April Top Twenty

The lexically curious ran to the dictionary to look up bigot and bigoted after (now) former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown – unaware that he was still wearing a news microphone – used the word to describe a British voter.

Socialism is still on the list – and its shadow fascism is not too far down, beyond the Top Twenty. Whenever one term is looked up, it seems, the other follows (this happens with other pairs of words that invite comparison, such as hurricane and tornado).

Notable Quotable: Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman was born May 31, 1819, and died in 1892. The groundbreaking and influential American poet embraced life and nature; his exuberance is revealed in many of the Whitman quotations used to illustrate dictionary entries.

For a look at all 59 citations from Walt Whitman, select the Unabridged as your Reference, and click on Advanced Search. Type "Whitman" into the Author box, and click on Search.

Happy Birthday 1934

Can you guess which American gangster couple met their deaths on May 23, 1934? Yes, it was Bonnie & Clyde. The all-stars of the Barrow Gang were gunned down 76 years ago. That year more than 200 new words first appeared in print and subsequently were entered in the dictionary; here's a sampling.

1934 also saw the first printing of Webster's New International Dictionary, Unabridged, Second Edition (often called Webster's Second for short). Webster's Second is the largest single-volume dictionary in the history of the English language, with about 600,000 entries.

Interested in seeing all the words that date their first known print appearance to a particular year? Choose the Collegiate as your reference, type the year into the Date box on the pull-down menu, and click on Search.

From the Mail Server

This month, correspondents kept our editors on their toes, calling into question a definition, an etymological date, and a styling convention. To prove that a lexicographer's work is never done, here are the answers to these excellent questions.

Report from the Open Dictionary

April's word watchers showered the Open Dictionary with new words. Only time will tell if last month's offerings will flower in the lexicon, but these words already show evidence of use, which is the first step to becoming a part of the language.

If you've noticed a new word or a new sense of a word and would like to add it to the Open Dictionary, check out the guidelines for entries.

In Case You Were Wondering

When actress Sandra Bullock filed for divorce late last month, her legal papers cited discord or conflict of personalities as reasons the marriage had become insupportable. As a result, discord rose high on the list for a few days. Words that seem to have a specific technical, legal, or medical use are frequently looked up when they are heard in the news.

Just Foolin' Around

After President Obama used the word vitriol to describe the rhetoric of commentators Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, vitriol rose high on the lookup list last month. The burning interest in vitriol makes linguistic sense if you consider the word's usage and history.

Language Links

Last month, after poachers killed 150 vicuñas in the highlands of Peru, vicuña climbed to the Top 10 for a few days.

The vicuña was considered unusual enough to merit a spot on The Phrontistery's List of Unusual Words for Animals.

Interested in a blog with some photos of odd-looking critters?

After that, a list of all mammal species known to zoologists might be of interest. The Smithsonian Institution offers this jaw-dropping list to get you started.