bgzimmer

bgzimmer, 10 months ago to random

Hard to believe, but today marks the 10th anniversary of my weekly "Word on the Street" column for the WSJ Review section! My word of the week is, naturally enough, "anniversary." https://on.wsj.com/3CUOEpO

bgzimmer, 6 months ago to random

In this weekend's WSJ Review section: The NFL is all abuzz about the "tush push," a controversial play often run by the Eagles offense. I look at how an old Yiddishism is being pushed into the football lexicon. https://on.wsj.com/3Qxe6Zd

bgzimmer, 1 year ago to random

In this weekend's WSJ Review section: New chatbots have been plagued by "hallucinations," generating text that seems plausible but is unmoored from reality. But should the word "hallucination" be avoided since it ascribes human perceptions to AI models? https://on.wsj.com/3H1Kuin

bgzimmer, 11 months ago to random

In this weekend's WSJ Review section: If you say Trump (or anybody) is "toast," you're using the word in a way that was pioneered by Bill Murray when he ad-libbed a line in "Ghostbusters" about blasting a shape-shifting supervillain. https://on.wsj.com/3Nn5ClI

bgzimmer, 6 months ago to random

"Grok," now the name of xAI's chatbot, goes back to Robert Heinlein's sci-fi classic "Stranger in a Strange Land." As a verb for profound understanding, "grok" found favor in the '60s counterculture and among computer hackers. My latest for WSJ. https://on.wsj.com/3FQGkc6

bgzimmer, 11 months ago to random

"Your earlobes are thick and chewy. Yeah, like barnacle meat." For the WSJ, my look back on the deliciously poisonous invective of HBO's "Succession." Many thanks to Jesse Armstrong for the enlightening chat and Barry Blitt for the fantastic illustration. https://on.wsj.com/45z0KSH

bgzimmer, 3 months ago to random

With the cult sci-fi classic "The Blob" getting a remake, my latest for WSJ looks at how the original movie had a big effect on the word "blob" itself, now used for various massive amorphous forces. https://on.wsj.com/3uCEoST

bgzimmer, 3 months ago to random

In this weekend's WSJ Review section: Was it a "snub" when Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie didn't get Oscar nominations for "Barbie"? A word that originally referred to a cutting retort has become an awards-season cliché. https://on.wsj.com/4bnTEDk

bgzimmer, 7 months ago to random

What does "out of pocket" mean to you? Cash-strapped, unavailable, or acting wild? Your answer may depend on which generation you're in. My latest for WSJ looks at how a viral video sparked a semantic debate. https://on.wsj.com/3QhqrBO

bgzimmer, 4 months ago to random

It's my solemn duty every year to oversee the @stronglang Tucker Awards for excellence in swearing. Please enjoy some choice profanity from 2023. https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2023/12/31/the-9th-annual-tucker-awards-for-excellence-in-swearing/

bgzimmer, 5 months ago to random

One week left to get your nominations in for American Dialect Society Word of the Year! https://americandialect.org/nominate-the-2023-words-of-the-year

bgzimmer, 6 months ago to random

The American Dialect Society is now accepting Word of the Year nominations for 2023! More information here: https://americandialect.org/nominate-the-2023-words-of-the-year
Nominations can be submitted via Google Forms at this link: https://bit.ly/23WOTYNOMS Please share far and wide!

bgzimmer, 14 days ago to random

In this weekend's WSJ Review section: The Met Gala may have made "gala" a fashion buzzword, but it's actually been around for centuries to describe glamorous occasions where high society breaks out their finery. https://on.wsj.com/44y4NyH

bgzimmer, 4 months ago to random

"Stochastic parrot," coined by @emilymbender for "large language models that...do not truly understand the meaning of the language they are processing," was recognized as AI-Related Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society. My latest for WSJ. 🦜 https://on.wsj.com/47DKfVf

bgzimmer, 3 months ago to random

In this weekend's WSJ Review section: Daytime soap operas have been on TV for 75 years now. But how did they get their sudsy name? Companies like Procter & Gamble advertised soap brands to housewives going back to the '30s on radio. https://on.wsj.com/3vNfShX

bgzimmer, 6 months ago to random

Fifty years ago today, Richard Nixon infamously said "I am not a crook" at a conference of newspaper editors at Disney World. For WSJ, I delve into the sinuous history of the word "crook," from Old Norse to Chicago swindlers. https://on.wsj.com/40FImWl

bgzimmer, 1 month ago to random

Have you come across "fluffle" as a term for a group of rabbits? The collective noun that has taken social media by storm actually originated as a joke among a group of Canadian undergrads. My latest for WSJ. (Thanks to @wayword for helping solve the mystery!) https://on.wsj.com/4au1bzk

bgzimmer, 1 month ago to random

Now presenting (from Natan Last, Parker Higgins @xor and me)... Crossword Craze, celebrating a century of crossword-mania. We'll be looking back at how the craze took off in 1924 from the vantage point of 2024. Subscribe to get it in your inbox! https://crosswordcraze.today/introducing/

bgzimmer, 1 month ago to random

One hundred years ago, two Columbia grads named Simon and Schuster published a book of crossword puzzles that set off a national mania. Now the crossword craze has been reborn in the digital era. My latest for WSJ. https://on.wsj.com/3U3zMPk

bgzimmer, 1 month ago to random

In this weekend's WSJ Review section: It all started as a joke among friends studying physics at the University of Alberta. Now 17 years later, everyone seems to be embracing the idea that "fluffle" is a collective noun for a group of rabbits. https://on.wsj.com/4au1bzk

bgzimmer, 28 days ago to random

In this weekend's WSJ Review section: The word "homeless" is getting displaced by "unhoused," favored by advocates seeking terminology that is less pejorative and more humanizing. https://on.wsj.com/4aP6yd5

bgzimmer, 2 months ago to random

In this weekend's WSJ Review section: The writer O. Henry, who fled to Guatemala after embezzling money from a Texas bank, popularized the expression "banana republic," which lives on as a pejorative term for a small, unstable country dominated by foreign corporate interests. https://bit.ly/4cpSAzz

bgzimmer, 4 months ago to random

In this weekend's WSJ Review section: As the original Mickey Mouse enters the public domain, I take a look at how the name "Mickey Mouse" has taken on negative associations, inspired by the character's frivolous nature and diminutive size. https://on.wsj.com/3vmd3Eu

bgzimmer, 7 months ago to random

In this weekend's WSJ Review section: Taylor Swift may be in her "Eras" era, but she's not the only one using a term for historical periods to mark the chapters in her life story. https://on.wsj.com/3S6zDKD