Show HN: A word of the day that doesn't suck
34 comments
When it comes to getting a deeper understanding of words you already know, two of my favorite resources are Etymonline [1] and the 1913 edition of Webster’s dictionary [2]. And if you’re curious why 1913 specifically, this post [3] gives a great overview.
[1] https://www.etymonline.com/
[2] https://www.websters1913.com/
[3] https://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary
[1] https://www.etymonline.com/
[2] https://www.websters1913.com/
[3] https://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary
> Who decided that the American public couldn't handle "a soft and fitful luster"? I can't help but think something has been lost.
I wonder how much of this is down to the corporatisation of dictionaries. I did a quick search and it turns out that Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com are owned by Rock Holdings, a multinational conglomerate registered in the Isle of Man and controlled by Aaron Banks (one of the shadowy powers responsible for Brexit). Obviously that would have happened well after the dumbing-down process began, but it illuminates the trend.
I wonder how much of this is down to the corporatisation of dictionaries. I did a quick search and it turns out that Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com are owned by Rock Holdings, a multinational conglomerate registered in the Isle of Man and controlled by Aaron Banks (one of the shadowy powers responsible for Brexit). Obviously that would have happened well after the dumbing-down process began, but it illuminates the trend.
> https://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary
Thanks for sharing this great piece of prose (as noted by siblings, penned by OP)
It motivated me to read a bit about Noah Webster. While this is far afield from the topic at hand now, I did find his view on abolitionism interesting, as it parallels a common modern attitude of supporting liberationist movements in principle, but resisting them insofar as they disrupt the status quo or meddle in the affairs of another country / another state:
> Initially supportive of the abolitionist movement, Webster helped found the Connecticut Society for the Abolition of Slavery in 1791. However, by the 1830's he began to disagree with the movement's arguments that Americans who did not actively oppose the institution of slavery were complicit in the system. In 1832, Webster wrote and published a history textbook titled History of the United States, which omitted any reference to the role of slavery in American history and included racist characterizations of African Americans. The textbook also "spoke of whiteness as the supreme race and declared Anglo Saxons as the only true Americans." In 1837, Webster criticized his daughter Eliza for her support for the abolitionist movement, writing that "slavery is a great sin and a general calamity—but it is not our sin, though it may prove to be a terrible calamity to us in the north. But we cannot legally interfere with the South on this subject. To come north to preach and thus disturb our peace, when we can legally do nothing to effect this object, is, in my view, highly criminal and the preachers of abolitionism deserve the penitentiary."
I'd love to read more about his daughter Eliza, but unfortunately googling permutations of her presumed name ("Elizabeth Steele Webster"? "Elizabeth Steele Greenleaf Webster"? "Elizabeth Steele Jones"?) unfortunately didn't surface a meaningful biography.
Thanks for sharing this great piece of prose (as noted by siblings, penned by OP)
It motivated me to read a bit about Noah Webster. While this is far afield from the topic at hand now, I did find his view on abolitionism interesting, as it parallels a common modern attitude of supporting liberationist movements in principle, but resisting them insofar as they disrupt the status quo or meddle in the affairs of another country / another state:
> Initially supportive of the abolitionist movement, Webster helped found the Connecticut Society for the Abolition of Slavery in 1791. However, by the 1830's he began to disagree with the movement's arguments that Americans who did not actively oppose the institution of slavery were complicit in the system. In 1832, Webster wrote and published a history textbook titled History of the United States, which omitted any reference to the role of slavery in American history and included racist characterizations of African Americans. The textbook also "spoke of whiteness as the supreme race and declared Anglo Saxons as the only true Americans." In 1837, Webster criticized his daughter Eliza for her support for the abolitionist movement, writing that "slavery is a great sin and a general calamity—but it is not our sin, though it may prove to be a terrible calamity to us in the north. But we cannot legally interfere with the South on this subject. To come north to preach and thus disturb our peace, when we can legally do nothing to effect this object, is, in my view, highly criminal and the preachers of abolitionism deserve the penitentiary."
I'd love to read more about his daughter Eliza, but unfortunately googling permutations of her presumed name ("Elizabeth Steele Webster"? "Elizabeth Steele Greenleaf Webster"? "Elizabeth Steele Jones"?) unfortunately didn't surface a meaningful biography.
After reading the third link I desperately wanted to install the 1913 dictionary on my mac but the DictUnifier app that does the installation crashes. Torture!
The app appears to be open source (https://github.com/ponychicken/DictUnifier) so I'll see if I can manage a patch.
Thank you for this and your wonderful article!
The app appears to be open source (https://github.com/ponychicken/DictUnifier) so I'll see if I can manage a patch.
Thank you for this and your wonderful article!
The 3rd post was written by the OP!
Hahah how did I miss that! It’s even linked in the description. Glad you pointed it out. Let me also link the word enjoyers out there to another favorite of mine, then: https://carefulwords.com/
Using the Wrong Dictionary (2014) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37368505 - Sept 2023 (33 comments)
You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35635876 - April 2023 (1 comment)
Using the wrong dictionary (2014) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29734242 - Dec 2021 (170 comments)
You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19763435 - April 2019 (87 comments)
You're probably using the wrong dictionary - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9294518 - March 2015 (2 comments)
Using the wrong dictionary - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7772557 - May 2014 (138 comments)
You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35635876 - April 2023 (1 comment)
Using the wrong dictionary (2014) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29734242 - Dec 2021 (170 comments)
You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19763435 - April 2019 (87 comments)
You're probably using the wrong dictionary - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9294518 - March 2015 (2 comments)
Using the wrong dictionary - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7772557 - May 2014 (138 comments)
The 1913 edition will also have the advantage of not being polluted by AI-based definitions.
Related:
Thank HN: The puzzle game I posted here 6 weeks ago got licensed by The Atlantic - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43622719 - April 2025 (169 comments)
Show HN: Bracket City – A daily, exploded (?) crossword puzzle - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43160542 - Feb 2025 (53 comments)
Thank HN: The puzzle game I posted here 6 weeks ago got licensed by The Atlantic - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43622719 - April 2025 (169 comments)
Show HN: Bracket City – A daily, exploded (?) crossword puzzle - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43160542 - Feb 2025 (53 comments)
https://wordsmith.org/words/today.html doesn't suck
what would make a "word of the day" stream compelling to me would be a word that reflected recent news. William Safire did this to some extent in his weekly column in the NY Times and it was usually pretty interesting.
a way to increase the discovery of relevance could be looking up the etymologies of words that pop up, I'm always fascinated by how complex and interesting etymologies are
a way to increase the discovery of relevance could be looking up the etymologies of words that pop up, I'm always fascinated by how complex and interesting etymologies are
The NY Times still does this: https://www.nytimes.com/column/learning-word-of-the-day
I've had Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day [1] feed on my RSS reader for a while and I think these are quite usable.
[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/calendar
[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/calendar
I cannot seem to find the RSS link anywhere on this site, can you share which url you have directly in your RSS reader? thx
If that happens with other websites too, you can also use feed finder tools like https://lighthouseapp.io/tools/feed-finder
Ooh, I really like this. I have spent quite a while scrolling the page and internally going "yes! this guy gets it!" after reading a particularly good line.
If you want feedback, I think you should take the bit you said about "you're probably using the wrong dictionary" and put that right at the top as a sort of summary of the intent of your word of the day. It really helps contextualize what you're doing. For context, I have a strong prior (hey, that could be a wotd) that word of the day is some random garbage, and I spent a long time reading your site before I understood what your intent was, and why it is so much better than all existing wotds.
If you want feedback, I think you should take the bit you said about "you're probably using the wrong dictionary" and put that right at the top as a sort of summary of the intent of your word of the day. It really helps contextualize what you're doing. For context, I have a strong prior (hey, that could be a wotd) that word of the day is some random garbage, and I spent a long time reading your site before I understood what your intent was, and why it is so much better than all existing wotds.
On an tangential note, I actually found "contextomy" to be a really useful word in its original sense of quoting out of context [0], but I find it to be even more appropriate for the process of cleaning up an LLM's context to reduce "context rot".
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quoting_out_of_context
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quoting_out_of_context
No cap, but the first ten-ish were already well known to me. Might be worth mentioning you're pitching below not-particularly-well-read this guy.
With entries like "marketing" the point must be in the elaboration and not in the introduction of the word
yes i too am really smart like this guy and this website is WAY below my reading level. Can somebody link me to the version for us smart guys?!
Bruh said "no cap" on HN
> Bruh
Those who live in glass houses should not attempt to hang paintings, methinks.
Those who live in glass houses should not attempt to hang paintings, methinks.
Could it be at all possible that I did that on purpose? Perchance I chose to make the exact "mistake" the GP made, and call him out for it at the same time because the irony of it would be funny?
You must think other people are deeply, abysmally, troglodytically stupid if you thought one could make that comment without self-awareness.
You must think other people are deeply, abysmally, troglodytically stupid if you thought one could make that comment without self-awareness.
Maybe you did, maybe you didn't. If you did, then maybe you did not do a very good job of communicating that? I mean, until telepathy over TCP finally arrives, all we have to go on is basically ASCII.
> You must think other people are deeply, abysmally, troglodytically stupid if you thought one could make that comment without self-awareness.
I suspect you inhabit a different part of the Internet than me. I envy you.
> You must think other people are deeply, abysmally, troglodytically stupid if you thought one could make that comment without self-awareness.
I suspect you inhabit a different part of the Internet than me. I envy you.
I think it would be interesting to incorporate loan words or phrases. Often these words become loan words because there's no good English equivalents so loan words/phrases sort of expand our ability to grapple these concepts.
Vagility is a great word- it has a good sound and rhythm and the added bonus of sounding like it is probably something rude. Might be limited opportunities to work it into a conversation but I am willing to wait Thank you.
Nice, anoter James Somers blog post/project, I like. Love your articles, dude. And have a bunch on my reading list to catch up on.
Is there a public API (or a plan for one)? I'd be interested to see each WOTD in my custom new tab page.
Instead, what you usually get is words that will never be used in conversation, held up as curios. Some examples from Dictionary.com’s daily email: thewless, balladmonger, vagility, contextomy. These words are... not useful.
I’ve always thought I could do better. My friend Ben recently created a daily puzzle game, called Bracket City, launched here on HN [1], which I like because it takes about the same amount of time as Wordle but has some of the variety and artistry of a good crossword.
Ben agreed to let me write a word of the day for the game’s audience. We’ve collected them all here: https://bracket.city/words. It’s such a joy to write -- every day, I pay homage to a word I love or use or have newly discovered. I find myself paying more attention to words I encounter, thinking if they deserve a place.
It’s also fun for another reason. Many years ago I wrote a blog post, "You’re probably using the wrong dictionary" [2], that made the rounds and actually still finds new readers today. It was about how the modern-day dictionaries we find by default on our iPhones and web browsers are actually kind of bureaucratic and lifeless. Through a writer I love, John McPhee, I rediscovered Webster’s 1913 dictionary, which feels like it was written by a thinking person who loved words. I still consult it all the time. Writing a word of the day has reminded me just how delightful and useful Webster’s old dictionary is -- and reacquainted me with the OED, which I now look to every day, and which I discovered you can access with your library card.
Some of my favorite entries so far: sophisticated, twee, gravitas, blockbuster, meteorologist, send, bid. There are more than 175 now -- and more coming once a day, every day, for as long as Bracket City stands.
To sign up to see each word of the day as it’s published, go to https://bracket.city/words.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43622719
[2] https://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary