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data-src="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-video-play-lg/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-de9ade65bd40351292a5ed06d0a1da37@1x.jpg" data-caption="" data-credit="" data-type="video" data-dim="vid-video-play-lg" data-ret-pref="woman and dog illustration-7780-de9ade65bd40351292a5ed06d0a1da37" data-ret-x="1" data-srcset="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-video-play-lg/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-de9ade65bd40351292a5ed06d0a1da37@1x.jpg 1x, https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-video-play-lg/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-de9ade65bd40351292a5ed06d0a1da37@2x.jpg 2x" pair-id="7782" image-id="7780" srcset-img-1x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-video-play-lg/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-de9ade65bd40351292a5ed06d0a1da37@1x.jpg" srcset-img-2x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-video-play-lg/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-de9ade65bd40351292a5ed06d0a1da37@2x.jpg" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=="/></span> </div>  <div class="vp-cont hidden"> <div id="video-placeholder" class="video-placeholder hidden"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="info"> <div> <div class="play-text-content"> <div class="video-headers-content"> <h1 class="item-text-title">'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'?</h1> <h2 class="item-text-subtitle">We're gonna stop you right there</h2> </div> </div> </div> <hr class="video-body-divider"> <div class="video-body"> Is it 'nip it in the butt' or 'nip it in the bud'? Senior Editor Emily Brewster explains.</p> <h2>Transcript</h2> <p>Sometimes a word that sounds like the right word and feels like the right word isn't actually the right word. It's an eggcorn. You don't nip something in the butt if you want to stop it before it gets worse, though, maybe that would work in some cases. No, you nip it in the bud. You figuratively pinch off the bud before it opens into a leaf or flower. </div> </div> </div> <div class="controls"> <div id="mw-ad-slot-right-1" class="d-none abl abl-auto-250-nr d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center mb-5"></div> <div class="d-flex align-items-center"> <div> <h4 class="upn-title m-0">Up next</h4> </div> <div class="ms-auto d-flex align-items-center"> <label for="video-autoplay-toggle" class="toggle-title">Autoplay</label> <div class="form-check form-switch mw-form-switch"> <input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" id="video-autoplay-toggle" aria-checked="false"> </div> </div> </div> </div>  <div class="video-list-wrapper"> <div class="rg-line"></div> <div class="video-list"> <div class="video-item border-box active" data-video-index="0"> <a class="image-anchor" href="/video/nip-it-in-the-butt-bud-eggcorn-video"> <i class="vp-sb-icon">play</i> <span class="lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden"><img data-sizes="auto" alt="woman and dog illustration" is_retina="true" data-src="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-373f9a9de191ebfa2c9204665a1bbdbe@1x.jpg" data-caption="" data-credit="" data-type="video" data-dim="vid-home-featured-carousel" data-ret-pref="woman and dog illustration-7780-373f9a9de191ebfa2c9204665a1bbdbe" data-ret-x="1" data-srcset="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-373f9a9de191ebfa2c9204665a1bbdbe@1x.jpg 1x, https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-373f9a9de191ebfa2c9204665a1bbdbe@2x.jpg 2x" pair-id="7782" image-id="7780" srcset-img-1x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-373f9a9de191ebfa2c9204665a1bbdbe@1x.jpg" srcset-img-2x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-373f9a9de191ebfa2c9204665a1bbdbe@2x.jpg" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=="/></span> </a> <div class="sb-text-content"> <h5 class="item-title"><a href="nip-it-in-the-butt-bud-eggcorn-video">'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'?</a></h5> <p class="item-description"> </p> <p class="item-teaser mb-0">We're gonna stop you right there</p> </div> </div> <div class="video-item border-box" data-video-index="1"> <a class="image-anchor" href="/video/schwa"> <i class="vp-sb-icon">play</i> <span class="lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden"><img data-sizes="auto" alt="video schwa" is_retina="true" data-src="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-schwa-1130@1x.jpg" data-caption="" data-credit="" data-type="video" data-dim="vid-home-featured-carousel" data-ret-pref="video-schwa-1130" data-ret-x="1" data-srcset="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-schwa-1130@1x.jpg 1x, https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-schwa-1130@2x.jpg 2x" pair-id="1132" image-id="1130" srcset-img-1x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-schwa-1130@1x.jpg" srcset-img-2x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-schwa-1130@2x.jpg" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=="/></span> </a> <div class="sb-text-content"> <h5 class="item-title"><a href="schwa">The Schwa</a></h5> <p class="item-description"> </p> <p class="item-teaser mb-0">The most common vowel sound in English causes many spelling problems.</p> </div> </div> <div class="video-item border-box" data-video-index="2"> <a class="image-anchor" href="/video/old-school-grammar"> <i class="vp-sb-icon">play</i> <span class="lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden"><img data-sizes="auto" alt="video old school grammar humorsome" is_retina="true" data-src="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@1x.jpg" data-caption="" data-credit="" data-type="video" data-dim="vid-home-featured-carousel" data-ret-pref="video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129" data-ret-x="1" data-srcset="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@1x.jpg 1x, https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@2x.jpg 2x" pair-id="1131" image-id="1129" srcset-img-1x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@1x.jpg" srcset-img-2x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@2x.jpg" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=="/></span> </a> <div class="sb-text-content"> <h5 class="item-title"><a href="old-school-grammar">Old-School Grammar</a></h5> <p class="item-description"> </p> <p class="item-teaser mb-0">Many of today's grammar rules can be traced to the opinions of one 18th century writer.</p> </div> </div> <div class="video-item border-box" data-video-index="3"> <a class="image-anchor" href="/video/cynic"> <i class="vp-sb-icon">play</i> <span class="lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden"><img data-sizes="auto" alt="video cynic" is_retina="true" data-src="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-cynic-1133@1x.jpg" data-caption="" data-credit="" data-type="video" data-dim="vid-home-featured-carousel" data-ret-pref="video-cynic-1133" data-ret-x="1" data-srcset="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-cynic-1133@1x.jpg 1x, https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-cynic-1133@2x.jpg 2x" pair-id="1135" image-id="1133" srcset-img-1x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-cynic-1133@1x.jpg" srcset-img-2x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/video-cynic-1133@2x.jpg" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=="/></span> </a> <div class="sb-text-content"> <h5 class="item-title"><a href="cynic">The History of 'Cynic'</a></h5> <p class="item-description"> </p> <p class="item-teaser mb-0">How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.</p> </div> </div> <div class="video-item border-box" data-video-index="4"> <a class="image-anchor" href="/video/what-is-semantic-bleaching"> <i class="vp-sb-icon">play</i> <span class="lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden"><img data-sizes="auto" alt="semantic bleaching text on white background" is_retina="true" data-src="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-ba57ca1ea697d8032c59a83727e0cce4@1x.jpg" data-caption="" data-credit="" data-type="video" data-dim="vid-home-featured-carousel" data-ret-pref="semantic bleaching text on white background-8440-ba57ca1ea697d8032c59a83727e0cce4" data-ret-x="1" data-srcset="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-ba57ca1ea697d8032c59a83727e0cce4@1x.jpg 1x, https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-ba57ca1ea697d8032c59a83727e0cce4@2x.jpg 2x" pair-id="8442" image-id="8440" srcset-img-1x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-ba57ca1ea697d8032c59a83727e0cce4@1x.jpg" srcset-img-2x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-ba57ca1ea697d8032c59a83727e0cce4@2x.jpg" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=="/></span> </a> <div class="sb-text-content"> <h5 class="item-title"><a href="what-is-semantic-bleaching">What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'?</a></h5> <p class="item-description"> </p> <p class="item-teaser mb-0">How 'literally' can mean "figuratively"</p> </div> </div> <div class="video-item border-box" data-video-index="5"> <a class="image-anchor" href="/video/why-is-d-in-fridge-but-not-refrigerator"> <i class="vp-sb-icon">play</i> <span class="lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden"><img data-sizes="auto" alt="serenity carr next to an illustration of a refrigerator with the letter d in it" is_retina="true" data-src="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-a37544e481688cef2eaff77b7a8e639e@1x.jpg" data-caption="" data-credit="" data-type="video" data-dim="vid-home-featured-carousel" data-ret-pref="serenity carr next to an illustration of a refrigerator with the letter d in it-8385-a37544e481688cef2eaff77b7a8e639e" data-ret-x="1" data-srcset="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-a37544e481688cef2eaff77b7a8e639e@1x.jpg 1x, https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-a37544e481688cef2eaff77b7a8e639e@2x.jpg 2x" pair-id="8387" image-id="8385" srcset-img-1x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-a37544e481688cef2eaff77b7a8e639e@1x.jpg" srcset-img-2x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-a37544e481688cef2eaff77b7a8e639e@2x.jpg" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=="/></span> </a> <div class="sb-text-content"> <h5 class="item-title"><a href="why-is-d-in-fridge-but-not-refrigerator">Why is there a 'd' in 'fridge' but not in 'refrigerator'?</a></h5> <p class="item-description"> </p> <p class="item-teaser mb-0">Thawing one of the mysteries of English</p> </div> </div> <div class="video-item border-box" data-video-index="6"> <a class="image-anchor" href="/video/why-is-there-a-c-in-indict"> <i class="vp-sb-icon">play</i> <span class="lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden"><img data-sizes="auto" alt="peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic" is_retina="true" data-src="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-71e8aa909c836d24d3ea98aced45f6be@1x.jpg" data-caption="" data-credit="" data-type="video" data-dim="vid-home-featured-carousel" data-ret-pref="peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-71e8aa909c836d24d3ea98aced45f6be" data-ret-x="1" data-srcset="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-71e8aa909c836d24d3ea98aced45f6be@1x.jpg 1x, https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-71e8aa909c836d24d3ea98aced45f6be@2x.jpg 2x" pair-id="7373" image-id="7371" srcset-img-1x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-71e8aa909c836d24d3ea98aced45f6be@1x.jpg" srcset-img-2x="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/images/video/vid-home-featured-carousel/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-71e8aa909c836d24d3ea98aced45f6be@2x.jpg" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=="/></span> </a> <div class="sb-text-content"> <h5 class="item-title"><a href="why-is-there-a-c-in-indict">Video: Why Is There a 'C' in 'Indict'?</a></h5> <p class="item-description"> </p> <p class="item-teaser mb-0">And who put it there, anyway?</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>  </main> </div>  <div class="additional-content-area"> <div class="container-xxl games-footer-container pb-5"> <div class="content-section-promos content-section-with-header mb-5 mt-5"> <div class="content-section-header content-section-border-gold"> <div class="d-flex align-items-center"> <h2>Games & Quizzes</h2> <div class="ms-auto"> <a class="wap-see-all-link-btn fw-bold text-decoration-none d-flex justify-content-center 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Longer words score more points." data-src="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/static/images/games/iframe/blossom-word-game/485x364@1x.jpg" data-srcset="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/static/images/games/iframe/blossom-word-game/485x364@1x.jpg 1x, https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/static/images/games/iframe/blossom-word-game/485x364@2x.jpg 2x" data-dim="485x364" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=="></span> <div class="footer-recirc-card-overlay"> <span class="footer-recirc-card-overlay-title">Blossom Word Game</span> <span class="d-block footer-recirc-card-overlay-teaser">Pick the best words!</span> <div class="p-3 mt-auto"> <button type="button" class="btn take-quiz-btn">Play</button> </div> </div> </a> </div> <div class="col-md-3 col-sm-6 col-xs-12 pe-4 ps-4"> <a href="/games/missing-letter" class="footer-recirc-card d-block h-100 text-decoration-none"> <span class="lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden"><img data-sizes="auto" alt="Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. 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Which letter is missing?" data-src="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/static/images/games/iframe/missing-letter/485x364@1x.jpg" data-srcset="https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/static/images/games/iframe/missing-letter/485x364@1x.jpg 1x, https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/static/images/games/iframe/missing-letter/485x364@2x.jpg 2x" data-dim="485x364" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=="></span> <div class="footer-recirc-card-overlay"> <span class="footer-recirc-card-overlay-title">Missing Letter</span> <span class="d-block footer-recirc-card-overlay-teaser">A daily crossword with a twist</span> <div class="p-3 mt-auto"> <button type="button" class="btn take-quiz-btn">Play</button> </div> </div> </a> </div> <div class="col-md-3 col-sm-6 col-xs-12 pe-4 ps-4"> <a href="/games/giving-thanks" class="footer-recirc-card d-block h-100 text-decoration-none"> <div> <span class="lazyload-container ratio-3-2"><img 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You're going to want to \"nip it in the bud,\" rather than \"nip it in the butt.\" Think about flower buds being snipped before they bloom.","dek":"We're gonna stop you right there","teaser":"We're gonna stop you right there","youtube_video":null,"hosted_video":"\/mw\/video\/c1985ade0615721192a3b33788998c94.mp4","sub_file":"428.vtt","vtt":"1\n00:00:00.603 --> 00:00:03.550\n(jovial music)\n\n2\n00:00:03.550 --> 00:00:05.940\n<v ->Sometimes a word that sounds like the right word<\/v>\n\n3\n00:00:05.940 --> 00:00:07.600\nand feels like the right word\n\n4\n00:00:07.600 --> 00:00:09.700\nisn't actually the right word.\n\n5\n00:00:09.700 --> 00:00:11.470\nIt's an eggcorn.\n\n6\n00:00:11.470 --> 00:00:14.330\nYou don't nip something in the butt if you want to stop it\n\n7\n00:00:14.330 --> 00:00:15.490\nbefore it gets worse,\n\n8\n00:00:15.490 --> 00:00:17.790\nthough, maybe that would work in some cases.\n\n9\n00:00:17.790 --> 00:00:19.770\nNo, you nip it in the bud.\n\n10\n00:00:19.770 --> 00:00:21.580\nYou figuratively pinch off the bud\n\n11\n00:00:21.580 --> 00:00:23.993\nbefore it opens into a leaf or flower.","body":"Is it 'nip it in the butt' or 'nip it in the bud'? Senior Editor Emily Brewster explains.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Transcript<\/h2>\n\n<p>Sometimes a word that sounds like the right word and feels like the right word isn't actually the right word. It's an eggcorn. You don't nip something in the butt if you want to stop it before it gets worse, though, maybe that would work in some cases. No, you nip it in the bud. You figuratively pinch off the bud before it opens into a leaf or flower.","fb_legacy_url":null,"is_editor_choice":1,"is_archived":0,"is_published":1,"published_at":"2020-08-20 13:47:00","last_published_at":"2020-08-20 13:47:48","created_at":"2020-08-14 11:52:30","updated_at":"2022-04-17 20:57:16","tldr":null,"jw_id":"UTfjmMRz","promo_date":"2024-11-18","promo_type":"Filler","promo_index":3,"promo_bucket":"random","promo_category_type":"None","promo_category_index":0,"wap_category_path":"grammar","vc":"794,496","aName":"Emily Brewster","aUrl":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/eabrewster","aPublic":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/eabrewster","vid-home-featured-carousel":"<span class=\"lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden\"><img data-sizes=\"auto\" alt=\"woman and dog illustration\" is_retina=\"true\" data-src=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-373f9a9de191ebfa2c9204665a1bbdbe@1x.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" data-credit=\"\" data-type=\"video\" data-dim=\"vid-home-featured-carousel\" data-ret-pref=\"woman and dog illustration-7780-373f9a9de191ebfa2c9204665a1bbdbe\" data-ret-x=\"1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-373f9a9de191ebfa2c9204665a1bbdbe@1x.jpg 1x, https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-373f9a9de191ebfa2c9204665a1bbdbe@2x.jpg 2x\" pair-id=\"7782\" image-id=\"7780\" srcset-img-1x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-373f9a9de191ebfa2c9204665a1bbdbe@1x.jpg\" srcset-img-2x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-373f9a9de191ebfa2c9204665a1bbdbe@2x.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"\/><\/span>","vid-video-play-lg":"<span class=\"lazyload-container ratio-16-9\"><img data-sizes=\"auto\" alt=\"woman and dog illustration\" is_retina=\"true\" data-src=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-de9ade65bd40351292a5ed06d0a1da37@1x.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" data-credit=\"\" data-type=\"video\" data-dim=\"vid-video-play-lg\" data-ret-pref=\"woman and dog illustration-7780-de9ade65bd40351292a5ed06d0a1da37\" data-ret-x=\"1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-de9ade65bd40351292a5ed06d0a1da37@1x.jpg 1x, https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-de9ade65bd40351292a5ed06d0a1da37@2x.jpg 2x\" pair-id=\"7782\" image-id=\"7780\" srcset-img-1x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-de9ade65bd40351292a5ed06d0a1da37@1x.jpg\" srcset-img-2x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/woman%20and%20dog%20illustration-7780-de9ade65bd40351292a5ed06d0a1da37@2x.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"\/><\/span>","meta":{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/nip-it-in-the-butt-bud-eggcorn-video","title":"Nip it in the Butt or 'Nip it in the Bud? (Video) | Merriam-Webster","description":"You want to stop something before it gets worse or out of control? You're going to want to \"nip it in the bud,\" rather than \"nip it in the butt.\" Think about flower buds being snipped before they bloom.","keywords":"nip, nip (something) in the bud, Emily Brewster, video, merriam-webster, ask the editor","og":{"og:title":"Nip it in the Butt or 'Nip it in the Bud? (Video)","og:image":"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-edpick-lg\/woman and dog illustration-7780-974b688aa28af56c7718c145aaca3605@1x.jpg","og:url":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/nip-it-in-the-butt-bud-eggcorn-video","og:description":"We're gonna stop you right there","og:type":"article"},"twitter":{"twitter:title":"Nip it in the Butt or 'Nip it in the Bud? (Video)","twitter:image":"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-edpick-lg\/woman and dog illustration-7780-974b688aa28af56c7718c145aaca3605@1x.jpg","twitter:url":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/nip-it-in-the-butt-bud-eggcorn-video","twitter:description":"We're gonna stop you right there","twitter:share-text":"'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'?","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:site":"@MerriamWebster"}},"rubric":""},{"id":9,"image_pair_id":1132,"rubric_id":3,"feature_id":2,"app_id":"mw","name":"The Schwa","page_title":"What is the Schwa Sound?","slug":"schwa","meta_tags":null,"meta_description":"The schwa is one significant reason that English is difficult to spell. A single sound that can be spelled many different ways leads to occasional confusion for almost all of us.","dek":"The most common vowel sound in English causes many spelling problems.","teaser":"The most common vowel sound in English causes many spelling problems.","youtube_video":null,"hosted_video":"\/mw\/video\/0054-schwa.mp4","sub_file":"9.vtt","vtt":"WEBVTT\r\n\r\n1\r\n00:00:00.567 --> 00:00:02.092\r\n- Welcome to Ask the Editor.\r\n\r\n2\r\n00:00:02.092 --> 00:00:05.686\r\nI am Peter Sokolowski, Editor at Large at Merriam-Webster.\r\n\r\n3\r\n00:00:05.686 --> 00:00:07.680\r\nChances are you've never heard of the schwa\r\n\r\n4\r\n00:00:07.680 --> 00:00:09.394\r\nbut you certainly heard it.\r\n\r\n5\r\n00:00:09.394 --> 00:00:12.438\r\nThe schwa is the most common vowel sound in English\r\n\r\n6\r\n00:00:12.438 --> 00:00:15.104\r\nand the phonetic symbol that stands for it.\r\n\r\n7\r\n00:00:15.104 --> 00:00:17.577\r\nThat funny upside down E that you see\r\n\r\n8\r\n00:00:17.577 --> 00:00:19.835\r\nin the pronunciation symbols in dictionaries.\r\n\r\n9\r\n00:00:19.835 --> 00:00:21.021\r\nThe sound can be spelled\r\n\r\n10\r\n00:00:21.021 --> 00:00:23.921\r\nwith an A, E, I,\r\n\r\n11\r\n00:00:23.954 --> 00:00:26.704\r\nO, U or Y\r\n\r\n12\r\n00:00:26.840 --> 00:00:30.485\r\nby many combinations of letters or by no letters at all.\r\n\r\n13\r\n00:00:30.485 --> 00:00:32.940\r\nThe schwa stands for the sound \"uh\",\r\n\r\n14\r\n00:00:32.940 --> 00:00:36.868\r\nas in the first and last syllables of America and banana.\r\n\r\n15\r\n00:00:36.868 --> 00:00:40.527\r\nIt's the E in racket, the I in pencil,\r\n\r\n16\r\n00:00:40.527 --> 00:00:43.785\r\nthe O in bacon, the U in lawful\r\n\r\n17\r\n00:00:44.056 --> 00:00:46.939\r\nand the second Y in polypropylene.\r\n\r\n18\r\n00:00:46.939 --> 00:00:50.741\r\nIt's the combination AI in mountain and fountain.\r\n\r\n19\r\n00:00:50.741 --> 00:00:53.855\r\nIt's the vowel sound of the second syllable of rhythm,\r\n\r\n20\r\n00:00:53.855 --> 00:00:55.590\r\nspelled with no vowels at all.\r\n\r\n21\r\n00:00:55.590 --> 00:00:58.683\r\nSome people even sneak the sound into the middle of words,\r\n\r\n22\r\n00:00:58.683 --> 00:01:00.203\r\nlike athlete.\r\n\r\n23\r\n00:01:00.203 --> 00:01:01.981\r\nAnd although it's most common\r\n\r\n24\r\n00:01:01.981 --> 00:01:04.435\r\nin unstressed syllables such as these,\r\n\r\n25\r\n00:01:04.435 --> 00:01:07.915\r\nit can also be stressed as in both syllables of humdrum\r\n\r\n26\r\n00:01:07.915 --> 00:01:10.259\r\nand the second syllable of abut,\r\n\r\n27\r\n00:01:10.259 --> 00:01:14.426\r\nas well as single syllable words like fun, duck and love.\r\n\r\n28\r\n00:01:14.736 --> 00:01:18.408\r\nThe word schwa came to English through German from Hebrew.\r\n\r\n29\r\n00:01:18.408 --> 00:01:21.257\r\nThe modern symbol was introduced into English phonetics\r\n\r\n30\r\n00:01:21.257 --> 00:01:24.567\r\nin the 19th century by Alexander John Ellis,\r\n\r\n31\r\n00:01:24.567 --> 00:01:26.036\r\nthe British linguist who was the model\r\n\r\n32\r\n00:01:26.036 --> 00:01:28.462\r\nfor Henry Higgins in my fair lady.\r\n\r\n33\r\n00:01:28.462 --> 00:01:30.870\r\nThe use of turned or upside down letters\r\n\r\n34\r\n00:01:30.870 --> 00:01:33.834\r\nas phonetic characters started for practical reasons.\r\n\r\n35\r\n00:01:33.834 --> 00:01:35.706\r\nPrinters already had the symbol,\r\n\r\n36\r\n00:01:35.706 --> 00:01:38.978\r\nall they had to do was turn the metal letter upside down.\r\n\r\n37\r\n00:01:38.978 --> 00:01:42.539\r\nIt was first used by Merriam-Webster in 1959.\r\n\r\n38\r\n00:01:42.539 --> 00:01:44.279\r\nThe schwa is one significant reason\r\n\r\n39\r\n00:01:44.279 --> 00:01:46.653\r\nthat English is difficult to spell.\r\n\r\n40\r\n00:01:46.653 --> 00:01:49.544\r\nA single sound that can be spelled many different ways\r\n\r\n41\r\n00:01:49.544 --> 00:01:53.105\r\nleads to occasional confusion for almost all of us.\r\n\r\n42\r\n00:01:53.105 --> 00:01:56.580\r\nAnd even the very best spellers sometimes have to admit,\r\n\r\n43\r\n00:01:56.580 --> 00:01:59.382\r\nI fought the schwa and the schwa won.\r\n\r\n44\r\n00:01:59.382 --> 00:02:02.521\r\nLook for more videos at merriam-webster.com.\r\n\r\n","body":"The schwa is one significant reason that English is difficult to spell. A single sound that can be spelled many different ways leads to occasional confusion for almost all of us. And even the very best spellers sometimes have to admit, I fought the schwa and the schwa won.","fb_legacy_url":"\/video\/0054-schwa.htm","is_editor_choice":0,"is_archived":0,"is_published":1,"published_at":"2014-05-29 03:20:00","last_published_at":"2014-05-29 03:20:00","created_at":"2014-05-29 15:20:09","updated_at":"2022-04-14 13:54:17","tldr":null,"jw_id":"dW4l4BCQ","promo_date":null,"promo_type":"None","promo_index":1,"promo_bucket":"none","promo_category_type":"None","promo_category_index":0,"wap_category_path":"grammar","vc":"167,272","aName":"Peter Sokolowski","aUrl":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PeterSokolowski\/","aPublic":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PeterSokolowski\/","vid-video-play-lg":"<span class=\"lazyload-container ratio-16-9\"><img data-sizes=\"auto\" alt=\"video schwa\" is_retina=\"true\" data-src=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-schwa-1130@1x.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" data-credit=\"\" data-type=\"video\" data-dim=\"vid-video-play-lg\" data-ret-pref=\"video-schwa-1130\" data-ret-x=\"1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-schwa-1130@1x.jpg 1x, https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-schwa-1130@2x.jpg 2x\" pair-id=\"1132\" image-id=\"1130\" srcset-img-1x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-schwa-1130@1x.jpg\" srcset-img-2x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-schwa-1130@2x.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"\/><\/span>","vid-home-featured-carousel":"<span class=\"lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden\"><img data-sizes=\"auto\" alt=\"video schwa\" is_retina=\"true\" data-src=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-schwa-1130@1x.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" data-credit=\"\" data-type=\"video\" data-dim=\"vid-home-featured-carousel\" data-ret-pref=\"video-schwa-1130\" data-ret-x=\"1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-schwa-1130@1x.jpg 1x, https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-schwa-1130@2x.jpg 2x\" pair-id=\"1132\" image-id=\"1130\" srcset-img-1x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-schwa-1130@1x.jpg\" srcset-img-2x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-schwa-1130@2x.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"\/><\/span>","meta":{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/schwa","title":"What is the Schwa Sound? (Video) | Merriam-Webster","description":"The schwa is one significant reason that English is difficult to spell. A single sound that can be spelled many different ways leads to occasional confusion for almost all of us.","keywords":"schwa, vowel, Peter Sokolowski, video, merriam-webster, ask the editor","og":{"og:title":"What is the Schwa Sound? (Video)","og:image":"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-edpick-lg\/video-schwa-1130@1x.jpg","og:url":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/schwa","og:description":"The most common vowel sound in English causes many spelling problems.","og:type":"article"},"twitter":{"twitter:title":"What is the Schwa Sound? (Video)","twitter:image":"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-edpick-lg\/video-schwa-1130@1x.jpg","twitter:url":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/schwa","twitter:description":"The most common vowel sound in English causes many spelling problems.","twitter:share-text":"The Schwa","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:site":"@MerriamWebster"}},"rubric":"Usage Notes"},{"id":8,"image_pair_id":1131,"rubric_id":3,"feature_id":3,"app_id":"mw","name":"Old-School Grammar","page_title":"Old-School Grammar","slug":"old-school-grammar","meta_tags":null,"meta_description":"","dek":"Many of today's grammar rules can be traced to the opinions of one 18th century writer.","teaser":"Many of today's grammar rules can be traced to the opinions of one 18th century writer.","youtube_video":null,"hosted_video":"\/mw\/video\/0055-oldschoolgrammar.mp4","sub_file":"8.vtt","vtt":"WEBVTT\r\n\r\n1\r\n00:00:00.706 --> 00:00:02.159\r\n- Welcome to Ask the Editor.\r\n\r\n2\r\n00:00:02.159 --> 00:00:05.600\r\nI'm Emily Brewster, an associate editor at Merriam-Webster.\r\n\r\n3\r\n00:00:05.600 --> 00:00:09.220\r\nCompetent writers sometimes apologize in their emails to us.\r\n\r\n4\r\n00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:11.221\r\nThey're sure they've made some error that's going\r\n\r\n5\r\n00:00:11.221 --> 00:00:13.331\r\nto raise eyebrows here.\r\n\r\n6\r\n00:00:13.331 --> 00:00:15.371\r\nI think they'd be a little less insecure,\r\n\r\n7\r\n00:00:15.371 --> 00:00:17.141\r\nif they knew just where the language rules\r\n\r\n8\r\n00:00:17.141 --> 00:00:19.872\r\nthey're afraid of breaking came from.\r\n\r\n9\r\n00:00:19.872 --> 00:00:22.619\r\nThe story begins in the 16th century.\r\n\r\n10\r\n00:00:22.619 --> 00:00:24.600\r\nThe English finally got in on the Renaissance,\r\n\r\n11\r\n00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:26.851\r\nand the English language got a new job,\r\n\r\n12\r\n00:00:26.851 --> 00:00:30.112\r\nas a vehicle for literature and serious discourse.\r\n\r\n13\r\n00:00:30.112 --> 00:00:33.378\r\nSuddenly its vocabulary, grammar and spelling mattered.\r\n\r\n14\r\n00:00:33.378 --> 00:00:36.283\r\nBy the mid 17th century, English had its very own\r\n\r\n15\r\n00:00:36.283 --> 00:00:38.830\r\ndictionary, and a few grammar books.\r\n\r\n16\r\n00:00:38.830 --> 00:00:42.569\r\nThe 18th century saw the advent of usage books,\r\n\r\n17\r\n00:00:42.569 --> 00:00:44.398\r\nbooks specifically about the proper use\r\n\r\n18\r\n00:00:44.398 --> 00:00:46.781\r\nof words and phrases.\r\n\r\n19\r\n00:00:46.781 --> 00:00:50.480\r\nOne of these was written anonymously by a Robert Baker,\r\n\r\n20\r\n00:00:50.480 --> 00:00:53.581\r\nwho, he admitted, knew little Latin, and less Greek,\r\n\r\n21\r\n00:00:53.581 --> 00:00:56.339\r\nowned no books, and had no educated friends\r\n\r\n22\r\n00:00:56.339 --> 00:00:58.200\r\nto run his ideas by.\r\n\r\n23\r\n00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:00.850\r\nHe did, though, have a command of both English and French,\r\n\r\n24\r\n00:01:00.850 --> 00:01:04.219\r\nand some very strong opinions about what sounded good.\r\n\r\n25\r\n00:01:04.219 --> 00:01:07.136\r\nHe preferred humorous to humorsome.\r\n\r\n26\r\n00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:10.440\r\nHe liked the phrasing in, 'so well made a house'\r\n\r\n27\r\n00:01:10.440 --> 00:01:13.107\r\nbut not, 'a so well made house.'\r\n\r\n28\r\n00:01:13.152 --> 00:01:14.994\r\nHe gave it is I, the thumbs up,\r\n\r\n29\r\n00:01:14.994 --> 00:01:17.489\r\nand it is me, the thumbs down.\r\n\r\n30\r\n00:01:17.489 --> 00:01:19.592\r\nHe sometimes expressed uncertainty.\r\n\r\n31\r\n00:01:19.592 --> 00:01:21.720\r\nHe wasn't sure if the at, in:\r\n\r\n32\r\n00:01:21.720 --> 00:01:24.472\r\nIt was wondered at that he should marry so late in life.\r\n\r\n33\r\n00:01:24.472 --> 00:01:26.872\r\ncould be deleted, or not.\r\n\r\n34\r\n00:01:26.872 --> 00:01:29.451\r\nAnd he admitted to basing some recommendations\r\n\r\n35\r\n00:01:29.451 --> 00:01:31.592\r\non little more than personal taste,\r\n\r\n36\r\n00:01:31.592 --> 00:01:33.941\r\nas with the famous rule about fewer being used\r\n\r\n37\r\n00:01:33.941 --> 00:01:37.799\r\nfor countable things, and less for uncountable things.\r\n\r\n38\r\n00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:40.336\r\nMostly though, he wanted people to stop confusing\r\n\r\n39\r\n00:01:40.336 --> 00:01:42.877\r\nsimilar words: imminent and eminent,\r\n\r\n40\r\n00:01:42.877 --> 00:01:44.549\r\npurpose and propose,\r\n\r\n41\r\n00:01:44.549 --> 00:01:45.549\r\nlay and lie.\r\n\r\n42\r\n00:01:46.741 --> 00:01:48.359\r\nI've developed some affection for Baker\r\n\r\n43\r\n00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:51.512\r\nand the other trailblazing 18th century grammarians.\r\n\r\n44\r\n00:01:51.512 --> 00:01:53.851\r\nAfter all, they started some conversations\r\n\r\n45\r\n00:01:53.851 --> 00:01:55.512\r\nwe're still having.\r\n\r\n46\r\n00:01:55.512 --> 00:01:57.792\r\nPerhaps the blame for our linguistic insecurity\r\n\r\n47\r\n00:01:57.792 --> 00:02:00.291\r\nreally belongs to the pundits, who've been treating\r\n\r\n48\r\n00:02:00.291 --> 00:02:04.258\r\ntheir opinions as law for the past 200 plus years.\r\n\r\n49\r\n00:02:04.258 --> 00:02:06.492\r\nBut that's a topic for another video.\r\n\r\n50\r\n00:02:06.492 --> 00:02:08.605\r\nFor more from our Ask the Editor series,\r\n\r\n51\r\n00:02:08.605 --> 00:02:10.772\r\nvisit merriam-webster.com.\r\n\r\n","body":"Many of today's grammar rules can be traced to the opinions of one 18th century writer.","fb_legacy_url":"\/video\/0055-oldschoolgrammar.htm","is_editor_choice":0,"is_archived":0,"is_published":1,"published_at":"2014-09-19 00:33:00","last_published_at":"2014-09-19 00:33:00","created_at":"2014-09-19 12:33:32","updated_at":"2022-05-17 15:03:16","tldr":null,"jw_id":"G1UuUsx9","promo_date":null,"promo_type":"None","promo_index":1,"promo_bucket":"none","promo_category_type":"None","promo_category_index":0,"wap_category_path":"grammar","vc":"243,433","aName":"Emily Brewster","aUrl":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/eabrewster","aPublic":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/eabrewster","vid-video-play-lg":"<span class=\"lazyload-container ratio-16-9\"><img data-sizes=\"auto\" alt=\"video old school grammar humorsome\" is_retina=\"true\" data-src=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@1x.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" data-credit=\"\" data-type=\"video\" data-dim=\"vid-video-play-lg\" data-ret-pref=\"video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129\" data-ret-x=\"1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@1x.jpg 1x, https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@2x.jpg 2x\" pair-id=\"1131\" image-id=\"1129\" srcset-img-1x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@1x.jpg\" srcset-img-2x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@2x.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"\/><\/span>","vid-home-featured-carousel":"<span class=\"lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden\"><img data-sizes=\"auto\" alt=\"video old school grammar humorsome\" is_retina=\"true\" data-src=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@1x.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" data-credit=\"\" data-type=\"video\" data-dim=\"vid-home-featured-carousel\" data-ret-pref=\"video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129\" data-ret-x=\"1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@1x.jpg 1x, https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@2x.jpg 2x\" pair-id=\"1131\" image-id=\"1129\" srcset-img-1x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@1x.jpg\" srcset-img-2x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@2x.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"\/><\/span>","meta":{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/old-school-grammar","title":"Old-School Grammar (Video) | Merriam-Webster","description":"Many of today's grammar rules can be traced to the opinions of one 18th century writer. Featuring Emily Brewster","keywords":"Emily Brewster, video, merriam-webster, ask the editor","og":{"og:title":"Old-School Grammar (Video)","og:image":"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-edpick-lg\/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@1x.jpg","og:url":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/old-school-grammar","og:description":"Many of today's grammar rules can be traced to the opinions of one 18th century writer.","og:type":"article"},"twitter":{"twitter:title":"Old-School Grammar (Video)","twitter:image":"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-edpick-lg\/video-old-school-grammar-humorsome-1129@1x.jpg","twitter:url":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/old-school-grammar","twitter:description":"Many of today's grammar rules can be traced to the opinions of one 18th century writer.","twitter:share-text":"Old-School Grammar","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:site":"@MerriamWebster"}},"rubric":"Usage Notes"},{"id":11,"image_pair_id":1135,"rubric_id":2,"feature_id":3,"app_id":"mw","name":"The History of 'Cynic'","page_title":"History of the Word 'Cynic'","slug":"cynic","meta_tags":null,"meta_description":"How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.","dek":"How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.","teaser":"How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.","youtube_video":null,"hosted_video":"\/mw\/video\/0052-cynic.mp4","sub_file":"11.vtt","vtt":"WEBVTT\r\n\r\n1\r\n00:00:01.115 --> 00:00:02.703\r\n- Welcome to Ask the Editor.\r\n\r\n2\r\n00:00:02.703 --> 00:00:06.815\r\nI'm Emily Brewster, an associate editor at Merriam-Webster.\r\n\r\n3\r\n00:00:06.815 --> 00:00:08.811\r\nModern cynics believe that people\r\n\r\n4\r\n00:00:08.811 --> 00:00:11.983\r\nare motivated wholly by self-interest.\r\n\r\n5\r\n00:00:11.983 --> 00:00:13.736\r\nThe first cynics, those members\r\n\r\n6\r\n00:00:13.736 --> 00:00:17.460\r\nof the ancient Greek philosophical sect our word comes from,\r\n\r\n7\r\n00:00:17.460 --> 00:00:19.743\r\nbelieved that virtue was the only good\r\n\r\n8\r\n00:00:19.743 --> 00:00:20.790\r\nand that it could be achieved\r\n\r\n9\r\n00:00:20.790 --> 00:00:23.583\r\nthrough poverty and self-sufficiency.\r\n\r\n10\r\n00:00:23.583 --> 00:00:26.090\r\nSo how did we get form the pursuit of virtue\r\n\r\n11\r\n00:00:26.090 --> 00:00:28.305\r\nto the cynical eye-roll?\r\n\r\n12\r\n00:00:28.305 --> 00:00:31.181\r\nThe word cynic comes form the Greek word, kynikos,\r\n\r\n13\r\n00:00:31.181 --> 00:00:33.026\r\nmeaning like a dog.\r\n\r\n14\r\n00:00:33.026 --> 00:00:35.433\r\nThe name may come from Cynosarges,\r\n\r\n15\r\n00:00:35.433 --> 00:00:38.067\r\nthe gymnasium where one of the early cynics taught.\r\n\r\n16\r\n00:00:38.067 --> 00:00:40.356\r\nIt's name is translated variously as\r\n\r\n17\r\n00:00:40.356 --> 00:00:43.730\r\nwhite dog, quick dog and even dog's meat.\r\n\r\n18\r\n00:00:43.730 --> 00:00:46.134\r\nOr it may come form Diogenes,\r\n\r\n19\r\n00:00:46.134 --> 00:00:48.465\r\nthe cynic who really set the movement going\r\n\r\n20\r\n00:00:48.465 --> 00:00:50.589\r\nand who was known for barking his beliefs\r\n\r\n21\r\n00:00:50.589 --> 00:00:53.545\r\namong other dog-like behaviors.\r\n\r\n22\r\n00:00:53.545 --> 00:00:56.384\r\nThe cynics embraced the name and its implication\r\n\r\n23\r\n00:00:56.384 --> 00:00:59.816\r\nthat they were like 4th BC Athenian dogs,\r\n\r\n24\r\n00:00:59.816 --> 00:01:03.957\r\nwhich, by association, were likely not fixed or trained,\r\n\r\n25\r\n00:01:03.957 --> 00:01:06.079\r\nbecause the cynics, they sure weren't.\r\n\r\n26\r\n00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:08.288\r\nThey rejected social conventions\r\n\r\n27\r\n00:01:08.288 --> 00:01:09.789\r\nand the very notion of shame\r\n\r\n28\r\n00:01:09.789 --> 00:01:11.999\r\nand they were not quiet about it.\r\n\r\n29\r\n00:01:11.999 --> 00:01:13.463\r\nDiogenes himself was known\r\n\r\n30\r\n00:01:13.463 --> 00:01:17.398\r\nfor doing the most private deeds in public, as dogs do.\r\n\r\n31\r\n00:01:17.398 --> 00:01:20.479\r\nHe also lived outside in a kind of tub.\r\n\r\n32\r\n00:01:20.479 --> 00:01:23.748\r\nThe English word cynic was first used in the 16th century\r\n\r\n33\r\n00:01:23.748 --> 00:01:25.666\r\nto refer to the Greek cynics.\r\n\r\n34\r\n00:01:25.666 --> 00:01:27.593\r\nEnglish speakers apparently didn't think\r\n\r\n35\r\n00:01:27.593 --> 00:01:29.424\r\ntoo highly of the cynics though,\r\n\r\n36\r\n00:01:29.424 --> 00:01:31.871\r\nbecause in a few decades they were using cynic\r\n\r\n37\r\n00:01:31.871 --> 00:01:33.618\r\nfor any faultfinding critic.\r\n\r\n38\r\n00:01:33.618 --> 00:01:34.779\r\nEspecially one who thinks\r\n\r\n39\r\n00:01:34.779 --> 00:01:38.355\r\npeople are motivated wholly by self-interest.\r\n\r\n40\r\n00:01:38.355 --> 00:01:39.979\r\nThe semantic leap is, I think,\r\n\r\n41\r\n00:01:39.979 --> 00:01:41.937\r\na little unfair to the Greek cynics,\r\n\r\n42\r\n00:01:41.937 --> 00:01:43.396\r\nwho seem to have been more about living\r\n\r\n43\r\n00:01:43.396 --> 00:01:44.822\r\naccording to their ideals\r\n\r\n44\r\n00:01:44.822 --> 00:01:46.731\r\nthan in making sweeping generalizations\r\n\r\n45\r\n00:01:46.731 --> 00:01:49.026\r\nabout human motivations.\r\n\r\n46\r\n00:01:49.026 --> 00:01:50.490\r\nMaybe in tribute to the Greek cynics\r\n\r\n47\r\n00:01:50.490 --> 00:01:53.383\r\nwe could convince the modern ones to replace their sneers\r\n\r\n48\r\n00:01:53.383 --> 00:01:55.916\r\nwith a little tail-wagging now and again.\r\n\r\n49\r\n00:01:55.916 --> 00:01:59.317\r\nOr to at least make a goal of living in a tub for a while.\r\n\r\n50\r\n00:01:59.317 --> 00:02:01.350\r\nFor more Ask the Editor videos,\r\n\r\n51\r\n00:02:01.350 --> 00:02:04.718\r\nclick on the videos link at merriam-webster.com.\r\n\r\n","body":"How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.","fb_legacy_url":"\/video\/0052-cynic.htm","is_editor_choice":0,"is_archived":0,"is_published":1,"published_at":"2014-03-14 03:27:00","last_published_at":"2014-03-14 03:27:00","created_at":"2014-03-14 15:27:50","updated_at":"2022-03-28 23:52:17","tldr":null,"jw_id":"GJVHKK2l","promo_date":null,"promo_type":"None","promo_index":1,"promo_bucket":"none","promo_category_type":"None","promo_category_index":0,"wap_category_path":"wordplay","vc":"41,109","aName":"Emily Brewster","aUrl":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/eabrewster","aPublic":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/eabrewster","vid-video-play-lg":"<span class=\"lazyload-container ratio-16-9\"><img data-sizes=\"auto\" alt=\"video cynic\" is_retina=\"true\" data-src=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-cynic-1133@1x.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" data-credit=\"\" data-type=\"video\" data-dim=\"vid-video-play-lg\" data-ret-pref=\"video-cynic-1133\" data-ret-x=\"1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-cynic-1133@1x.jpg 1x, https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-cynic-1133@2x.jpg 2x\" pair-id=\"1135\" image-id=\"1133\" srcset-img-1x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-cynic-1133@1x.jpg\" srcset-img-2x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/video-cynic-1133@2x.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"\/><\/span>","vid-home-featured-carousel":"<span class=\"lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden\"><img data-sizes=\"auto\" alt=\"video cynic\" is_retina=\"true\" data-src=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-cynic-1133@1x.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" data-credit=\"\" data-type=\"video\" data-dim=\"vid-home-featured-carousel\" data-ret-pref=\"video-cynic-1133\" data-ret-x=\"1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-cynic-1133@1x.jpg 1x, https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-cynic-1133@2x.jpg 2x\" pair-id=\"1135\" image-id=\"1133\" srcset-img-1x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-cynic-1133@1x.jpg\" srcset-img-2x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/video-cynic-1133@2x.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"\/><\/span>","meta":{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/cynic","title":"History of the Word 'Cynic' (Video) | Merriam-Webster","description":"How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.","keywords":"History, Word History, cynic, cynical, Emily Brewster, video, merriam-webster, ask the editor","og":{"og:title":"History of the Word 'Cynic' (Video)","og:image":"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-edpick-lg\/video-cynic-1133@1x.jpg","og:url":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/cynic","og:description":"How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.","og:type":"article"},"twitter":{"twitter:title":"History of the Word 'Cynic' (Video)","twitter:image":"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-edpick-lg\/video-cynic-1133@1x.jpg","twitter:url":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/cynic","twitter:description":"How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.","twitter:share-text":"The History of 'Cynic'","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:site":"@MerriamWebster"}},"rubric":"Word History"},{"id":432,"image_pair_id":8442,"rubric_id":null,"feature_id":2,"app_id":"mw","name":"What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'?","page_title":"What is Semantic Bleaching?","slug":"what-is-semantic-bleaching","meta_tags":null,"meta_description":"How did a word like literally come to also mean something the opposite of its literal roots? And why do words like fantastic and really get a pass? Here's the story of semantic bleaching.","dek":"Or, how 'literally' can mean \"figuratively\"","teaser":"How 'literally' can mean \"figuratively\"","youtube_video":null,"hosted_video":"\/mw\/video\/2fb5b492f45e88f3a1ca19b54af4cef2.mp4","sub_file":"432.vtt","vtt":"1\n00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:02.300 line:15% \n(upbeat music)\n\n2\n00:00:02.300 --> 00:00:05.070 line:15% \n<v ->Many people complain about the use of the word literally<\/v>\n\n3\n00:00:05.070 --> 00:00:08.570 line:15% \nin a way that seems well, non-literal.\n\n4\n00:00:08.570 --> 00:00:11.740\nThis is because figurative use of the word as in,\n\n5\n00:00:11.740 --> 00:00:14.960\nI literally died laughing seems to contradict the meaning\n\n6\n00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:19.550\nof the Latin root of literally littera, which means letter.\n\n7\n00:00:19.550 --> 00:00:21.900\nThe problem some people have with literally\n\n8\n00:00:21.900 --> 00:00:24.030\nis that it's a mushy adverb.\n\n9\n00:00:24.030 --> 00:00:28.270\nIf we removed it from our example and said, I died laughing,\n\n10\n00:00:28.270 --> 00:00:30.340\nthe sentence is understood in precisely\n\n11\n00:00:31.258 --> 00:00:35.170\nthe same non-literal way as hyperbole or exaggeration.\n\n12\n00:00:35.170 --> 00:00:38.120\nAdding literally just adds emphasis.\n\n13\n00:00:38.120 --> 00:00:41.026\nIt's the salt in the stew, because the burden of meaning\n\n14\n00:00:41.026 --> 00:00:44.580\nis on the other words, died laughing.\n\n15\n00:00:44.580 --> 00:00:46.480\nTherefore, if literally is added\n\n16\n00:00:46.480 --> 00:00:48.950\nand no change results in the meaning,\n\n17\n00:00:48.950 --> 00:00:52.010\nthen literally literally carries little meaning\n\n18\n00:00:52.010 --> 00:00:54.040\nin this particular sentence.\n\n19\n00:00:54.040 --> 00:00:56.400\nThis reduction of a word's intensity\n\n20\n00:00:56.400 --> 00:00:58.720\nis called semantic bleaching.\n\n21\n00:00:58.720 --> 00:01:01.240\nAnd it's a linguistic phenomenon that is more common\n\n22\n00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:02.850\nthan you may realize.\n\n23\n00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:04.490\nWhen you say have a great day,\n\n24\n00:01:04.490 --> 00:01:06.750\nyou don't mean have a day that is large\n\n25\n00:01:06.750 --> 00:01:08.480\nin spatial dimension.\n\n26\n00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:10.480\nAnd when you say that movie was awesome,\n\n27\n00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:14.020\nyou don't necessarily mean that movie was expressive of awe\n\n28\n00:01:14.020 --> 00:01:15.370\nor terror.\n\n29\n00:01:15.370 --> 00:01:17.986\nWords like great and awesome and fantastic,\n\n30\n00:01:17.986 --> 00:01:22.986\namazing, awful, very, really, ultimately\n\n31\n00:01:23.029 --> 00:01:25.730\nand actually, have meanings\n\n32\n00:01:25.730 --> 00:01:29.010\nthat have become less literal over time.\n\n33\n00:01:29.010 --> 00:01:31.040\nSometimes it seems as though literally\n\n34\n00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:33.820\nis held to an adverbial double standard\n\n35\n00:01:33.820 --> 00:01:37.100\nthat makes many people question its use as an intensifier.\n\n36\n00:01:37.100 --> 00:01:39.760\nWhile other words, with similar patterns of usage\n\n37\n00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:42.390\nseem to pass without criticism.\n\n38\n00:01:42.390 --> 00:01:44.830\nIt's important to be careful about language use,\n\n39\n00:01:44.830 --> 00:01:46.280\nbut it's also important to acknowledge\n\n40\n00:01:46.280 --> 00:01:48.000\nthat language is flexible\n\n41\n00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:50.780\nand words can have several different meanings.\n\n42\n00:01:50.780 --> 00:01:53.310\nAnd anyway effective use of intensifiers\n\n43\n00:01:53.310 --> 00:01:55.550\nmeans using them sparingly.\n\n44\n00:01:55.550 --> 00:01:57.283\nIt's literally up to you.","body":"How did a word like <em>literally<\/em> come to also mean something seemingly the opposite of its literal roots? And why do words like <em>fantastic<\/em> and <em>really<\/em> get a pass? Peter Sokolowski digs into the phenomenon known as semantic bleaching. <\/p>\n\n<h2>Transcript<\/h2>\n\n<p>Many people complain about the use of the word <em>literally<\/em> in a way that seems well, non-literal. This is because figurative use of the word, as in, \"I literally died laughing,\" seems to contradict the meaning of the Latin root of <em>literally<\/em>, <em>littera<\/em>, which means \"letter.\" The problem some people have with <em>literally<\/em> is that it's a mushy adverb. If we removed it from our example and said \"I died laughing,\" the sentence is understood in precisely the same non-literal way as hyperbole or exaggeration. Adding <em>literally<\/em> just adds emphasis. It's the salt in the stew, because the burden of meaning is on the other words, <em>died<\/em>, <em>laughing<\/em>. Therefore, if <em>literally<\/em> is added and no change results in the meaning, then <em>literally<\/em> literally carries little meaning in this particular sentence. This reduction of a word's intensity is called semantic bleaching. And it's a linguistic phenomenon that is more common than you may realize. When you say \"have a great day,\" you don't mean have a day that is large in spatial dimension. And when you say \"that movie was awesome,\" you don't necessarily mean that movie was expressive of awe or terror. Words like <em>great<\/em> and <em>awesome<\/em> and <em>fantastic<\/em>, <em>amazing<\/em>, <em>awful<\/em>, <em>very<\/em>, <em>really<\/em>, <em>ultimately<\/em>, and <em>actually<\/em> have meanings that have become less literal over time. Sometimes it seems as though <em>literally<\/em> is held to an adverbial double standard that makes many people question its use as an intensifier. While other words, with similar patterns of usage seem to pass without criticism. It's important to be careful about language use, but it's also important to acknowledge that language is flexible and words can have several different meanings. And anyway, effective use of intensifiers means using them sparingly. It's literally up to you.","fb_legacy_url":null,"is_editor_choice":0,"is_archived":0,"is_published":1,"published_at":"2021-06-16 15:54:00","last_published_at":"2021-06-16 15:54:12","created_at":"2021-06-16 15:44:48","updated_at":"2022-04-17 20:58:23","tldr":null,"jw_id":"hgl9lrZi","promo_date":null,"promo_type":"None","promo_index":1,"promo_bucket":"none","promo_category_type":"None","promo_category_index":0,"wap_category_path":"grammar","vc":"105,432","aName":"Peter Sokolowski","aUrl":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PeterSokolowski\/","aPublic":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PeterSokolowski\/","vid-home-featured-carousel":"<span class=\"lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden\"><img data-sizes=\"auto\" alt=\"semantic bleaching text on white background\" is_retina=\"true\" data-src=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-ba57ca1ea697d8032c59a83727e0cce4@1x.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" data-credit=\"\" data-type=\"video\" data-dim=\"vid-home-featured-carousel\" data-ret-pref=\"semantic bleaching text on white background-8440-ba57ca1ea697d8032c59a83727e0cce4\" data-ret-x=\"1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-ba57ca1ea697d8032c59a83727e0cce4@1x.jpg 1x, https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-ba57ca1ea697d8032c59a83727e0cce4@2x.jpg 2x\" pair-id=\"8442\" image-id=\"8440\" srcset-img-1x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-ba57ca1ea697d8032c59a83727e0cce4@1x.jpg\" srcset-img-2x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-ba57ca1ea697d8032c59a83727e0cce4@2x.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"\/><\/span>","vid-video-play-lg":"<span class=\"lazyload-container ratio-16-9\"><img data-sizes=\"auto\" alt=\"semantic bleaching text on white background\" is_retina=\"true\" data-src=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-31f43e31cf85cea082ace5d7d5a9be57@1x.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" data-credit=\"\" data-type=\"video\" data-dim=\"vid-video-play-lg\" data-ret-pref=\"semantic bleaching text on white background-8440-31f43e31cf85cea082ace5d7d5a9be57\" data-ret-x=\"1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-31f43e31cf85cea082ace5d7d5a9be57@1x.jpg 1x, https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-31f43e31cf85cea082ace5d7d5a9be57@2x.jpg 2x\" pair-id=\"8442\" image-id=\"8440\" srcset-img-1x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-31f43e31cf85cea082ace5d7d5a9be57@1x.jpg\" srcset-img-2x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/semantic%20bleaching%20text%20on%20white%20background-8440-31f43e31cf85cea082ace5d7d5a9be57@2x.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"\/><\/span>","meta":{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/what-is-semantic-bleaching","title":"What is Semantic Bleaching? (Video) | Merriam-Webster","description":"How did a word like literally come to also mean something the opposite of its literal roots? And why do words like fantastic and really get a pass? Here's the story of semantic bleaching.","keywords":"Peter Sokolowski, video, merriam-webster, ask the editor","og":{"og:title":"What is Semantic Bleaching? (Video)","og:image":"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-edpick-lg\/semantic bleaching text on white background-8440-3fa46784f614b528fd8f063fcac7217e@1x.jpg","og:url":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/what-is-semantic-bleaching","og:description":"How 'literally' can mean \"figuratively\"","og:type":"article"},"twitter":{"twitter:title":"What is Semantic Bleaching? (Video)","twitter:image":"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-edpick-lg\/semantic bleaching text on white background-8440-3fa46784f614b528fd8f063fcac7217e@1x.jpg","twitter:url":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/what-is-semantic-bleaching","twitter:description":"How 'literally' can mean \"figuratively\"","twitter:share-text":"What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'?","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:site":"@MerriamWebster"}},"rubric":""},{"id":430,"image_pair_id":8387,"rubric_id":null,"feature_id":72,"app_id":"mw","name":"Why is there a 'd' in 'fridge' but not in 'refrigerator'?","page_title":"Why is there a d in fridge but not in refrigerator?","slug":"why-is-d-in-fridge-but-not-refrigerator","meta_tags":null,"meta_description":"English sometimes does not follow the path you expect. Like when refrigerator is shortened to fridge. Serenity Carr explains how the latter ended up spelled with a D.","dek":"Thawing one of the mysteries of English","teaser":"Thawing one of the mysteries of English","youtube_video":null,"hosted_video":"\/mw\/video\/9bbbb860315fc825e5154a7bd4c2f0a8.mp4","sub_file":"430.vtt","vtt":"1\n00:00:00.533 --> 00:00:02.630\n(cheerful music)\n\n2\n00:00:02.630 --> 00:00:04.570\n<v ->Why is there a D in fridge<\/v>\n\n3\n00:00:04.570 --> 00:00:06.630\nbut not in refrigerator?\n\n4\n00:00:06.630 --> 00:00:09.320\nAs a general rule, a G at the end of a word\n\n5\n00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:12.110\nsounds like the G in flag and hog.\n\n6\n00:00:12.110 --> 00:00:13.280\nAnywhere else in a word,\n\n7\n00:00:13.280 --> 00:00:16.400\nit can sound like either gesture or forget.\n\n8\n00:00:16.400 --> 00:00:19.270\nThe G in refrigerator follows this rule.\n\n9\n00:00:19.270 --> 00:00:21.570\nIf we shorten refrigerator to \\\u02c8frij\\ \n\n10\n00:00:21.570 --> 00:00:23.863\nwe're left with F-R-I-G.\n\n11\n00:00:24.750 --> 00:00:27.150\nBut wouldn't that rhyme with \"sprig\"?\n\n12\n00:00:27.150 --> 00:00:29.810\nThe spelling with a D most likely came into use\n\n13\n00:00:29.810 --> 00:00:32.660\nbecause English speakers wanted it to follow the pattern\n\n14\n00:00:32.660 --> 00:00:34.340\nof other familiar words,\n\n15\n00:00:34.340 --> 00:00:35.430\nlike bridge,\n\n16\n00:00:35.430 --> 00:00:36.833\nridge and smidge.","body":"English sometimes does not follow the path you expect. Like when <em>refrigerator<\/em> is shortened to <em>fridge<\/em>. Serenity Carr explains how the latter ended up spelled the way it is.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Transcript<\/h2>\n\n<p>Why is there a D in <em>fridge<\/em> but not in <em>refrigerator<\/em>? As a general rule, a G at the end of a word sounds like the G in <em>flag<\/em> and <em>hog<\/em>. Anywhere else in a word, it can sound like either <em>gesture<\/em> or <em>forget<\/em>. The G in <em>refrigerator<\/em> follows this rule. If we shortened <em>refrigerator<\/em> to <em>fridge<\/em> we're left with F-R-I-G. But wouldn't that rhyme with <em>sprig<\/em>? The spelling with a D most likely came into use because English speakers wanted it to follow the pattern of other familiar words, like <em>bridge<\/em>, <em>ridge<\/em> and <em>smidge<\/em>.","fb_legacy_url":null,"is_editor_choice":0,"is_archived":0,"is_published":1,"published_at":"2021-06-03 23:21:00","last_published_at":"2021-06-03 23:21:21","created_at":"2021-06-03 16:21:32","updated_at":"2022-04-17 20:59:31","tldr":null,"jw_id":"wrx1HeoV","promo_date":null,"promo_type":"None","promo_index":1,"promo_bucket":"none","promo_category_type":"None","promo_category_index":0,"wap_category_path":"grammar","vc":"113,551","aName":"Serenity Carr","aUrl":"","aPublic":"","vid-home-featured-carousel":"<span class=\"lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden\"><img data-sizes=\"auto\" alt=\"serenity carr next to an illustration of a refrigerator with the letter d in it\" is_retina=\"true\" data-src=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-a37544e481688cef2eaff77b7a8e639e@1x.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" data-credit=\"\" data-type=\"video\" data-dim=\"vid-home-featured-carousel\" data-ret-pref=\"serenity carr next to an illustration of a refrigerator with the letter d in it-8385-a37544e481688cef2eaff77b7a8e639e\" data-ret-x=\"1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-a37544e481688cef2eaff77b7a8e639e@1x.jpg 1x, https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-a37544e481688cef2eaff77b7a8e639e@2x.jpg 2x\" pair-id=\"8387\" image-id=\"8385\" srcset-img-1x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-a37544e481688cef2eaff77b7a8e639e@1x.jpg\" srcset-img-2x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-a37544e481688cef2eaff77b7a8e639e@2x.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"\/><\/span>","vid-video-play-lg":"<span class=\"lazyload-container ratio-16-9\"><img data-sizes=\"auto\" alt=\"serenity carr next to an illustration of a refrigerator with the letter d in it\" is_retina=\"true\" data-src=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-8703837950ccb7cac0e565a4bcc7707b@1x.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" data-credit=\"\" data-type=\"video\" data-dim=\"vid-video-play-lg\" data-ret-pref=\"serenity carr next to an illustration of a refrigerator with the letter d in it-8385-8703837950ccb7cac0e565a4bcc7707b\" data-ret-x=\"1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-8703837950ccb7cac0e565a4bcc7707b@1x.jpg 1x, https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-8703837950ccb7cac0e565a4bcc7707b@2x.jpg 2x\" pair-id=\"8387\" image-id=\"8385\" srcset-img-1x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-8703837950ccb7cac0e565a4bcc7707b@1x.jpg\" srcset-img-2x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/serenity%20carr%20next%20to%20an%20illustration%20of%20a%20refrigerator%20with%20the%20letter%20d%20in%20it-8385-8703837950ccb7cac0e565a4bcc7707b@2x.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"\/><\/span>","meta":{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/why-is-d-in-fridge-but-not-refrigerator","title":"Why is there a d in fridge but not in refrigerator? (Video) | Merriam-Webster","description":"English sometimes does not follow the path you expect. Like when refrigerator is shortened to fridge. Serenity Carr explains how the latter ended up spelled with a D.","keywords":"Spelling, fridge, refrigerator, Serenity Carr, video, merriam-webster, ask the editor","og":{"og:title":"Why is there a d in fridge but not in refrigerator? (Video)","og:image":"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-edpick-lg\/serenity carr next to an illustration of a refrigerator with the letter d in it-8385-4d4aa502a2c34315bd3123b1b0550853@1x.jpg","og:url":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/why-is-d-in-fridge-but-not-refrigerator","og:description":"Thawing one of the mysteries of English","og:type":"article"},"twitter":{"twitter:title":"Why is there a d in fridge but not in refrigerator? (Video)","twitter:image":"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-edpick-lg\/serenity carr next to an illustration of a refrigerator with the letter d in it-8385-4d4aa502a2c34315bd3123b1b0550853@1x.jpg","twitter:url":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/why-is-d-in-fridge-but-not-refrigerator","twitter:description":"Thawing one of the mysteries of English","twitter:share-text":"Why is there a 'd' in 'fridge' but not in 'refrigerator'?","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:site":"@MerriamWebster"}},"rubric":""},{"id":407,"image_pair_id":7373,"rubric_id":3,"feature_id":2,"app_id":"mw","name":"Video: Why Is There a 'C' in 'Indict'?","page_title":"Why Is There a 'C' in 'Indict'?","slug":"why-is-there-a-c-in-indict","meta_tags":null,"meta_description":"'Indict' is another English word that doesn't like to follow the rules. Why don't we pronounce the \"c.\" Editor Peter Sokolowski explains the selling of indict in this video.","dek":"And who put it there, anyway?","teaser":"And who put it there, anyway?","youtube_video":null,"hosted_video":"\/mw\/video\/20dd4051f83f57f45d811dc99493a5cc.mp4","sub_file":"407.vtt","vtt":"1\n00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:06.680\n<v ->The word indict is spelled I-N-D-I-C-T,<\/v>\n\n2\n00:00:06.680 --> 00:00:08.830\nbut why is the C silent?\n\n3\n00:00:08.830 --> 00:00:10.290\nOther legal terms in English,\n\n4\n00:00:10.290 --> 00:00:12.740\nthat come from the same Latin root, dicere,\n\n5\n00:00:12.740 --> 00:00:13.720\nwhich means to say,\n\n6\n00:00:13.720 --> 00:00:15.890\nhave C's that we actually hear.\n\n7\n00:00:15.890 --> 00:00:19.360\nWords like edict, interdict, and verdict.\n\n8\n00:00:19.360 --> 00:00:21.440\nIndict means to formally decide\n\n9\n00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:24.030\nthat someone should be put on trial for a crime.\n\n10\n00:00:24.030 --> 00:00:27.470\nIt comes from the Latin word that means to proclaim.\n\n11\n00:00:27.470 --> 00:00:29.490\nWe pronounce it indict because\n\n12\n00:00:29.490 --> 00:00:33.780\nits original spelling in English was E-N-D-I-T-E,\n\n13\n00:00:33.780 --> 00:00:36.040 line:15% \na spelling that was used for 300 years\n\n14\n00:00:36.040 --> 00:00:38.610 line:15% \nbefore scholars decided to make it look more\n\n15\n00:00:38.610 --> 00:00:41.330\nlike its Latin root word, indictare.\n\n16\n00:00:41.330 --> 00:00:42.810\nOur pronunciation, however,\n\n17\n00:00:42.810 --> 00:00:45.520\nstill reflects the original English spelling.\n\n18\n00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:49.450\nThis after-the-fact correction of spellings, based on Latin,\n\n19\n00:00:49.450 --> 00:00:51.490\nis also why there's a B in the words\n\n20\n00:00:51.490 --> 00:00:54.610\ndebt, doubt, plumber, and subtle,\n\n21\n00:00:54.610 --> 00:00:57.072\nand a silent S in island.\n\n22\n00:00:57.072 --> 00:00:59.489\n(music)","body":"Editor Peter Sokolowski explains how the spelling of <em><a href=\"\/dictionary\/indict\">indict<\/a><\/em> was changed to reflect its Latin roots. For more, read <a href=\"\/words-at-play\/pronunciation-of-indict\">\"Why Do We Skip the C in Indict\"<\/a>.\n<br>\n<br><\/p>\n\n<h3>Transcript<\/h3>\n\n<p><br>\nThe word indict is spelled I-N-D-I-C-T, but why is the C silent? Other legal terms in English, that come from the same Latin root, dicere, which means to say, have C's that we actually hear. Words like edict, interdict, and verdict. Indict means to formally decide that someone should be put on trial for a crime. It comes from the Latin word that means to proclaim. We pronounce it indict because its original spelling in English was E-N-D-I-T-E, a spelling that was used for 300 years before scholars decided to make it look more like its Latin root word, indictare. Our pronunciation, however, still reflects the original English spelling. This after-the-fact correction of spellings, based on Latin, is also why there's a B in the words debt, doubt, plumber, and subtle, and a silent S in island.","fb_legacy_url":null,"is_editor_choice":1,"is_archived":0,"is_published":1,"published_at":"2020-04-29 13:02:00","last_published_at":"2020-04-29 13:02:00","created_at":"2020-04-08 13:52:50","updated_at":"2022-05-17 16:06:48","tldr":null,"jw_id":"j3cME37w","promo_date":"2024-11-18","promo_type":"Sidekick","promo_index":4,"promo_bucket":"random","promo_category_type":"None","promo_category_index":0,"wap_category_path":"grammar","vc":"322,189","aName":"Peter Sokolowski","aUrl":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PeterSokolowski\/","aPublic":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PeterSokolowski\/","vid-video-play-lg":"<span class=\"lazyload-container ratio-16-9\"><img data-sizes=\"auto\" alt=\"peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic\" is_retina=\"true\" data-src=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-105cb0a3f96e660d36088f845d967643@1x.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" data-credit=\"\" data-type=\"video\" data-dim=\"vid-video-play-lg\" data-ret-pref=\"peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-105cb0a3f96e660d36088f845d967643\" data-ret-x=\"1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-105cb0a3f96e660d36088f845d967643@1x.jpg 1x, https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-105cb0a3f96e660d36088f845d967643@2x.jpg 2x\" pair-id=\"7373\" image-id=\"7371\" srcset-img-1x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-105cb0a3f96e660d36088f845d967643@1x.jpg\" srcset-img-2x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-video-play-lg\/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-105cb0a3f96e660d36088f845d967643@2x.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"\/><\/span>","vid-home-featured-carousel":"<span class=\"lazyload-container ratio-3-2 overflow-hidden\"><img data-sizes=\"auto\" alt=\"peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic\" is_retina=\"true\" data-src=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-71e8aa909c836d24d3ea98aced45f6be@1x.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" data-credit=\"\" data-type=\"video\" data-dim=\"vid-home-featured-carousel\" data-ret-pref=\"peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-71e8aa909c836d24d3ea98aced45f6be\" data-ret-x=\"1\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-71e8aa909c836d24d3ea98aced45f6be@1x.jpg 1x, https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-71e8aa909c836d24d3ea98aced45f6be@2x.jpg 2x\" pair-id=\"7373\" image-id=\"7371\" srcset-img-1x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-71e8aa909c836d24d3ea98aced45f6be@1x.jpg\" srcset-img-2x=\"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-featured-carousel\/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-71e8aa909c836d24d3ea98aced45f6be@2x.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"\/><\/span>","meta":{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/why-is-there-a-c-in-indict","title":"Why Is There a 'C' in 'Indict'? (Video) | Merriam-Webster","description":"'Indict' is another English word that doesn't like to follow the rules. Why don't we pronounce the \"c.\" Editor Peter Sokolowski explains the selling of indict in this video.","keywords":"Spelling, indict, indictable, indictee, indictment, Peter Sokolowski, video, merriam-webster, ask the editor","og":{"og:title":"Why Is There a 'C' in 'Indict'? (Video)","og:image":"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-edpick-lg\/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-f2eb766cfd8c3b4cd369a0d37b42387f@1x.jpg","og:url":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/why-is-there-a-c-in-indict","og:description":"And who put it there, anyway?","og:type":"article"},"twitter":{"twitter:title":"Why Is There a 'C' in 'Indict'? (Video)","twitter:image":"https:\/\/merriam-webster.com\/assets\/mw\/images\/video\/vid-home-edpick-lg\/peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic-7371-f2eb766cfd8c3b4cd369a0d37b42387f@1x.jpg","twitter:url":"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/video\/why-is-there-a-c-in-indict","twitter:description":"And who put it there, anyway?","twitter:share-text":"Video: Why Is There a 'C' in 'Indict'?","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:site":"@MerriamWebster"}},"rubric":"Usage Notes"}]; </script>  <footer class="global-footer "> <div class="footer-mast clearfix"> <div class="mw-logo-section lazyload"> <a href="/" class="footer-logo">Merriam Webster</a> </div> <div class="footer-mast-content clearfix"> <div class="footer-subscribe-block"> <div class="footer-subscribe-msg"> <p>Learn a new word every day. 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