May TOP TWENTY

After April's news-related shake-ups to the list of the most frequently looked-up words in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, matters settled back to normal in May. Google resumed its top spot, followed by effect and affect. See the entire list and this month's newcomers.

Happy Birthday: 1967

June 16 – 18 marks the fortieth anniversary of the Monterey Pop Festival, the first major music festival to feature predominantly rock music. With performances by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Ravi Shankar, it is often considered the high point of the Summer of Love. If all of that seems a long time ago, check out these terms which also date to that year.

For a listing of all 239 words whose first print appearance traces to 1967, select the Collegiate as your reference, click on Advanced Search, type 1967 into the Date field, and click Search.

Word History of the Month: sardoodledom

Last month's Scripps National Spelling Bee (the 80th) had plenty of tense moments, but it also had its share of laughs. One of the more humorous moments started with a fit of giggles from the 11-year-old contestant charged with spelling sardoodledom. The crowd laughed too and then cheered when he finally, and correctly, spelled the word. As you might expect, there is a story behind this word.

New Word Watch

Merriam-Webster editors are giving the following words serious consideration for entry in a Merriam-Webster dictionary:

*  bracket noun (new sense) : a pairing of opponents in an elimination tournament

*  smackdown noun 1 : the act of knocking down or bringing down an opponent 2 : a contest in entertainment wrestling 3 : a decisive defeat 4 : a confrontation between rivals or competitors

*  viewshed noun : the natural environment that is visible from one or more viewing points

Do you have a suggestion for a word we should be watching for? E-mail us at comments@word.com, and we'll tell you what we have on that word so far.

Notable and Quotable: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Supposedly, Abraham Lincoln, when introduced to Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1862, remarked, "So this is the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!" The quotation is apocryphal, but words from Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin and who was born on June 14, 1811 — turn up at a half dozen places in the Unabridged.

Interested in finding words from a favorite author in the dictionary? It's easy. Select either the Unabridged or the Collegiate as a reference source, and click on Advanced Search. Type the last name of the author in the Author field, and click Search.

Just Foolin' Around

Want to celebrate Father's Day by fooling around in the dictionary? Try tracing the meanings, the offspring, and the fatherhood of various father terms.

From the Mail Server

Over the past month, editors offered faint praise, spelled out a few words lacking vowels, and helped track down word senses both old and new.

In Case You Were Wondering

Twenty years ago, on June 12, 1987, on the 750th anniversary of the founding of the city of Berlin, President Ronald Reagan stood before the Brandenburg Gate at the Berlin Wall and challenged Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall!" Such challenges are often called "throwing down the gauntlet," but what is a gauntlet, and why do we throw it down?

Language Links

Looking for the right words for that graduation or wedding card? In need of an apt quotation? Maybe we can help.