Whitebirch golf breezy point map minnesota

Summer Top Twenty

breezy point surf club

motorcycle patches breezy rider

breezy point on lake superior

joe breezy

missing sources breezy

breezy point apartments

breezy bird

breezy bird solar

breezy point beach md

sunrise medical breezy 100

breezy bay jamacia

breezy anderson

breezy burning angel galleries

breezy singer birds

breezy polis

radko freezy breezy

breezy pines campground

easy breezy beautiful bob

marina ii dockside bar breezy point

interest subject all-new breezy bruce

tonner marley breezy days

breezy palms

breezy hill rv resort fl

breezy ultra 4 wheelchair

bag pipers in breezy point ny

breezy palm

breezy timber goats

breezy palms islamorada

breezy cottage decor

breezy airplane plans

kay lenz breezy

breezy aircraft

mizz breezy

fishing on dock at breezy beach

It was a long, hot summer – and one very rich in vocabulary! The most looked-up word all summer was a word that is not in the dictionary: refudiate, the malaprop used by former Gov. Sarah Palin on television and Twitter. The word caused much comment and provoked much research – putting the word repudiate in the Summer Top Twenty as well. Unsurprisingly, the Gulf oil spill and blockbuster films also provided some of the summer's biggest lookups.

Word History of the Month: conundrum

The word conundrum is a perennial on the Top 20 list – including this summer's list. Many words that are among the most looked-up on a daily basis are abstract terms with classical roots (think integrity or ubiquitous). Conundrum would seem to fit right in with them. But does it? Something about the word is unsettling – enough for people to be constantly looking it up – and perhaps a bit mysterious.

Notable and Quotable: D.H. Lawrence

D.H. Lawrence was born September 11, 1885. Long troubled by ill health, the poet, critic, and novelist (Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Sons and Lovers) died at 44. Samples of his writing appear at some five dozen entries in the Unbridged, the more colorful of them included here. (When was the last time you encountered "everywhere" used as a noun?).

Interested in seeing all the examples of a particular writer? Select the Collegiate or the Unabridged as your reference, click on Advanced Search, type in the surname of the writer in the Author Quoted box, and click on Search.

breezy point lodge

pete sauer breezy point

breezy renae scrugs

zella breezy jacket

harper breezy

breezy pines campgrounds keys

breezy apparel

pictures breezy

bright and breezy country singer

lake view breezy hill shenoda va

breezy ridge instruments

6515 breezy knolls lane huntington md

breezy acres farm market

petit breezy

real estate in breezy point ny

nightgown breezy night

breezy point officers club

breezy wheelchair

breezy picnic waterslides

dog kennels breezy point minn

breezy meadows saco maine

breezy ocean clothing company

breezy dog bed

breezy point resort brainerd mn

alicia sena breezy point

memorial day at breezy point mn

breezy 500

breezy hill bistro

breezy lane

breezy oaks rv bushnell fl

rlu-1 breezy

breezy singers

breezy wooden swings

breezy mexico

From the Mail Server

This month, editors heard from someone zealous about the need to add a new word to the lexicon, from another person looking for the rich story behind the word cheapskate, and from a set of correspondents eager to understand the rule that distinguishes vowels from consonants.

Happy Birthday 1666

The Great Fire of London began raging on September 2, 1666. By the time the fire ended three days later, St. Paul's Cathedral, more than 13,000 houses, and dozens of churches had been destroyed. A new London (with less wood) arose from the ashes.

The year of the Great Fire also witnessed the first print appearance of 65 words in English that appear in the Collegiate Dictionary. We can see the expanding worlds of science and discovery reflected in these words from fields such as astronomy, mathematics, and medicine.

Interested in seeing all 65 words that first appeared in print in 1666? Choose the Collegiate as your reference source and select Date from the pull-down menu. Type in the date and click on Search.

Words in the News

Sarah Palin sent this message out on Twitter on July 18: "Ground Zero mosque supporters: doesn't it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate." This sent refudiate to the top of the Top Twenty for the summer.

Why the buzz? For starters, refudiate is not (yet) in the dictionary. Then there was the controversy over subsequent tweets from Gov. Palin, first changing refudiate to repudiate, and then defending her coinage, invoking Shakespeare: "English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!"

Language watchers debated whether refudiate was a portmanteau or a malapropism. The blend is easy to figure out (refute or refuse + repudiate). But what's the story on malapropism?

Just Foolin' Around

Christopher Nolan's hit movie Inception propelled the word inception to #2 on the Summer Top Twenty. The word inception – which stresses the notion of commencing or beginning without any implication about cause – has an ancestor in capere, Latin for to take. Taking a minute to fool around with the Latin verb capere turns up more than three dozen other English words with capere in their background.

corvair breezy

breezy palms resort islamorada reviews

breezy zorn

pr 2149 breezy tunes

breezy point beach ny

wheel chair breezy

breezy perkins

introducing breezy

breezy point resort reservations

breezy porticos

dachshund breezy oaks

breezy tv

lil breezy used

breezy acres solon

breezy point hockey tournaments

breezy point mn attractions

breezy park fuel

breezy airplane

breezy point seafood maryland

joe breezy air pinellas

breezy run farm

breezy point minnesota resort

7170 navahoe trail breezy point minnesota

breezy palms resort

breezy sources no longer available

breezy ultra 4

breezy hill baptist

breezy barron

breezy myspace

memorial day entertainment at breezy point

breezy wheelchair upholstery

breezy point brainerd

puppy breezy linux

breezy badd

Language Links

Interest in refudiate reminds us of the eggcorn. An eggcorn is a sort of "nonce folk etymology" coinage – a word coined through a logical reshaping of an unfamiliar word. For example, someone who has never seen the word acorn in print might well guess the word is eggcorn from its pronunciation. Eggcorns, unlike malapropisms, make sense. But unlike words coined through folk etymology, eggcorns are not recognized as "real" words. (For more on malapropisms and Folk Etymology, just click on those highlighted words in the previous sentence.)

breezy adams aqha

jojo breezy lyrics

breezy ridge dulcimer

breezy point state park

breezy point officers club norfolk

breezy the movie

breezy point brainerd minnesota

breezy palms hotel

breezy news kosciusko ms

breezy point timeshare minn

breezy point queens

breezy point campground

dog kennels breezy point mn

point ice festival breezy

breezy jojo

breezy barron mexico city

breezy ridge dulcimer review

breezy palms rv park

breezy summer clothes

breezy bend rv ma

breezy corner motel

breezy shoes by bongo

breezy point icefest 2008

breezy 600 wheelchair

pooh breezy afternoon

download breezy badger iso

breezy leather co

breezy water park

breezy point arena

breezy point beach campground

breezy palms bedding

breezy pine rv park

fishing breezy point mn

mac breezy

For a list of common eggcorns, check out the Eggcorn Database. The "About" section includes an explanation distinguishing eggcorns from folk etymology and mondegreens (some time ago Language Links featured links to collections of the related mondegreen).