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.
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VERBATIM Articles, Book Reviews, News
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...
English English
This originally appeared in Vol. VII, No. 1 I am chuffed as bollocks about a piece I wrote earlier this year in what Americans quaintly describe as The London Times. Depending upon your understanding of the idiom, this means that I am either pleased or displeased,...
All about All
In the movie Spartacus,1 the Roman general, Crassus, ensures the cooperation of the slave dealer, Batiatus, by making him the following promise: "I authorize you to be the agent for the sale of all survivors." When Crassus wins the final battle and orders that all...
Mafia, Cosa Nostra, Camorra, ‘Ndrangheta and Mammasantissima
Street vendors hawk arance mafiuse (`fine oranges') in Palermo and a frisky horse or pretty girl are mafiusi, too; but where does the mafia come in? A true mafioso, if his lips are not sealed by omertá, may say he belongs to the onorata societá (`honored society') or...
Assing Around
Authors and Articles Vol XXI
Authors and Articles VolumeNumberAuthorTitle XXI1Bennett, MartinThe Lamps of Speech XXI1Tius, Mary M.Stress XXI1Bailey, BelSlang from Greyfriars XXI1Blackford, PaulSome English Loanwords in Thai XXI1Schindler, Marc A."Schindler's List" of Ashkenaz's Names XXI1Ramson,...
Verbal Analogies
Dr. P.A. Pomfret 1. Long, narrow : Leptorrhinian :: Broad, Thick : ? (13) 2. Cival : Papal :: Registrar : ? (12) 3. Iron : Black :: Tin : ? (5) 4. Books : Bibliotheca :: Sculpture : ? (11) 5. Gristle : Cartilage :: Grounds of a House : ? (9) 6. Cold vegetable dish :...
Authors and Articles Vol XXVI
Authors and Articles VolumeNumberAuthorTitle XXVI1Urdang, LaurenceToday's Lesson XXVI1Humez, NickClassical Blather (Silly Songs) XXVI1Considine, JohnTwelve Notes on the Canadian Oxford Dictionary XXVI1Baldwin, BarryAs the Word Turns (Where Do They Come From?)...
Darn, Durn, Down, Doon, Damn
Dwight Bolinger Professor of Linguistics Emeritus Harvard University Minced oaths are etymological landmines, and if I were a better guesstymologist I probably would not tread on this one; but if it is a coincidence it is too good to be true, so here goes....
The Twelve Days of Christmas
We're not quite at the "partridge in a pear tree" stage of the month yet, but I thought you might all enjoy this review, by Larry Urdang, of Thomas L. Bernard's The Twelve Days of Christmas: The Mystery and The Meaning, from Vol. XXI/3: Professor Bernard, who teaches...
Graphic Account
As code, is how the alphabet Began in use. Visible ink. Cuneiform, which few regret, Did everything most people think Essential in a writing system For three millennia of sale, Gift, loan-could number, name, and list them, Hard copy, should agreement fail. It was so...
Words For Their Own Sake
John Konrad Kern Signal Hill, California Strip a word of its meaning and etymology and what do you have? You have a collection of alphabetic characters arranged in a unique order. Devoid of definition, however, these strings of letters have virtually no utility. But I...
Authors and Articles Volume XIV
Authors and Articles VolumeNumberAuthorTitle XIV1Demy, Nicholas G.Go to the Dictionary, Thou Sluggard XIV1Cahill, BrianWay To Go, Aubie! XIV1Soyka, Dan E.Whither Thou, Thee, Thy and Thine XIV1Cohen, HarryMicrolinguistics XIV1Howard, VirginiaIn Praise of St. Jerome...
Books by Nicholas Humez
Humez, Alexander and Nicholas, and Goldfrank, Edward and Janice, The Boston basin Bicycle Book. Boston: Godine, 1975. Out of print. Humez, Alexander and Nicholas, Latin for People/Latina pro Populo. Boston: Little, Brown, 1976. Humez, Nicholas, Silversmithing : A...
243 Crossword Answers
Across 1. GEMSTONE (anag.) 5. S(CR)EAM 10. UN(IT)E 11. ME(A + TEA)TER 12. METAL (mettle hom.) 13. DETOURING (anag.) 14. TRIG + GERMAN 17. BASS (base hom.) 19. VISA (hid.) 20. ATMOSPHERE (anag.) 23. MILES + TONE 25. TULLE (tool hom.) 27. OPERATIVE (rev.) 28. PRIZE (2...
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...
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...
Letters, We Get Letters
One of my favorite parts of VERBATIM has always been the letters to the editor. They're often more like bite-size articles than like traditional letters to the editor. This one, below, was the first letter in Volume I, No. 1, from Eric Hamp. Dear Sir:People often...
Intolerable Intolerance, Redux
EX CATHEDRA In Volume 1, Number 3 of Verbatim, Laurence Urdang, in an article entitled "An Intolerant View of Intolerance" wrote: "I consider myself–as, I am sure, everyone regards himself–a tolerant human being: I try to avoid prejudice in all things. Yet I must...
Authors and Articles Volume XIII
Authors and Articles VolumeNumberAuthorTitle XIII1Kahn, John EllisonPolysemania, Semantic Taint, and Related Conditions XIII1Lazerson, Barbara HuntPatterned Words and Phrases XIII1Queenan, JoeWhen Everything Was Everything XIII1Hirschberg, StephenPlaying Words with...
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...
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