Word Spy



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Check out Word Spy. Even if you know how to define and use “flash crowd,” “metrosexual,” and “slashdot effect,” you’ll find lots to learn and enjoy at this neat dictionary/word play site that lists and defines all the latest neologisms (and changing old logisms…). I think there might be some cool vocabulary lessons suggested here. For instance, take a look at the newspaper parody, News
of the Word
. Here is how the Scout Report
(ever my source) describes the site:

Description: If you’re the sort of person who decries
the use of abbreviations like B2B as being "so five minutes ago,"
then you might enjoy keeping up with the very latest parlance with Word Spy.
Created by Paul McFedries, this site is intended to focus attention on "recently
coined words, existing words that have enjoyed a recent renaissance, and older
words that are now being used in new ways." Each weekday, a new word
or phrase is featured along with its definition and a citation, usually from
a print media source, that shows the word or phrase in context. Recent words
include "yettie," a derivative of "yuppie" that denotes
a "young, entrepreneurial, tech-based twenty-something," and "retail
leakage," which refers to urban residents leaving their own neighborhoods
to shop in suburban stores. The site also offers a mailing list for users
who want to receive Word Spy via email, a searchable index of previously featured
terms, and a specialized lexicon (Tech Word Spy) that contains computer-related
and technical terms exclusively.

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2004. http://scout.wisc.edu/: