The Death of Truth
The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. Lies will pass into history.” — George Orwell Starting on May 30, Planet Word is launching the first…
Choosing the 2023 Word of the Year: Q&A with Ben Zimmer and Kelly Wright
Since 1990, the American Dialect Society has annually unveiled a Word of the Year — a newly prominent word that reflects significant events, societal shifts, and prevailing themes over the…
A Manifesto for Planet Word 2.0
Back in 2013 when we started planning a museum of words and language, it was mainly intended to be a new way to bring disaffected readers back into the fold…
Message from the Founder: Or Is It?
I’m barely competent with technology and frequently beseeching my daughters or tech-savvy young people for assistance with what I think are my computer’s “bugs.” It’s demeaning to feel so powerless…
New App Banks on the Human Element of Translation
We have countless machine translation options at our fingertips at any given moment, but many of these comically fail to capture nuance and cultural context. By bringing live, human translators…
New Words in the Digital Age: Q&A with Grant Barrett
Has the internet changed the way new words enter our collective vocabulary? How do dictionary makers figure out what words having staying power and which will be obsolete in a…