Verbatim is no longer publishing. However, this is a fan site dedicated to the legacy of Verbatim. Please enjoy the archives we were able to find and share with you all!
What’s Verbatim? Verbatim is a magazine devoted to what is amusing, interesting, and engaging about the English language and languages in general. We strive to bring fascinating topics out of the dusty obscurity of dry linguistic scholarship and polish them up for the general reader with an intelligent interest in language. We gently poke fun at the messes people can get into with English and the misunderstandings that arise from our common language. All this, plus a generous helping of book reviews, should provide an hour or two’s diversion for the person interested in language.
VERBATIM Online Issues
Visit No Deposit Promo Codes for promo code reviews and online deals.
VERBATIM Articles, Book Reviews, News
The Winter 1999 (Vol. XXIV, No. 1) issue of VERBATIM, The Language Quarterly
Bowdlerism in the Barnyard by Hugh Rawson Airspeak by Paul J. Sampson A Brief History of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD) by Daniel L. Pratt How To Speak Like a Corporation by David Galef CLASSICAL BLATHER: On the Art of Translation, and Vice Versa by...
Letters
Dear Sir: Just a couple of SIC!s from Vol. 24 No. 1. 1. In the article "The Last Pibroch", the author writes of clan chiefs memorizing a few words of Gaelic "to impress visiting dignatories." Is this the Gaelic for "dignitaries"? 2. Concerning Odet's use of the word...
Authors and Articles Vol XXIV
Authors and Articles VolumeNumberAuthorTitle XXIV1Rawson, HughBowderlism in the Barnyard XXIV1Sampson, Paul J.Airspeak XXIV1Pratt, Daniel L.A Brief History of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD) XXIV1Galef, DavidHow To Speak Like A Corporation XXIV1Humez,...
Byte Bonding, Bit-bangers, and BLOBS
The mechanisms involved in the processes of word formation have been well documented by linguists; the wit, creativity, imagination and ingenuity displayed by the vernacular is inexhaustible. Magazines and newspapers, songs and screenplays all yield innumerable gems....
A Bawdy Language
A Bawdy Language: How A Second-Rate Language Slept Its Way to the Top, by Howard Richler, Stoddart, 1999. ISBN: 0-7737-3186-5. 208 pp. $15.95/£9.86 As you might guess from the title, A Bawdy Language is a rather irreverent and almost relentlessly topical romp through...
Believe it or Not
A new issue! Several, in fact, but here's the Table of Contents for the first of the new issues:Qat in Yemen Gregory Johnson Three Limericks Max Gutmann Cuckoo for Crack Mark Peters My Genetic Code Louis Phillips User-Friendly Turkish Martin Gani Linguistic Larceny:...
Welcoming Mark Peters
We're happy to announce that Mark Peters has joined VERBATIM as a Contributing Editor. Mark is a frequent contributor to VERBATIM, and a language columnist for the parenting website Babble, as well as writing for American Speech, The Chronicle of Higher Education,...
DARE-More Than Halfway There
Dictionary of American Regional English Because logophiles regularly ask about the progress of the Dictionary of American Regional English (familiarly known as DARE), I'd like to take the opportunity of VERBATIM's rebirth to bring you all up to date. First, let me...
Pairing Pairs
I got a call this morning from someone who had picked up the VERBATIM book and needed one of the answers in Larry Urdang's Pairing Pairs explained. Which I did (possibly even to his satisfaction) ... but that motivated me to put up a link to Pairing Pairs here on the...
Authors and Articles Vol XVIII
Authors and Articles VolumeNumberAuthorTitle XVIII1Devereux, RobertPunch on the Bungalow Veranda XVIII1Yoo, DalThe World of Abbreviations and Acronyms XVIII1Heinz, John F.fix XVIII2Sharp, DonSpeaking of the Unmentionables XVIII2Swift, BobWrenches in the Gorse and...
New Work from David Galef
Long-time readers of VERBATIM will recognize the name David Galef; his pieces in our magazine consistently garner compliments (and the editor is always pleased to find a new one coming across her email transom). But VERBATIM, as you all know, only publishes...
Pairing Pairs
The clues are given in items lettered (a-z); the answers are given in numbered items which must be matched with each other to solve the clues. In some cases, a numbered word may be used more than once, but after all matchings have been completed, one numbered word...
Antedate Dictionary Citations
David Shulman New York City this article originally appeared in VERBATIM vol 2. no. 2, in February 1976 In VERBATIM II, 1, appeared an interesting article on dictionary citations in general. This article, however, is intended to complement it by describing only a...
Preposition Pollution
Foreigners trying to learn English often have more trouble with our prepositions than with any other feature. But I see and hear so many awkward uses of prepositions lately that I think we all have more trouble with them than with any other feature--and more trouble...
Authors and Articles Vol XXVII
Authors and Articles VolumeNumberAuthorTitle XXVII1Hargraves, OrinRendering the Language of Daad XXVII1Eskenazi, GeraldUnexpected Surprises XXVII1Galef, DavidA Column on Columns XXVII1Wood, D. RussThe Slang of the Day XXVII1Powell, SteveFancy a Viking, Sooty?...
Signs in Contemporary Culture: An Introduction to Semiotics
Signs in Contemporary Culture: An Introduction to Semiotics, By Arthur Asa Berger, xiii + 255 pages, Second Edition, 1999 (1st edition, 1984) Sheffield Publishing Company, Salem, Wisconsin. When I was an undergraduate majoring in linguistics, out of all the taboo and...
Letter Writing Made Easy!
Letter Writing Made Easy! Featuring sample letters for hundreds of common occasions! Letter Writing Made Easy! Vol. 2: Featuring more sample letters for hundreds of common occasions! Both by Margaret McCarthy, 206 pp., Santa Monica, Santa Monica Press, 1998. ISBN...
Identity and Language in the SM Scene
For the past seven years, I have been studying the process of identity formation among SM/radical-sex practitioners living in and around New York City, in preparation for my doctoral thesis in cultural anthropology. Among the first things that I noticed when I started...
SIC! SIC! SIC!
Inclimate Weather Affects Defense the Most "You try to go in the gym and emulate as many activities as you can, but it’s still not the same." State College coach Jeff Kissell, in the State College Daily News, March 30, 1999. [Submitted by Bill Simon III, State...
Verbatim Sampler
The World According to Student Bloopers Richard Lederer Concord, New Hampshire [Excerpt] One of the fringe benefits of being an English or History teacher is receiving the occasional jewel of a student blooper in an essay. I have pasted together the following...
You’ve Got Game Part II
Gloria Rosenthal Valley Stream, New York By now you have given, received, played and enjoyed all the games on last year's list. I have a positive outlook when it comes to games; I'm positive I'm recommending the best. The games marked with asterisks are new this year,...
VERBATIM
The Language Quarterly
Language and linguistics for the layperson since 1974
http://letterfrequency.org – letter and word frequencies
Digital Dining Room – free storytelling and blogging lessons
Story Bistro – free tips for branding, blogging, and marketing
preparing-faculty.org – preparing future faculty program
USA Today Educate – free educational resources