Webster's Dictionary

In the sentence If the test was held on Sunday, more people could take it, something sounds a little strange to our linguistic competency, which is our “hidden knowledge” of a language (Mihalic̆ek and Wilson). It may be difficult to point out the error, but instinctively we know an error lies somewhere within the sentence. According to Martha Kolln, “In if clauses that express a wish or a condition contrary to fact, we use were as the standard form of be, no matter what the subject” (Kolln and…

Some of the earliest double entendres are found in the Exeter Book, or Codex exoniensis, at Exeter Cathedral in England. The book was copied around 975 AD. In addition to the various poems and stories found in the book, there are also numerous riddles. The Anglo-Saxons did not reveal the answers to the riddles, but they have been answered by scholars over the years. Some riddles were double-entendres, such as Riddle 25 ("I am a wondrous creature: to women a thing of joyful expectation, to…

William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night alludes to a variety of themes that commonly include false identity, role-playing, and love. The general plot of the play could be described as a cross-dressing comedy about a woman, Viola, who tries to gain the attention and love of a Duke, Orsino, with obstacles along the way, including Olivia, the Duke’s love interest. The themes mentioned are developed and sometimes scrutinized by the play’s characters, such as Orsino, Olivia, and Feste the clown. In…

Social Media and Its New Vocabulary Thanks to social media the English language has radically changed from what it was 50 years ago. It has changed so much that new words keep being added to the dictionary, words that if we are being completely honest are usually only used by people no older than maybe 30. Words that have been invented in recent years are words like “fleek”, which is generally used to describe when someone is looking good. Another example to the ever growing list of…

“Belief” is the trust that believers place in God. It is the idea of putting faith on the existence of God. According, to the Oxford English Dictionary this definition derived from the Christian virtue of faith. To be more accurate this is definition is more commonly used in the 21st century. Another prominent definition for belief is, the mental action, condition, or habit of trusting in a person…

from meaning “to turn or roll” too meaning “ to run or bend in a certain direction”. This time, “Trend” was used more as a more geological or environmental term, describing things like rivers,coasts, mountain ranges etc etc, ( Online Etymology Dictionary) This use of the word “Trend” continued on for upwards of two hundred years or so. It wasn’t until 1863 that the meaning of “Trend” that we know today was first recorded. In this record, they used the word “Trend” to mean, “Sense of having a…

A synonym is defined as a word or phrase that means the same or nearly the same as another word or phrase in the same language. Throughout the history of the English language, several synonyms appeared around the Middle Ages after the Norman invasion of England. Although England’s new leaders communicated through the Norman French language, the native inhabitants of England continued to speak Old English which resulted in Norman and Saxon-derived synonyms. With the later invention of the…

understandable that many people will see the new slang as destroying English, but it’s not it’s simply the new era of words that are popular at that time and place. The language has changed throughout many era’s and it can be shown on the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) which is a very cool resource and allows one to see how far the English language has come and where it continues to…

As the decades pass by, words are being added into the English dictionary. Many may not realize the effects of such terms that have been introduced to the English language. George Orwell, an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic, predicts his vision of what the future would become in his novel 1984. The novel tells a powerful vision that the future would be controlled by the government from what we wear to how we speak and think. Orwell also introduces the idea of Newspeak. It’s…

His first civilian job was working for a famous dictionary organization, The Oxford English Dictionary. His work was mainly the history and etymology of words that were of Germanic origin. Particularly those words that began with the letter W. Shortly after this, he became the youngest professor at the University of Leeds. His…