Favorite Resources for Words, Word Candy and Wordplay

A Word Candy example: a word map from VisualThesaurus

Visual Thesaurus: Mindmap of Withdraw

Words are a year-round pleasure, but with November’s shorter days and longer nights, words seem to take on added significance — and heightened pleasure. Word candy seems an apt description. I find myself eager for wordplay and freshly appreciative of masters and scholars of language.

Words, nuances and shades of meaning

If I’m looking for interesting words and shades of meaning, Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus is my first step. Who can stop with a simple list of synonyms when even the simplest, most common words (like ‘withdraw’) can be mapped to multiple nuances and new connections? I’ve written before about the visual power of a mindmap with a word in the middle of the page and related terms clustered around it — and where distance from the key word shows the strength of the relationship.

Word candy

Visual Thesaurus offers other treats as well. There’s a newsletter with a word map, plus a blog and word lists for texts and speeches both historic and current. (The word list for President Obama’s Press Conference on Health Care Plan and Other Issues is fascinating. Unfortunately, there’s a small subscription required for full access.)

A.Word.A.Day is another long-standing favorite, or as The New York Times describes it: “”The most welcomed, most enduring piece of daily mass e-mail in cyberspace.” Each week there is a theme (e.g., words coined after flowers), and for each unusual daily word AWAD provides pronunciation, meaning, etymology, usage, a link to the Visual Thesaurus word map, and a thought for the day. Not to worry if you fall behind on your daily words — every Sunday you will receive “A Weekly Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Tidbits about Words and Language.” (The free version of AWAD contains brief messages from sponsors, while the $45/year paid subscription is ad-free.)

Wordplay

A Way With Words describes itself modestly as “A public radio program about language examined through history, culture, and family.” I’d describe it as weekly wordplay with others, always entertaining and sometimes challenging. It’s an upbeat, hour-long mix of caller questions and responses from two delightful and knowledgeable co-hosts about slang, grammar, old sayings, word origins, regional dialects, family expressions, and speaking and writing well. The challenging part is how often I learn that a word or phrase I considered 100 percent “right” or “wrong” is actually neither, but rather an ever-evolving national, regional or professional preference. There’s also a free weekly podcast and an occasional newsletter if the Vermont Public Radio Saturday 6:00am broadcast doesn’t appeal.

High-speed words

A Way With Words is most active and engaged with followers on Twitter, but all three of these favorite word resources tweet regularly. If you’re feeling up to a high-speed word challenge, here’s one from a recent AWAD compendium: You Can’t Write Proper English Under Pressure. And please let me know if I’ve missed your favorite word resource (the days are still getting shorter).