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Jesse Sheidlower

@jessesword.com
5.3K followers 519 following 3K posts

Lexicographer. The F-Word (new edition Nov. ’24!), sfdictionary.com, ex-OED, coder (mainly Perl and Python), Threesome Tollbooth #cocktail bar manager, adjunct @ Columbia. "Appealingly obsessive" — NYT

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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 2h
I've been privileged to read parts of this, and it's outstanding and revelatory, and I cannot wait to have the rest of it in my hands.
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 4h
Today's antedating for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: the rare "gravitically" ('by means of gravity'; 'with regard to gravity'), from 1958 to 1949. sfdictionary.com/view/1106/gr...
sfdictionary.com
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: gravitically
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 23h
I do have to pay rent, but on the other hand.... www.swanngalleries.com/auction-lot/...
Two-page spread of the Kelmscott Press edition of Swinburne's _Atalanta in Calydon_
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Johnson's Dictionary Online @sjdictionary.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
JohnsonsDictionaryOnline.com is back online! The lookups work. It will be a little while longer before the "about" and "how to" pages are back. Thanks for your patience!
johnsonsdictionaryonline.com
Johnson's Dictionary Online
Supported by the University of Central Florida, NEH and Center for Humanities and Digital Research (CHDR) .
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 27/09/2026
NYC weather has some serious West-coast-of-Scotland vibes today
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 26/09/2026
I finally got one of those scam book-club invites. I feel like a real writer now!
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 25/09/2026
Today I listened to Fairport Convention's "Fotheringay" for the millionth time, & it occurred to me to wonder about _captive_ 'serving to confine', in "her captive walls". OED, in an early & unrevised entry, doesn't have this sense, so I found exx. from the 17th C. onwards and sent it in.
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 22/09/2026
Today's antedating for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "farside", for the non-Earth-facing side of the Moon (often as a placename), from 1958 to 1949. Plus the usual cleanup. sfdictionary.com/view/1591/fa...
sfdictionary.com
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: farside
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
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Johnson's Dictionary Online @sjdictionary.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
JohnsonsDictionaryOnline.com is currently offline following a malware attack. UCF's IT security team is working on remediation, but we don't yet know when the site will be restored. Updates will be posted here as we have them. Apologies for the inconvenience!
johnsonsdictionaryonline.com
https://JohnsonsDictionaryOnline.com
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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 18/09/2026
I guess it's time to dust this post off again. www.arrantpedantry.com/2021/11/08/i...
arrantpedantry.com
I Am Begging You to Learn How Dictionaries Work
It’s a phenomenon as predictable as the tides: a dictionary adds new words or definitions, and then people grouse about those changes, either because they don’t like the new words and t…
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 18/09/2026
The NYT tells you why people shouldn't use a #dictionary to find out what words mean. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/17/m...
nytimes.com
Sorry, Webster. Most People Don’t Want Internet Slang in the Dictionary.
Static definitions of “rizz,” “goblin mode” and “beige flag” don’t easily explain the words’ meanings. But we could use reference formats that do.
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 17/09/2026
A Bluesky "autoplay" question, for anyone who can answer (perhaps @joshuajfriedman.com): Every time I log in anew, I have to go to Settings -> Content & Media -> Autoplay videos and GIFs, and disable it. Is there any way to make this sticky? It make no sense to have to do this every time.
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 17/09/2026
Today's nice antedating for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "earthfall", for landing on Earth (after nautical "landfall"), from 1952 to 1943. A very recent example would be great: hard to search because of the videogame and the O.S. Card novel. sfdictionary.com/view/2297/ea...
sfdictionary.com
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: earthfall
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 15/09/2026
New words just dropped. www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/new...
merriam-webster.com
1,400 New Words and Definitions Added to Merriam-Webster.com
Including vibe coding, yacht rock, parasocial, and Mandela Effect
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 11/09/2026
Have the rare good fortune to have access to a secondary space, which will have storage for books. So I'm initially bringing over everything so important that I have multiple copies. (Plus the original Century Dictionary, the 1911 (11th) edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, &c.)
Photograph of a bag of books. Visible on top: the latest edition of my book, The F-Word; David Halberstam's _The Amateurs_; Stefan Dollinger's _Creating Canadian English_; Sorley MacLean's _From Wood to Ridge_. Faintly visible beneath is Gretchen McCulloch's _Because Internet_.
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 11/09/2026
A few related antedatings for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "cyborged", from 1976 to 1968; "cyborging", a big 1989 to 1968; "cyborgized", 1989 to 1987. Also cleaned up nearby entries. sfdictionary.com/view/599/cyb... sfdictionary.com/view/1499/cy... sfdictionary.com/view/1479/cy...
sfdictionary.com
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: cyborged
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 11/09/2026
Headline I will automatically click on: "Carolyn Forché Once Got the O.E.D. for Valentine’s Day". ("I haven’t finished it yet.") #dictionary @carolynforche.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/b...
nytimes.com
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 08/09/2026
The thing that I realized in passing from this excellent video: Robert Bringhurst's classic _Elements of Typographic Style_ is out of print? What? She waved it and I thought, "Oh, I need to buy this for a friend [which I've done before]," and then discovered…this won't be easy. How can this be?!
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 07/09/2026
It's hard enough for me to deaccession books from my own collection. But now I'm "helping" a friend move, and the books on her giveaway pile, I'm either insisting that she keep, or taking for myself. This is not very effective.
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 07/09/2026
It's hard enough for me to deaccession books from my own collection. But now I'm "helping" a friend move, and the books on her giveaway pile, I'm either insisting that she keep, or taking for myself. This is not very effective.
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ℳatt @matttomic.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I've seen everyone sharing that US Dialect Quiz so I decided to make my own, much crappier, CANADIAN DIALECT QUIZ to guess where in Canada you're from
A flow chart I have created with multiple questions and the answers determine where you're from.

Question 1 is do you call it a hydro bill (which then branches down to ON, QC, BC, MB) or an electric bill (which then branches down to SK, AB, NS, NB, PEI, NL)

Question 2 is do you call it a cabin (BC, MB, AB, SK) cottage (ON and atlantic) camp (northern Ontario) chalet (QC) or bungalow (Cape Breton)

To delineate BC from MB: do you call it dinner or supper

To delineate southern Ontario rural or big city: have you heard of a stag & doe

To delineate SK from AB: do you call a hoodie a bunnyhug

And finally to delineate NL from the other atlantic provinces: whaddayat? (Correct answer: dis is it b'y)
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 04/09/2026
The incredible opening drum bit in Spin Doctors' 1993 "Two Princes" is always described as a "drum fill"; maybe "intro fill". All definitions/discussions of musical "fill" specify clearly that it's something between two sections. Yet this one is never "riff" or anything else. Just an observation.
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 04/09/2026
Great news for the history of the #OED, from @stephenturton.bsky.social: www.english.ox.ac.uk/article/dr-s...
english.ox.ac.uk
Dr Stephen Turton awarded ERC Starting Grant for project on James Murray and the OED
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Mark Lerner @ragandboneshop.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
It's out TODAY! 🎵🖤 At rosine.bandcamp.com Also at subvert.fm/rosine and of course all of the streaming sites. If you enjoy it, I would so appreciate you telling others about it. Cover painting by Nancy Howell.
Album cover. Text says Rosine. Some Things You Never Get Used To.
A painting shows an angel and a ghost standing in an arched doorway.
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 04/09/2026
Student orientation today; successfully managed a 1m talk to convince them to take my class. Then met a former student, now faculty, who said my class was the best of her career, she still thinks about it when she writes/teaches. I thanked her, & excused myself to avoid sobbing to death in public.
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 03/09/2026
Fascinating, detailed thread from @teorth.bsky.social (who has only a marginal presence here) about why AI-assisted solutions to even important problems in mathematics, would in fact usually be a net negative for the progress of math. mastodon.social/@tao@mathsto...
mastodon.social
Mastodon
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 03/09/2026
In case you missed it last week, @kolatubosun.bsky.social on neologisms in Yorùbá. Includes #OED content! #dictionary flaminghydra.com/fat-coke-bot...
flaminghydra.com
Fat Coke Bottles and Other Inventions
Slightly over a decade ago, I heard the Yorùbá word “jápa” for the first time.  It’s always a bit jarring to hear a new word spoken in one’s native language. Sometimes it’s an archaic word, or one...
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 02/09/2026
On martinis.
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 02/09/2026
Help me, Internet! I need to find these glasses. These are basic glasses, not crystal, not fancy in any way. 16 oz highballs. The lower part has four indentations in a cruciform pattern. Pix are of two different versions, and I've seen others, but don't know how to search for them! Help!
Picture of a hand pulling a glass out of a cupboard. The glass is a plain glass (not crystal) highball glass; near the base, there are four indentations, in a cruciform pattern.Picture of a hand holding a glass, over a cutting board. The glass is a plain glass (not crystal) highball glass; near the base, there are four indentations, in a cruciform pattern.
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 02/09/2026
Today's trivial-even-by-lax-standards antedating for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "Bradburian", in reference to the writing of Ray Bradbury. Originally Lin Carter in July 1951, now Lin Carter in March 1951. Huzzah! sfdictionary.com/view/2519/br...
sfdictionary.com
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: Bradburian
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
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Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Helen Mirren: "I was thrown out of quite a few pubs in the old days when women weren’t supposed to be swearing in pubs." www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/mob... Archived: archive.is/GavBj
'“Oh, my God! Every other word is the c-word or the f-word.” Mirren, now 81, is a woman of the world but is she even slightly uncomfortable using the c-word so often? “I don’t have an issue with it at all,” she says cheerfully. “I’m an actor. I was thrown out of quite a few pubs in the old days when women weren’t supposed to be swearing in pubs.”'
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Deb Amlen @debamlen.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Sanity check needed: Say aye if you knew the term “Debbie Downer” *before* 2004, when Rachel Dratch made her a character on SNL. I knew it as a child back in the late 15th C., but search indicates that Dratch’s character was the first instance. I feel like I’m being gaslit by the entire internet.
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 01/09/2026
A very American friend is visiting London for the first time, so I gave her suggestions for touristy stuff to check out. Her report from Fortnum & Mason: "That was like stepping into Disneyland, but for tea."
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 31/08/2026
Much work on "meat puppet" for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: split the Gibsonian 'body controlled by another' from 'the human body' sense; precursors from L. Frank Baum; more quotes; &c. Feedback welcome! sfdictionary.com/view/3166/me... sfdictionary.com/view/2269/me...
sfdictionary.com
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: meat puppet
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 30/08/2026
This morning I read @jonronson.bsky.social's insane piece about Greg Chism. Then saw an online review of Kozintsev's 1964 _Hamlet_ that began, "Great movie. Haven't actually read the play so I only know the story via adaptations like The Northman." I'm starting to think The Internet was a bad idea.
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 29/08/2026
I'm at an old-school bar in Brooklyn, and they just segued from the Go-Go's to Richard and Linda Thompson. Haven't been this happy in a while. Elvis Costello now.
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Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
We've added an AI policy to the @stronglang.bsky.social blog: stronglang.wordpress.com/ai-policy/
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Tom Freeman @tomfreeman.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Anyway, great news that the pronoun wars have spread from third person to second
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 28/08/2026
New vehicle entry for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "star cruiser", a (large) spaceship. Edmond Hamilton in the '20s on up, including Star Wars, HHGttG, Poul Anderson, David Brin, &c. sfdictionary.com/view/2250/st...
sfdictionary.com
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: star cruiser
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 27/08/2026
#dictionary #definition
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 26/08/2026
Some John W. Campbell news for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: A new entry for the rare "Campbellish" (1940–) and an antedating of the usual form "Campbellian", from 1949 to 1943. sfdictionary.com/view/2709/ca... sfdictionary.com/view/1205/ca... (Yes, he was a racist right-winger.)
sfdictionary.com
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: Campbellish
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 26/08/2026
I've seen a lot of astounding Dolly-related posts in the last day, but I hadn't seen this one. From Eminem's Facebook page:
Facebook post from Eminem, with his introduction reading "I'm sorry we never got a chance to meet, but getting this note from Dolly really had a an impact on me. She definitely didn't have to take the time to do it.  Even for a kid who mostly listened to rap music, she was an icon. A superstar in every sense. Rest easy Dolly. And thank you for the kind words."

Below, a screenshot of a message from Dolly Parton, with a big "Dolly" signature in pink, and the message:

"Marshall (Eminem),

Congratulations on your induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Your performance was amazing and everybody said so. Even though I don't know a lot about rap music, I've come to know that you are the very best at it. Aside from that I hope what I have to say will not seem weird or strange to you but I have always felt some unexplained connection to you like I know you somehow. I had hoped to meet you at the show but you know how nuts those things are, personally I hate 'em and I missed my chance but maybe someday we'll meet. In the meantime, keep doing what you're doing because you do it so well and no matter how complex your world may be just know you are very special and touch people in ways you don't even know.

With love & respect,
Dolly Parton"
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 25/08/2026
The servers at donate.imaginationlibrary.com can't keep up with the strain; I can't donate :-( Will keep trying.
donate.imaginationlibrary.com
Home
Make a donation and support Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in communities around the world and help put more books into the hands of more children.
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Octism Queen @snowqueenofhoth.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Back to school sale: BLAME! Edition! These proxies were hand drawn with dip pens & ink after the oh-so-talented Tsutomu Nihei; applied to real MTG tokens via sticker. Selling for $35 each. If you don’t like the price, make me an offer! Venmo preferred, free shipping via snail mail, DM to claim.
A series of six black and white ink drawings after Tsutomu Nihei’s BLAME! Manga series, as Magic the Gathering proxies. Harbinger of Night, Krovikan Horror, Scrawling Crawler, Inventory Management, Urborg Tomb of Yawgmoth, Reliquary Tower
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 24/08/2026
Today's extremely minor update for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: a several-month antedating of "alternative history". Also, cleaned up the entry a bit. sfdictionary.com/view/262/alt...
sfdictionary.com
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: alternative history
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 24/08/2026
Make a band bigger: Weezest
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 22/08/2026
This is stunning. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/19/r...
nytimes.com
In Berkeley, Calif., a Pioneering Modernist Home for $1.425 Million
The Kip House, designed by Donald Olsen for an eminent physicist, is on the market for only the second time in its history.
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 21/08/2026
Bring it.
Screenshot of a magazine ad for Robert Heinlein's 1957 novel _The Door Into Summer_ :

The Fascinating World of 2000 A.D.
But there are other attractions in that world of 2000: its women in "sticktite" clothes they just throw away after wearing...its honeymoon trips to the moon...its remarkable new conveniences...its brand new words of love and ways to live. No more menial labor. Robots take care of all that. Soon you're enjoying life as never before! You're glad to be out of that miserably backward world of the 20th century.
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Kathleen Lubey @kathylubey.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
This summer, a project 5 years in the making has finally seen the light of day. Thanks to my co-editors @sarahebull.bsky.social, Colette Colligan, and Lisa Sigel (general editor extraordinaire). We’re really proud of making the porn archive more accessible. Ask your uni libraries to order it!
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 17/08/2026
A friend sent me a long discussion about how to avoid breaking #wine glasses when you toast (touch glasses lower; fill them fuller because the liquid cushions the blow; etc.), and now I wonder if, in my long experience of wine-drinking, I have been cheersing insufficiently enthusiastically.
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