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Article: Wordsmiths get own 'funplex' in revised Merriam-Webster.(PAGE ONE)
- Article from:
- The Washington Times (Washington, DC)
- Article date:
- July 1, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 News World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Jennifer Harper, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
We are getting wordy, indeed.
Merriam-Webster managed to cram 10,000 new words into its latest collegiate dictionary, available today in bookstores and the first revised edition in a decade.
Words are cheap, too. Priced at $30, the volume contains 225,000 definitions. That boils down to a little over one one-thousandth of a cent per word, give or take an iota. Or maybe a smidgen, mite, speck, jot or tittle, for that matter.
And what words.
There's "barista," as in one who serves coffee to a Starbucks-struck public. There's "comb-over" for the hapless gent who believes inventive ...