2007 word of the year
With 2007 winding down I get the urge to look back at this year and wonder if there’s a way to sum it up in just one word. Dictionary-maker Merriam-Webster has done just that, and their word is w00t! It turns out that it’s not just l33t-speaking techno-junkies using my favorite bargain word but real people too. M-W’s president, one Mr. John Morse apparently thought it was the perfect choice, blending new technology and linguistic whimsy. For those of you who think this choice to be wholly unorthodox, consider last years choice of truthiness and be happy it’s not another Colbert reference.
Here’s an AP article about it, and a link to woot.com, your source for heavily discounted crap.
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Visual Thesaurus
You may have already heard of this cool web-tool but just in case you hadn’t, here’s the Visual Thesaurus. This program/website is not really all that useful (and probably not worth the price) but it is a cool alternative way to see the relationships between words. The people at ThinkMap make it easy to try the service, just not for very long. Go over to VisualThesaurus.com and try the free trial, maybe you’ll find it invaluable.
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Gophers come from waffles, but how to get rid of them?
French is a funny language with a very interesting history. Based on Latin and largely not spoken, even in France, before the French Revolution, the potential for French linguistic snobbery is unbounded. There is of course a lot to be proud of in the language, for example the English word "gopher" comes from the French word for waffles, "gaufres." The name makes sense for the way that they waffle farmer’‘s fields, but the question still remains as to how farmers deal with those waffling varmints. For one solution, check out this demo video of the Rodenator Pro. I especially like the fact that the demo ends with the James Bond theme music. \r\n\r\n
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