A Vocabulary Breadcrumb Trail

Today I share yet another trail of language-related sites that I recently followed. You never know where you'll end up, when you start on the Web. I've removed the back-tracking for brevity's sake.

For those of you who enjoy sharing your love of words with others, head over to My Favorite Word and read just that. People submit their favorite words and a reason why they love them.

Evan Morris and Kathy Wollard cull the entries and post them by letter in batches of a dozen. Recent entries include multifarious, smitten, and absquatulate. How can you resist the call of the wild vocabulary?

In their link list, you find World Wide Words from Michael Quinion. You can move from single words to turns of phrase and a pronunciation guide. Mr. Quinion also offers to answer your questions, should you not find them already addressed in the extensive index.

Should you wish to further expand your knowledge, follow the link from World Wide Words to the proudly proscriptivist Vocabula Review. This is a monthly e-zine covering a wide range of writing and language topics.

You can enter their writing contest (for $20 and by May 30th, annually), explore the Department of Elegant English, and read about improving your writing. Indulge your inner curmudgeon and expand your knowledge at the same time.

As a final step in today's breadcrumb trail, head from The Vocabula Review language links page to a fun list called, “Complex statements for the simple-minded...” Snicker over such gems as “A Plateau is the highest form of flattery.” You may find a few of the examples jejune or trite, but the list serves as a good reminder that being cute can bite you in the butt, when you're writing.