54 PM
People who appreciate the intoxicating euphoria of reading from a real dictionary expertly hand-crafted by diligent human lexicographers.
Also. people who love the Oxford Comma more than some family members.
Also. people who love the Oxford Comma more than some family members.
Etymology of the day: in the expression ‘just deserts’, ‘deserts’ is an old past participle of the French ‘deservir’, meaning ‘deserve’. To get your just deserts is to get what you deserve.
‘Desert’ in this sense is obsolete, which is why lexicographers see ‘just desserts’ popping up everywhere.
‘Desert’ in this sense is obsolete, which is why lexicographers see ‘just desserts’ popping up everywhere.
March 24, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Etymology of the day: in the expression ‘just deserts’, ‘deserts’ is an old past participle of the French ‘deservir’, meaning ‘deserve’. To get your just deserts is to get what you deserve.
‘Desert’ in this sense is obsolete, which is why lexicographers see ‘just desserts’ popping up everywhere.
‘Desert’ in this sense is obsolete, which is why lexicographers see ‘just desserts’ popping up everywhere.
A drudge of lexicographers 😺
Q: Why are fish poorly educated?
A: All the schools are below C level.
Now that you've sat through that, please watch this video on animal collective names.
A: All the schools are below C level.
Now that you've sat through that, please watch this video on animal collective names.
May 15, 2025 at 6:27 PM
A drudge of lexicographers 😺
Have you ever wondered whether lexicographers occasionally make stuff up?
susiedent.substack.com/p/ghost-town...
susiedent.substack.com/p/ghost-town...
June 19, 2026 at 8:21 AM
Have you ever wondered whether lexicographers occasionally make stuff up?
susiedent.substack.com/p/ghost-town...
susiedent.substack.com/p/ghost-town...
Online grammar pedants: Your dangling modifier insults the entire history of my culture & we shall have PISTOLS AT DAWN, sir
Actual Lexicographers & linguists; Language is part of a current an ever-flowing culture. Split those infinitives. Start your sentence with a preposition. Live free, friends
Actual Lexicographers & linguists; Language is part of a current an ever-flowing culture. Split those infinitives. Start your sentence with a preposition. Live free, friends
July 9, 2026 at 5:39 PM
People who appreciate the intoxicating euphoria of reading from a real dictionary expertly hand-crafted by diligent human lexicographers.
September 26, 2025 at 5:26 PM
People who appreciate the intoxicating euphoria of reading from a real dictionary expertly hand-crafted by diligent human lexicographers.
We just checked with our lexicographers and yes, this is correct.
May 7, 2023 at 12:32 AM
We just checked with our lexicographers and yes, this is correct.
Then he came for the lexicographers
November 26, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Then he came for the lexicographers
"𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐋𝐌𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬"
At Language Technologies and Digital Humanities conference, Anna Vacalopoulou showed that there are ample opportunities for lexicographers in the age of AI: dictionaries and LLMs can inform each other. Lexicographers are key players in creating quality data.
At Language Technologies and Digital Humanities conference, Anna Vacalopoulou showed that there are ample opportunities for lexicographers in the age of AI: dictionaries and LLMs can inform each other. Lexicographers are key players in creating quality data.
September 22, 2026 at 11:26 AM
"𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐋𝐌𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬"
At Language Technologies and Digital Humanities conference, Anna Vacalopoulou showed that there are ample opportunities for lexicographers in the age of AI: dictionaries and LLMs can inform each other. Lexicographers are key players in creating quality data.
At Language Technologies and Digital Humanities conference, Anna Vacalopoulou showed that there are ample opportunities for lexicographers in the age of AI: dictionaries and LLMs can inform each other. Lexicographers are key players in creating quality data.
"What's Columbo's first name? A: Philip" appeared in Trivial Pursuit when the game debuted. It was not true. The makers of TP took the question from a trivia book by Fred Worth who planted it in his book to catch plagiarists (an old trick used by cartographers & lexicographers).
January 7, 2025 at 2:09 AM
"What's Columbo's first name? A: Philip" appeared in Trivial Pursuit when the game debuted. It was not true. The makers of TP took the question from a trivia book by Fred Worth who planted it in his book to catch plagiarists (an old trick used by cartographers & lexicographers).
Lexicographers! Put this in your dictionaries, please and thank you!
Redacted is the opposite of exonerated.
Epstein Files
Epstein Files
February 27, 2026 at 6:36 PM
Lexicographers! Put this in your dictionaries, please and thank you!
At the exact same time of the purchase, they laid off all their lexicographers.
zirk.us/@grammargirl...
zirk.us/@grammargirl...
Mignon Fogarty (@grammargirl@zirk.us)
Shocking news today that Dictionary.com has laid off all its lexicographers.
I already had a line in next week's podcast about dictionaries being a tough industry, and now it's even more true.
Some ...
zirk.us
September 22, 2024 at 4:34 AM
At the exact same time of the purchase, they laid off all their lexicographers.
zirk.us/@grammargirl...
zirk.us/@grammargirl...
The word “antifa” isn’t new.
It was coined in the 1920’s after a group of Italian anti-fascists began organizing to counter the growing fascism in Italy.
It was submitted for consideration by one of Merriam-Webster’s lexicographers in 1955.
I’m proud to continue this more than 100 year tradition.
It was coined in the 1920’s after a group of Italian anti-fascists began organizing to counter the growing fascism in Italy.
It was submitted for consideration by one of Merriam-Webster’s lexicographers in 1955.
I’m proud to continue this more than 100 year tradition.
October 16, 2025 at 8:49 PM
The word “antifa” isn’t new.
It was coined in the 1920’s after a group of Italian anti-fascists began organizing to counter the growing fascism in Italy.
It was submitted for consideration by one of Merriam-Webster’s lexicographers in 1955.
I’m proud to continue this more than 100 year tradition.
It was coined in the 1920’s after a group of Italian anti-fascists began organizing to counter the growing fascism in Italy.
It was submitted for consideration by one of Merriam-Webster’s lexicographers in 1955.
I’m proud to continue this more than 100 year tradition.
Any vocabulists or lexicographers want to help us out here?
Is there a word for the genre of words that contains items such as skydaddy and sportsball? You now, things that are supposed to be infantilizing toward the target but just spin around 180 degrees to embarrass the sender.
July 28, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Any vocabulists or lexicographers want to help us out here?
Interesting thread about how publications' use of generative AI complicates lexicographers' job of documenting how actual people use language
(7/n) I've been watching very carefully the adoption and misuse of GenAI, and the ways in which it ends up in vetted, edited sources.--sources that, as a lexicographer, I could rely on to be written by people. Scientific journals. Newspapers. Sports Goddamned Illustrated. And now more. ...
May 9, 2024 at 3:11 PM
Interesting thread about how publications' use of generative AI complicates lexicographers' job of documenting how actual people use language
"I don't believe in it anyway."
"What?"
"English."
"Just a conspiracy of lexicographers, then?"
"What?"
"English."
"Just a conspiracy of lexicographers, then?"
February 7, 2025 at 6:33 AM
"I don't believe in it anyway."
"What?"
"English."
"Just a conspiracy of lexicographers, then?"
"What?"
"English."
"Just a conspiracy of lexicographers, then?"
“Our lexicographers monitor a huge range of sources to select which words and definitions to add,” Merriam-Webster's Peter Sokolowski said. These sources range from academic journals to social media.
‘Touch grass,’ ‘For You page’: See 200 new words and phrases added to Merriam-Webster
“Our lexicographers monitor a huge range of sources to select which words and definitions to add,” Merriam-Webster's Peter Sokolowski said. These sources range from academic journals to social media.
www.npr.org
October 4, 2024 at 10:07 PM
“Our lexicographers monitor a huge range of sources to select which words and definitions to add,” Merriam-Webster's Peter Sokolowski said. These sources range from academic journals to social media.
It must be the only glamorous film about lexicographers.
Watched the 1941 comedy Ball of Fire last night for the first time—Gary Cooper & Barbara Stanwyck, co-written by Billy Wilder, directed by Howard Hawks. 👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻👍🏻 (On Amazon.) www.google.com/gasearch?q=b...
Google Search
www.google.com
July 13, 2025 at 1:35 PM
It must be the only glamorous film about lexicographers.
Yiddish lexicographers using their job to work through some personal issues
September 3, 2023 at 6:40 PM
Yiddish lexicographers using their job to work through some personal issues
These are parlous times for lexicography, Stefan Fatsis writes. Merriam-Webster and are effectively the only publishers left—and they’re fighting to survive.
Whither the Dictionary?
These are parlous times for lexicographers.
bit.ly
September 22, 2025 at 12:15 AM
These are parlous times for lexicography, Stefan Fatsis writes. Merriam-Webster and are effectively the only publishers left—and they’re fighting to survive.
I read True Color because of this episode and it was great, you can really feel the vibes of the building full of frantic lexicographers being slowly buried in piles of index cards
begonia: a deep pink that is bluer, lighter, and stronger than average coral (see ‘coral’ 3B), bluer than fiesta, and bluer and stronger than sweet William, called also ‘gaiety’
In our latest ep we get enthusiastic about colour terms with @korystamper.bsky.social, author of the new book TRUE COLOR!
In our latest ep we get enthusiastic about colour terms with @korystamper.bsky.social, author of the new book TRUE COLOR!
114: Begonia, average coral, and sea pink - Defining colour terms with Kory Stamper
begonia: a deep pink that is bluer, lighter, and stronger than average coral (see ‘coral’ 3B), bluer than fiesta, and bluer and stronger than sweet William, called also ‘gaiety’.
In this episode, you
soundcloud.com
April 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM
I read True Color because of this episode and it was great, you can really feel the vibes of the building full of frantic lexicographers being slowly buried in piles of index cards
“Internet culture is changing the English language and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the dictionary.”
‘Skibidi’, ‘delulu’ and ‘tradwife’ among words added to Cambridge Dictionary
Lexicographers give nod to TikTok generation’s enduring influence on English language with latest additions
www.theguardian.com
August 18, 2025 at 8:37 AM
“Internet culture is changing the English language and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the dictionary.”