The Baby Name Wizard is
"a magical method for finding the perfect name for your
baby". Check out the NameVoyager, a really slick Java
application that tracks the popularity of names over the past hundred
years or so.
|
 the
bi-Weekly Word-origin Webzine
|
 My
name’s Michael Quinion. Virtually all of the 1400 pages that make up
this site have been written by me over the past seven years.
Writing World Wide Words is part hobby, part obsession—for more about
where I’m coming from, see my personal
page.
|
 A
page of links to abbreviations, acronym finders, and that's just the first
two entries. It ends with Yiddishkeit, A gallery of Yiddish expressions transliterated
and Your Dictionary.com, on-line dictionaries for over 280 languages
|
 the
web site woven for wordaholics, logolepts, and verbivores. Carnivores eat
meat; herbivores eat plants and vegetables; verbivores devour words
|
|
Looking
for the meaning or origin of a phrase or saying? Here's free access to
 | A list of the meanings
and origins of over 2,000 English phrases and sayings. You can
either browse via our A-Z
Index or scan with our search
engine. Whether you want to resolve a friendly argument over how a
phrase originated or whether you just enjoy words, you'll probably
find something here to interest you. |
| A Discussion
Forum where you can discuss the meanings and origins of phrases or
sayings with the people who know. Use the current
forum to ask a question or post a reply. There's also an archive
of more than 30,000 postings that you can browse
or search. |
|
 Welcome
to Word Spy! This Web
site is devoted to lexpionage, the sleuthing of new words and
phrases. These aren't "stunt words" or "sniglets," but
new terms that have appeared multiple times in newspapers, magazines,
books, Web sites, and other recorded sources.
|
 Fun-with-words.com
is dedicated to amusing quirks, peculiarities, and oddities of the English
language: wordplay. Playing with words and language is both
entertaining and educational. Here you can have plenty of fun with
words with over 500 pages of word puzzles, games, amazing lists, and
fun facts.
|
 This
annotated directory
features Web sites focusing on English grammar, concise writing, style and
usage, the writing process, words, plain language, creativity, word play,
action writing, reference sources, online writing experts, books on
writing, and favorite fiction writers. You'll also find lists of Web sites
on punctuation, avoiding bias, overcoming writer's block, spelling,
vocabulary, and writing for the Web.
|
 Over
600 pages of articles on all aspects of writing are waiting for you.
Study at Home; Find a Job; And don't forget to sign up for your weekly writing tips newsletter: The Write Way
|
 What
is an error in English?
The concept of language errors is a fuzzy one. I’ll leave to linguists
the technical definitions. Here we’re concerned only with deviations
from the standard use of English as judged by sophisticated users such as
professional writers, editors, teachers, and literate executives and
personnel officers. The aim of this site is to help you avoid low grades,
lost employment opportunities, lost business, and titters of amusement at
the way you write or speak.
But isn’t one person’s mistake another’s standard usage?
Why don’t you cover all important points of grammar?
I’m learning English as a second language. Will this site help me
improve my English?
Aren’t some of these points awfully picky? |
 is mapping Australian regionalisms - words, phrases or expressions used by particular language groups. Add your regionalism or search to see what others have contributed.
|
 "Meta-Dictionary"
-- One Look searches dozens of
dictionaries. It's also a thesaurus, or actually better than a
thesaurus because it lets you provide a short phrase, for which it finds a
dictionary definition. The New York Times says it's a great way to
cheat on crossword puzzles. |
 "Urban
Dictionary"
-- The only place to find all the urban slang words, like pootietang, that
you ever wanted to know. Also: dozens of synonyms of "coochie". |
 The
Jargon File
Contains a glossary of computer jargon as well as an explanation
of the history and culture of computer jargon.
|
 Dictionary
and Thesaurus |
|
Macquarie
Dictionary -- an Australian dictionary