Cool Word of the Day offers unusual words to enhance your vocabulary. . [28Jul97.]

Word Play offers a variety of etymological information, palindromes, puns, name meanings, slang, etc. . [28Jul97.]

The Word Wizard offers word origins, new words, quotations, insults, Fancy Word Parties, (dress in a specific style and vocabulary for an expert-hosted online discussion), and a Lexicographer's club. . [, net-hap, 09Jan97.]

The free Word Detective newsletter discusses word origins and usage. . [27Jun97.]

Unusual Word Research Page by Terry O'Connor will research unusual words or phrases. . [27Dec96.]

Focus on Words can help you to build your vocabulary skills with online exercises, definitions, word histories, quotations, pleonasms, unusual word references, Latin and Greek combining elements, etc. . [26Jun97.]

World Wide Words offers 50 essays about the unique qualities of the English language and how they came to be. The Word Hoard describes words too new to appear in dictionaries. Free email newsletter. or . [Michael B. Quinion , net-hap, 10Nov96.]

The Queen's English Directive can help you speak proper British. Over 6MB of .wav files and an American-to-English translation guide. . [Chris Keene , alt.usage.english, 29Jan97.]

Another British/American translation sites is . Learn problem words such as pants, bomb, billion, first floor, enjoin, and revise. [28Jul97.]

Net Lingo is a dictionary of Internet terminology. . [03Aug96.] (See for a chart of emoticons.)

Bag of Rubber Hammers explains expressions common on Prince Edward Island. . [28Jul97.]

San Jose is reportedly considering Geekonics as a second language. "This entirely reconfigures our parameters. No longer are we preformatted for failure." Other language groups approve: "This is just, like, OK, you know, the most totally kewl thing, like, ever," said Jennifer Heather Notat-Albright, Valleyonics supporter. "Yeee-hah," said the president of the Dixionics Coalition. Bill Flack, public information officer for the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Bureaucratonics said that organization "would not comment on the San Jose vote until it convened a summit meeting, studied the impact, assessed the feasibility, finalized a report and drafted a comprehensive action plan, which, once it clears the appropriate subcommittees and is voted on, will be made public to those who submit the proper information-request forms." [Unknown. David Coombs, 05Feb97.]

(Richard Fritzson says his son has been going around saying "Hmm. Use Yodaonics. Help you it will. But beware the dark side." [, 28May97.])

-- Ken