Jesse Sheidlower

@jessesword.com

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Lexicographer, sfdictionary.com, The F-Word, ex-OED, coder (mainly Perl and Python), Threesome Tollbooth bar manager, adjunct @ Columbia. Based at jessesword.com.

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I'd really prefer it if the Internet Archive search backend didn't go down right when I have some research to do.

Today in "commas matter"

NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW NO, ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW!

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SUMERIAN HAS A FRUSTRATIVE MOOD If English had a frustrative mood I think I’d speak in nothing else.

New HDSF entry! "aspace", meaning 'in space', modelled on "asea". Adverbs are important! This was used by lots of prominent authors, and was common in the mid-20th C., but is now rare, for no reason obvious to me. sfdictionary.com/view/2891/as...

Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: aspacesfdictionary.com Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

The power of art comes from learning that other people's difficult experiences parallel yours. We take inspiration from the greats: Hector saying goodbye to Astyanax, Hamlet avenging his father, and, of course, Billy Joel's "Vienna". www.theguardian.com/music/articl...

‘No one understands a woman in her 20s like Billy Joel’: gen z finds solace in anti-hustle anthem Viennawww.theguardian.com The nearly 50-year-old song has been adopted by the under-30s to describe their particular feelings of ennui

It's not unusual for me to not-love a widely revered movie. It's rare for me to be THIS much "How could this get released?" or "Heaven's Gate? Ishtar? Plan 9? Nope!" as I am about The Fifth Element, which I just saw. Totally astounding to me that anyone could not despise this staggering awfulness.

Outstanding deep dive into the history and nuances of _fuckery_:

What kind of "fuckery" is this? New post for @stronglang.bsky.social on a word for our times: stronglang.wordpress.com/2024/06/30/w... #langsky #swearsky

What kind of “fuckery” is this?stronglang.wordpress.com If there’s one place you’ll find fuckery, it’s in a fuckery. In fact, you’d probably find all sorts of fuckery in a fuckery, including: —treachery, ill treatment or behaviour —nonsense, foolishness, b...

Just had to explain to a non-technical person the joke "There are 2 hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-1 errors", and it took me 20 minutes, but they really laughed at the end.

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One for the syntax folk 🐦🐦

Finished bingeing The Bear S3 late last night. I'm very disappointed. There were a number of great bits, but overall it lost its way, and the season left every major question frustratingly unanswered. I really needed this to be better! The show means a lot to me.

New HDSF entry! _stef_, an obsolescent fannish variant of _stf_, i.e. 'scientifiction', i.e. science fiction. sfdictionary.com/view/2631/stef

Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: stefsfdictionary.com Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

Always a pleasant surprise to see a mainstream article in praise of slang. www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/o...

Opinion | I Am Cringe. The World Is Sus. But My Teenager’s Slang Is Based.www.nytimes.com Our kids’ lingo is not only better than any we used, it’s a useful window into the way they see the world.

Today in fantasy-inspired real-estate um, fantasies: The village of Micheldever, Hampshire, whose name was a partial model for that of Michel Delving, the unofficial capital of The Shire, is extremely lovely, and has some great cottages for sale in it. www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...

Check out this 3 bedroom detached house for sale on Rightmovewww.rightmove.co.uk 3 bedroom detached house for sale in Church Street, Micheldever, Hampshire, SO21 for £750,000. Marketed by Knight Frank, Winchester

Today in SF history, we head into the weekend with a lovely antedating of _Gernsbackian_, from 1952 to 1943 (courtesy of @beeostrowsky.bsky.social): sfdictionary.com/view/2515/ge...

Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: Gernsbackiansfdictionary.com Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

For @bcdreyer.bsky.social or other copyeditors: What does "sic?" mean as a MS comment? I assumed it meant "Is this correct?", and said "yes" all over. Now in proofs I see the actual text "[_sic_]" inserted everywhere, fucking up my work, and I'm extremely upset. They don't want to change back.

New HDSF entry! "hooman", i.e. a human (in contrast to an alien), from the 1940s onwards. (Non-SFnally found as a dialect pronunciation of _human_ from the early 19th century.) sfdictionary.com/view/2785/ho...

Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: hoomansfdictionary.com Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

New HDSF entry! "weird science", a subgenre combining supernatural horror with SF. From the 1920s (common in Weird Tales, natch), and still current. sfdictionary.com/view/2866/we...

Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: weird sciencesfdictionary.com Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

My company has announced a "summer cruise". I'd go, but that's the day that I'll be pulling out my fingernails with a pair of rusty pliers. "We’ll also have games onboard such as giant Jenga, Connect Four, and shuffleboard."

New HDSF entry! It's not our usual kind of thing, but @alexblechman.bsky.social's "Torment Nexus" is too great, and too important, to omit. Quotes from Charlie Stross and others. sfdictionary.com/view/2876/to...

Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: Torment Nexussfdictionary.com Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

Question: What ever happened to "wash behind your ears"? When I was young, this was a universal (if old-fashioned even then?) instruction to ensure physical, and moral, cleanliness. Now, like quicksand, it has fallen out of the discourse. Why?

Absolute genius.

New HDSF fandom entry! "fanette", a female fan, briefly in use in the 1940s and '50s, now obsolete. sfdictionary.com/view/2867/fa...

Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: fanettesfdictionary.com Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

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On Friday nights do you think to yourself, Why aren't there more grammar movies for me to watch? Well, add your email at www.grammartable.com/movie and you can stay on top of breaking Grammar Table documentary news!

New HDSF entry! Coming back from another writing project, with _gameplay_, from 1979 (a 5-year antedating of OED). Will be adding some more gaming terms in future. sfdictionary.com/view/2803/ga...

Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: gameplaysfdictionary.com Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

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Special notice to both of my followers: My wife and I have a little side hustle making very handmade music videos. We just did one for LINDA FREAKING THOMPSON. It's out today. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRKK...

Linda Thompson featuring Teddy Thompson - Those Damn Rocheswww.youtube.com "Those Damn Roches" https://ffm.to/damnroches by Linda Thompson featuring Teddy Thompson from the album 'Proxy Music' a collection of newly penned songs by L...

Swann Galleries just announced an auction of "Illustration Art: Featuring Highlights from the Collection of Jules Feiffer", and I don't have to tell you how badly I want to own pretty much everything here. catalogue.swanngalleries.com/auction-cata...

ILLUSTRATION ART | Swann Auction Galleriescatalogue.swanngalleries.com

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Good morning

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Seen on fbook this morning

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Trump conviction homepage headline font size, by news source: ABC News: 24px CBS News: 32px NPR: 32px Fox News: 48px NBC News: 60px NYT: 64px Washington Post: 94px CNN: 104px

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Following up on the word 'hangry', 20+ years later: www.seriouseats.com/hangry-8655940

I Pitched "Hangry" for Dictionary Inclusion in 2003 and Was Rejectedwww.seriouseats.com More than 20 years ago, I pitched the word "hangry" on the radio show The Next Big Thing. The hosts were not convinced. Here's my story.