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February Top Twenty

The February list is one that always gives love its proper place – in the Top Twenty lookups for the month. A new semester has started, and the back-to-school favorite culture sees a return to the list as course titles and descriptions cause students to contemplate the surprising nuances of meaning that this very common word can denote – encompassing knowledge, beliefs, behavior, conventions, and values.

In Case You Were Wondering

Highfalutin rose high on the list last month after an audio recording of a Texas cheerleading coach berating her team as "highfalutin heifers" went viral. We discussed highfalutin five years ago, so we turn our attention now to heifer. The now-former coach had likened her charges to "young cows" (the definition of heifer); the term cow itself, of course, also has its own negative connotation (sense 2 in the Unabridged).

In case you were wondering, heifer and cow aren't the only cattle terms with connotations that stretch far from their original denotations.

Word Profile: Oscar

Last month's Academy Awards broadcast was responsible for sending a number of words to high positions on the lookup list. Terms that had their own moment to shine during the ceremony included in memoriam, the title of the annual tribute to the deceased of the film industry; indefatigable, which was used by the sound editors for Hugo as they spoke admiringly of a colleague's work ethic; and agents provocateurs was used by Christopher Plummer to acknowledge a group of supporters. But what about the term Oscar? How did the actual gold-plated statuette get its name?

Notable and Quotable: A.E. Housman

Alfred Edward Housman was born March 26, 1859. He died at 77, having published a total of two collections of poetry: A Shropshire Lad and Last Poems. Housman is remembered as a great classical scholar and a powerful, lyrical poet. Of the 40 entries in the Unabridged that feature Housman's words, three turn an absence into a presence, and a few illustrate unusual functions (e.g., azure and chair as a verb), including one usage that most people assume is new to the language.

Report from the Open Dictionary

A word is coined to fill a need. If the term catches on and is used by many people, it will eventually earn a spot in the dictionary. Last month, contributors filled voids with new words to be used in the worlds of the Internet, family dynamics, the workplace, and fashion.

Have you noticed a new word or a new sense of an existing word? Submit your suggestion to the Open Dictionary!

freemium (noun) : a free app or Web service that can be upgraded by purchasing extra features or capacities

kindergarchy (noun) : a family in which children rather than parents determine the dynamics, routines, or actions

work spouse (noun) : a work colleague with whom one has a close working partnership and relationship that in many ways mimics a marriage

rock (verb) : to look very stylish wearing (something)

Happy Birthday 1912

International Women's Day was first celebrated in March 18, 1911. On March 12, 1912, Juliet Gordon Low met with a group of girls and founded what became known as the Girl Scouts. In 2012, March is Women's History Month and March 8 is International Women's Day – so let's take this occasion to look at a few female-oriented words whose first print appearances date to the years 1911 and 1912.

If you'd like to see all 165 words from 1912 or 218 words from 1911, choose the Collegiate as your reference, select Date from the pull-down menu, type in a year, and click Search.

Just Foolin' Around

The Oreo cookie – the best-selling cookie in history – turns 100 this month. Although theories abound, the folks at Nabisco cannot explain how that double chocolate wafer cookie with cream filling came by its name.

Fooling around with cookie-based terms turns up a few surprising facts. First, of the 21 entries in the Collegiate with "cookie" in their definitions (ranging from animal cracker to the trademarked Toll House) only three (biscotto, 1953; cookie sheet, 1926; fortune cookie, 1940) are of more recent vintage than the Oreo.

Language Links

March Madness for word lovers wraps up with the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament March 16-18 in Brooklyn.

Need some help getting ready for prime time? Check out these resources to improve your play. The first, Word-Buff.com, features tips, tricks, videos, lists, and links to many more sites. The second, Xwordinfo.com, focuses on the famous New York Times crosswords, and is aimed at both solvers and constructors of puzzles. Prepare to be absorbed!