Summer TOP TWENTY

Summer is the time we enjoy family trips, picnics, swimming, summer blockbusters, and a break from school. But language never takes a vacation, and several words stuck out this summer — enough to be looked up many thousands of times. Some words show spikes of interest for a few days and don't make the Top Twenty list, but they do reflect what people are thinking about, especially regarding news and politics.

Happy Birthday: 1908

On September 23, 1908, in the bottom of the ninth inning, New York Giant Fred Merkle was on first base while teammate Moose McCormick was on third. What happened next cost the Giants the pennant, established the date as one of the most ignominious anniversaries in baseball, and made bonehead and boner part of our lexicon.

Along with the noun bonehead, more than 150 other nouns also first appeared in print in 1908. We've pulled out a few notable ones — they tell an interesting cultural story. To learn about Merkle's boner and see more of the list, read on.

Or, to get the full list, select the Collegiate as your reference, click on Advanced Search, type 1908 into the Date field and noun into the Function field.

Word History of the Month: mondegreen

Here's a word history that should be music to your years. If you've ever wanted a word to name misheard song lyrics, you now have one. Mondegreen names a word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung — and the word mondegreen is itself a mondegreen. Read on to find out more.

Notable and Quotable: H.L. Mencken

Journalist Henry Louis Mencken, the "Sage of Baltimore," was born September 12, 1880. His biting wit and way with words earned him spots at 119 entries in the Unabridged Dictionary. We've picked out 12 favorite examples of his words in context, but it's easy to see the whole list. Click on the Unabridged for your reference and click on Advanced Search. Type Mencken in the "Author Quoted" field and click on Search.

Report from the Open Dictionary

Our editors aren't the only ones on the lookout for new words; our readers add words to Merriam-Webster's Open Dictionary every day. When you notice a new word — on the radio, in a book or magazine, or online — and find that it's not found in any dictionary, it's probably a good candidate. Here's a handful of our favorite recent submissions.

From the Mail Server

As the carefree days of summer wane, people writing to the editors seem to be searching for order in the dictionary world. One writer has disdain for the anglicized pronunciation of litotes. Another correspondent proposes that Merriam-Webster take the lead in prescribing what biweekly ought to mean, and a third hopes to solve the mysteries of the origins of the word slang.

Words in the News

The cover of the July 21 edition of The New Yorker magazine featured Barack and Michelle Obama in a cartoon that became very controversial. The New Yorker editor David Remnick defended it as "satire;" New York's Governor David Paterson condemned it as "feeding the prurient interest of bigoted, prejudiced people in this society."

The words satire and prurient were both among the most frequently looked-up words for a few days in the middle of July when the magazine hit the newsstands. Does the cartoon fit the definition of satire, and is it appropriate to call the public's interest prurient? Let's take a look at these two words with cultural stories to tell.

Language Links

Some favorite mondegreens appear on www.Merriam-Webster.com as well as elsewhere on the Web. Gavin Edwards, author of 'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy And Other Misheard Lyrics, has collected some rock 'n' roll mondegreens. The Language Corner at the Columbia Journalism Review features some non-musical mondegreens. San Francisco Gate columnist Jon Carroll has been promoting and collecting mondegreens for years. And foreign language mondegreens can be found on YouTube.