On The Media is produced by:
The New Oxford American Dictionary has announced its 2007 Word of the Year. Here’s a hint: a term for someone who endeavors to eat only locally-produced foods. Bob talks with Ben Zimmer of Oxford University Press about adding new words to the dictionary.
Fascinating information. For our old ears, it might have helped if the words of the year were spelled out. At anyy rate, many thanks for the info!
Yeah, and NPR is just another part of the Green Lobby, reporting on Texas cities competing for which is most eco-friendly and about wind turbines sprouting on the plains like proverbial weeds.
The old guard have by no means given up the ghost, but the power axis of the whole world is changing and the English language is but one small part of it.
Ben Zimmer is the Voice of the Word, he is sharing the way language evolves and as he says, as the Editor of the Oxford American dictionary, he is not advocating for, but merely reporting the changes that are being made. Good job Ben.
Pam Goodspeed
Although I enjoyed this topic in general, I felt shocked and assaulted when I was innocently listening to the segment and suddenly you aired the tape of a war protester being subjected to a tazer, complete with screams of pain and shock. Although millions of people have voluntarily viewed this on youtube, I was not prepared to hear it and would not have chosen to listen to this horrible event. Please be careful about what you put on the air.
Please keep your comments relevant to this entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. All comments on On the Media are moderated. On the Media reserves the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the onthemedia.org Comment Guidelines before posting.
Back to Episode