Cor guide

Summer Top Twenty

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.

nel cor piu non mi sento

1 cor 11

cr ation de d cor

2 cor 2 14

cor do som

nys cor

cor media

e-z cor

cor caroli

cor plus

cor pulmonale symptoms

1 cor 5

acute cor pulmonale

tech cor

copd and cor pulmonale support group

li cor

sct software resource management cor

home d cor ideas

elfa d cor

1 cor 13 wedding products

ii cor 1 22 exegesis

esprit d cor

1 cor 9 3

el spirit d cor

technosoft solutions cor

cor 103 pills

con cor 72 southern crescent

aircomatic dip cor 300 transfer

floor and d cor

dual cor processors

ji kjaereste liefhebben malwees cor

the watchery cor

pill cor 135 round pink

min cor industries

csant cor

cor pulmonale pathophysiology

li cor biosciences

amana cor nish

cor evolution back exercise euipment

cor koster

cor do pecado

cor gunther

diagnosis of cor pulmonale

bedding d cor

cor democratic valeus

recipe for chicken cor don bleu

545000 new e-mails 2008 cor

ida cor

southwest home d cor

martha cor y

louis venuto sigma cor pa

acs clc college loan cor

cor and ingrid kornips

trava cor for anxiety

cor glass

con cor passenger cars

cor evolution trainer

cor hurricane

buy cards cor dish network boxes

cor 136

2 cor 5

names cor

slowpitch ball cor rating

1 cor 2 14

cor mobility

cor moening

2 cor 5 14

cor cleveland xl non conforming

cross country travcorps cor

partners lonely soul mate malivees cor

garden outdoor d cor

con cor hopper

1 cor 13 greek verbs

van cor

1 cor 7

cor requirements

cor de lane

african american home d cor

malwees cor couples semmi amour

tech cor inspection

cor unum

whimsical garden d cor

cor trust bank credit card

1 cor 2

computer graphics projects in cor c

nor cor

1 cor 6 19

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.

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.

amare romances malwees cor

what is true cor synthetic slate

har cor leonis

cor pulmonaire

1 cor 13 13

lab cor seattle

cheap decker softballs .44 cor

n scale con cor daylight

500 s w cor bon

koi malwees cor amore kasih

400 sz hi cor

cor van wijk stichting

cor cast

specialty merchandise cor

cor enterprises billings mt

brooke cor message

cor don blu

lyrics ecce cor meum paul mccartney

moroccan d cor toronto

d cor pour mariage

cor triatrium treatment

cor limit break

fabrication de d cor

bronchiectasis and cor pulmonale pathophysiology

voi avete un cor fedele translation

westminste cor hospital

d cor de f te

trom cor mutes

2 cor study

sapin de no l d cor

conros cor poration

cor trust bank card

cor bovinum

mizuno mp-001 ts plus hi cor

cor achter de dijken

12 volt cor

hard cor esex gallery

cor bond ammo

lab cor laboratories

rick joy cor ten steel

cor jesu academy 1966

army cor training

arms cor air rifle user guide

biomedical products cor

cor marie center

cor syrup

concrete products auburn ny nu cor

ii cor 5 1

cor 116

cor evolution

oak veneer cor

cor de for

new jersey school construction cor

ii cor 1 3

cor stakenborg

t-fal ultraglide easy cor

lo cor de la plana mp3

1 cor 9

florida department of cor

cor pay

buy a cor anglais

cor brugge

slang terms cor

cor 136 add

amour malwees cor

pill number cor 103

commentary 1 cor

cor 1 15

northface simpleton cali cor

emphysema cor pulmonale

cor bank trust mc

cor 13 soma

faux plafond d cor

d cor appliqu poterie relief

parlor game exquisite cor

friendship malwees cor soul mate elskede

cor 125 pill

vido cor meum sheet music

moroccan d cor

ni cor gas

cor security systems external bell

american general finance cor

metal wall d cor italian

tip toe cor delivery

round white pill cor 103

cor omega

olde world cor a

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.

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.)

cor bon animal tests

nostrae cor

cor bon powr ball

chess term the cor

parkersburg wv cor d bridge

charliue stubbs cor street

true cor synthetic slate

1 cor 6 1

oceani cor

1 cor 15 32

country home d cor

schematic for lm339 as a cor

zoek cor bos

strand steel cor

huor cor

cor cor train

szerelem malwees cor karlek

cor bon 9mm 115gr

2 cor 5 17 sermons

mocha java cor

cor dirks

cor audit

i cor 14 6

1 cor 13 gifts

cirque du soleil cor

c cor arris

cor cut 1300

cor government training at fort belvoir

eeec cor meum

diecast air cor fire engine 1942

cor verveer den helder

agri cor

terra cor

alsa paint cor

penny queen cor jesu

newfoundland liquior cor

cor bond

cor ball equipments powersystem

cor safety manual canada

vente cor

cor leawood ks

dante cor vide meum

con cor 223 3883

tutte cor vi sento

cor flex

cor 136 pill

astro spectra cor

soft cor

math hard cor

actieve coping cor

cor de

2 cor 5 10

cor unum lawrence ma

heaven 2 cor 12 1-4

mountain chain cor

da cor ovens

malwees cor koigokoro amare christian friends

rare earth d cor gallery

cor tech

film manga cor en

cor keuning

cor 103

arizona department of cor

nautical d cor

deb cor

cor concepts

cor golf

rhododendron leaf wall d cor medium

speer reloading data .30-30 hot cor

kjaereste malwees cor aijou date

cali conquest cor

el spirit de cor

outdoor angel d cor

via cor

pill id cor 103

cor schipper

cor steyn

1 cor 2 12 pastos chris

dem cor oil