New Links

Today's post by BW has reminded me of a couple of links I've been meaning to add to my sidebar. You can see them over there in their own section called Language.

World Wide Words is a brilliant site, written by Michael Quinion, 'about international English from a British viewpoint. It is full of articles on the origins of words and phrases (from up to the moment new phrases to archaic words that are no longer used). Plus there are longer articles on more general linguistic themes and reviews of books about the English language. He writes a few new articles every week, usually published on a Saturday and there is also a weekly newsletter that you can subscribe to, if you want.

It is well worth a trawl through the various sections as they give fascinating insights into the development of English. For instance, you might want to know where the phrase 'At sixes and sevens' comes from. Or maybe you get really riled by the misuse of apostrophes in greengrocer's signs. If you are at all interested in the language then pay it a visit.

The second of the two links is the sort of collaborative project that the internet was made for. The OEDILF, or Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form, is exactly what it says in the title - an attempt to write limericks to define every word in the dictionary, starting at A and ending at Z. It has been going for almost six months and has hundreds of contributors around the world.

So far, they are up to At- words and it could take decades to finish it, but the enthusiasm for the project is very refreshing. Go over there, have a look around at everything and see if you want to join in.

I'm off to the circus tonight, so that's tomorrow's content sorted already...