Jesse Sheidlower
@jessesword.com
Lexicographer. The F-Word (new edition Nov. ’24!), sfdictionary.com, ex-OED, coder (mainly Perl and Python), Threesome Tollbooth #cocktail bar manager, adjunct @ Columbia.
Pinned
Jesse Sheidlower
@jessesword.com
· Oct 22
News: the 4th edition of The F-Word is coming out in two weeks from Oxford UP! Everything you could want to know about the word _fuck_.
This is a major revision: 500 pages with 150 new entries, 150 antedatings, & 2,500 new quotations. See link below for more info!
jessesword.com/fword.html
This is a major revision: 500 pages with 150 new entries, 150 antedatings, & 2,500 new quotations. See link below for more info!
jessesword.com/fword.html
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
Flagging for my language-related followers, in case you haven't noticed, the welcome re-emergence of elephind.com, a single search engine for a huge range of (free) newspaper archives including some unusual ones like US college newspapers. #lexicography #OEDantedating #linguistics 1/2
elephind.com
January 12, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Flagging for my language-related followers, in case you haven't noticed, the welcome re-emergence of elephind.com, a single search engine for a huge range of (free) newspaper archives including some unusual ones like US college newspapers. #lexicography #OEDantedating #linguistics 1/2
Big antedating for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "Venerian", the language of Venerians (i.e. those from Venus), from 1948 to 1930. This is pretty much dead after the 1950s, so we'd be grateful for any postdatings too.
sfdictionary.com/view/397/ven...
sfdictionary.com/view/397/ven...
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: Venerian
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
sfdictionary.com
January 12, 2026 at 3:21 PM
Big antedating for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "Venerian", the language of Venerians (i.e. those from Venus), from 1948 to 1930. This is pretty much dead after the 1950s, so we'd be grateful for any postdatings too.
sfdictionary.com/view/397/ven...
sfdictionary.com/view/397/ven...
Never too early to start teaching the young about automatic memory management.
January 12, 2026 at 1:35 PM
Never too early to start teaching the young about automatic memory management.
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
The 2025 Word of the Year is "slop," both as a noun for low-quality AI-generated content and as a combining form for anything of little value. Read the full press release. #WOTY2025 #ADS2026 #LSA2026
americandialect.org/2025-word-of...
americandialect.org/2025-word-of...
2025 Word of the Year Is “Slop”
New Orleans Marriott–Jan. 9—The American Dialect Society, in its 36th annual words-of-the-year vote, selected slop as the Word of the Year for 2025. More than three hundred attendees took part in the…
americandialect.org
January 10, 2026 at 8:18 AM
The 2025 Word of the Year is "slop," both as a noun for low-quality AI-generated content and as a combining form for anything of little value. Read the full press release. #WOTY2025 #ADS2026 #LSA2026
americandialect.org/2025-word-of...
americandialect.org/2025-word-of...
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
The American Dialect Society has chosen its word of the year: slop…used as both a freestanding noun, and a productive suffix! Check out all the words we nominated at the link! And while I nominated “that’s AI” (and it won for most useful), there’s no fake news here!
The American Dialect Society (@americandialect.org) has announced the nominations for its Word of the Year—this is the one that matters, people! Vote will be tonight.
americandialect.org/nominations-...
americandialect.org/nominations-...
Nominations for Words of the Year 2025
Nominations for Words of the Year 2025 follow below. The final selection will be held at 6:45 pm CST on Friday, Jan. 9 (Carondelet, 3rd floor, New Orleans Marriott). American Dialect Society 2025…
americandialect.org
January 10, 2026 at 3:18 AM
The American Dialect Society has chosen its word of the year: slop…used as both a freestanding noun, and a productive suffix! Check out all the words we nominated at the link! And while I nominated “that’s AI” (and it won for most useful), there’s no fake news here!
I got an email fr a 140-year-old company I sometimes shop from, offering me "Archive Treasures". It goes on to mention "treasures from our past" which I am "invited to explore" &c.
AFAICT this really is just a postseason sale. What angers me is that the co. truly has an archive. But this is not it.
AFAICT this really is just a postseason sale. What angers me is that the co. truly has an archive. But this is not it.
January 9, 2026 at 5:47 PM
I got an email fr a 140-year-old company I sometimes shop from, offering me "Archive Treasures". It goes on to mention "treasures from our past" which I am "invited to explore" &c.
AFAICT this really is just a postseason sale. What angers me is that the co. truly has an archive. But this is not it.
AFAICT this really is just a postseason sale. What angers me is that the co. truly has an archive. But this is not it.
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
NYC folks! I'll be in NYC on Thursday, January 29 to talk about creating the new edition of the @merriam-webster.com Collegiate Dictionary at the Barnes & Noble in the Upper West Side.
stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/978006...
stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/978006...
Editor at Large Peter Sokolowski discusses MERRIAM-WEBSTER'S COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY, 12TH EDITION
Join us for an in-store event, Editor at Large Peter Sokolowski discusses MERRIAM-WEBSTER'S COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY, 12TH EDITION, on Thursday, January 29, 2026.
stores.barnesandnoble.com
January 9, 2026 at 3:21 PM
NYC folks! I'll be in NYC on Thursday, January 29 to talk about creating the new edition of the @merriam-webster.com Collegiate Dictionary at the Barnes & Noble in the Upper West Side.
stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/978006...
stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/978006...
Fascinating antedating for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "edisonade", John Clute's term for a proto-SF story abt a young inventor. Clute had previously told us that he coined this for the Encyclopedia of SF, but he actually used it 3 years earlier!
sfdictionary.com/view/2011/ed...
sfdictionary.com/view/2011/ed...
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: edisonade
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
sfdictionary.com
January 9, 2026 at 3:09 PM
Fascinating antedating for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "edisonade", John Clute's term for a proto-SF story abt a young inventor. Clute had previously told us that he coined this for the Encyclopedia of SF, but he actually used it 3 years earlier!
sfdictionary.com/view/2011/ed...
sfdictionary.com/view/2011/ed...
The American Dialect Society (@americandialect.org) has announced the nominations for its Word of the Year—this is the one that matters, people! Vote will be tonight.
americandialect.org/nominations-...
americandialect.org/nominations-...
Nominations for Words of the Year 2025
Nominations for Words of the Year 2025 follow below. The final selection will be held at 6:45 pm CST on Friday, Jan. 9 (Carondelet, 3rd floor, New Orleans Marriott). American Dialect Society 2025…
americandialect.org
January 9, 2026 at 2:20 PM
The American Dialect Society (@americandialect.org) has announced the nominations for its Word of the Year—this is the one that matters, people! Vote will be tonight.
americandialect.org/nominations-...
americandialect.org/nominations-...
New entry for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "space legs", bodily comfort in space, after "sea legs". From 1936, including a 1964 example from Anaïs Nin describing an LSD trip! Been meaning to publish this one for a while.
sfdictionary.com/view/1293/sp...
sfdictionary.com/view/1293/sp...
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: space legs
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
sfdictionary.com
January 8, 2026 at 3:26 PM
New entry for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "space legs", bodily comfort in space, after "sea legs". From 1936, including a 1964 example from Anaïs Nin describing an LSD trip! Been meaning to publish this one for a while.
sfdictionary.com/view/1293/sp...
sfdictionary.com/view/1293/sp...
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
The new Smith & Taylor Classics edition of old fave Fanny Hill, with an intro by me and an afterward with @stoya.bsky.social and me, is now out. Come for the discomfiting porn, stay for my sarcastic footnotes. It's a whole big thing. www.unnamedpress.com/all-books/p/...
Fanny Hill: Or, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure — Unnamed Press
by John Cleland Published: January 06, 2026 ISBN: 9781961884731 Paperback $18.95
www.unnamedpress.com
January 6, 2026 at 3:53 PM
The new Smith & Taylor Classics edition of old fave Fanny Hill, with an intro by me and an afterward with @stoya.bsky.social and me, is now out. Come for the discomfiting porn, stay for my sarcastic footnotes. It's a whole big thing. www.unnamedpress.com/all-books/p/...
Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction update: lots of holiday coding for a small benefit, but pseudonyms are now handled better. You can look up e.g. Andrew North or Will Atheling, and get those as well as x-r's to Andrew Norton and James Blish. Still adding more; feedback welcome!
January 6, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction update: lots of holiday coding for a small benefit, but pseudonyms are now handled better. You can look up e.g. Andrew North or Will Atheling, and get those as well as x-r's to Andrew Norton and James Blish. Still adding more; feedback welcome!
I've lately seen a number of previously unwatched "classic" or "important" movies that have disappointed me.
I was therefore nervous about yesterday's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, but OMG what an absolutely incredible film. I can't say enough about how much I loved it.
I was therefore nervous about yesterday's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, but OMG what an absolutely incredible film. I can't say enough about how much I loved it.
January 6, 2026 at 1:50 PM
I've lately seen a number of previously unwatched "classic" or "important" movies that have disappointed me.
I was therefore nervous about yesterday's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, but OMG what an absolutely incredible film. I can't say enough about how much I loved it.
I was therefore nervous about yesterday's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, but OMG what an absolutely incredible film. I can't say enough about how much I loved it.
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
My Dad is Dracula (and a Medieval Scholar) 🏰
January 5, 2026 at 5:55 PM
My Dad is Dracula (and a Medieval Scholar) 🏰
If you need a timeline cleanse (& yes, of course you do), there's always John Bonham's miraculously great Moby Dick fr the 1970 Royal Albert Hall show.
(I'd seen it before, but reminded by last week's @flaminghydra.com piece about it flaminghydra.com/cetacean-solo/)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOb8...
(I'd seen it before, but reminded by last week's @flaminghydra.com piece about it flaminghydra.com/cetacean-solo/)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOb8...
Led Zeppelin - Moby Dick (Live at The Royal Albert Hall 1970) [Official Video]
YouTube video by Led Zeppelin
www.youtube.com
January 4, 2026 at 3:19 PM
If you need a timeline cleanse (& yes, of course you do), there's always John Bonham's miraculously great Moby Dick fr the 1970 Royal Albert Hall show.
(I'd seen it before, but reminded by last week's @flaminghydra.com piece about it flaminghydra.com/cetacean-solo/)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOb8...
(I'd seen it before, but reminded by last week's @flaminghydra.com piece about it flaminghydra.com/cetacean-solo/)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOb8...
Got a poetry book delivered that has about the worst production quality I've ever seen from a commercial press (albeit a small one); it's just astounding. Wasn't cheap either.
Very frustrating.
Very frustrating.
January 4, 2026 at 3:21 AM
Got a poetry book delivered that has about the worst production quality I've ever seen from a commercial press (albeit a small one); it's just astounding. Wasn't cheap either.
Very frustrating.
Very frustrating.
I'm out of town, staying at the House of Whorfianism.
January 2, 2026 at 4:12 PM
I'm out of town, staying at the House of Whorfianism.
NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts
www.nytimes.com
January 1, 2026 at 8:10 PM
I don't know precisely what ASMR is, but I'm in the woods of far western NY, and it's snowing and it's 5 degrees out, and the sound of the crunching snow is nothing like you get in NYC, and it's extremely pleasant.
(sound on)
(sound on)
January 1, 2026 at 2:43 PM
I don't know precisely what ASMR is, but I'm in the woods of far western NY, and it's snowing and it's 5 degrees out, and the sound of the crunching snow is nothing like you get in NYC, and it's extremely pleasant.
(sound on)
(sound on)
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
Fresco of January at Castello Buonconsiglio, Trento, Italy, (detail), c. 1405-1410.
January 1, 2026 at 10:13 AM
Fresco of January at Castello Buonconsiglio, Trento, Italy, (detail), c. 1405-1410.
With a few hours to go in the tax year, I wanted to make sure I got an extra donation in to @wikimediafoundation.org and to @archive.org, among a range of other causes. Wish I could manage more, but this is at least something I know I can do.
January 1, 2026 at 1:13 AM
With a few hours to go in the tax year, I wanted to make sure I got an extra donation in to @wikimediafoundation.org and to @archive.org, among a range of other causes. Wish I could manage more, but this is at least something I know I can do.
In a Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction discovery so dull that I'm burying it in the holiday news cycle, we have a four-year antedating of the rare _Callistan_ (the language of Callisto), from John W. Campbell:
sfdictionary.com/view/2606/ca...
sfdictionary.com/view/2606/ca...
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: Callistan
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
sfdictionary.com
December 30, 2025 at 2:05 PM
In a Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction discovery so dull that I'm burying it in the holiday news cycle, we have a four-year antedating of the rare _Callistan_ (the language of Callisto), from John W. Campbell:
sfdictionary.com/view/2606/ca...
sfdictionary.com/view/2606/ca...
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
I can't hope for, ask for, or expect much, but a treat for the new year would be to get to 5000 followers, something I was very close to on Twitter before I walked away from it.
Not that it will make a real difference. But so many things don't. Might as well enjoy them anyway if one can.
Not that it will make a real difference. But so many things don't. Might as well enjoy them anyway if one can.
December 28, 2025 at 3:29 AM
I can't hope for, ask for, or expect much, but a treat for the new year would be to get to 5000 followers, something I was very close to on Twitter before I walked away from it.
Not that it will make a real difference. But so many things don't. Might as well enjoy them anyway if one can.
Not that it will make a real difference. But so many things don't. Might as well enjoy them anyway if one can.
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, soundgarden, pearl jam, or alice in chains
December 28, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, soundgarden, pearl jam, or alice in chains
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
DEVIL: You shall stay forever young, but this picture of you will bear the marks of your sin!
DORIAN: Can I hide it?
DEVIL: Well, yes, but—
DORIAN: And there are no other consequences?
DEVIL: This… This picture will become so foul!
DORIAN: Again, probably I’ll hide the picture.
DORIAN: Can I hide it?
DEVIL: Well, yes, but—
DORIAN: And there are no other consequences?
DEVIL: This… This picture will become so foul!
DORIAN: Again, probably I’ll hide the picture.
July 2, 2023 at 3:01 PM
DEVIL: You shall stay forever young, but this picture of you will bear the marks of your sin!
DORIAN: Can I hide it?
DEVIL: Well, yes, but—
DORIAN: And there are no other consequences?
DEVIL: This… This picture will become so foul!
DORIAN: Again, probably I’ll hide the picture.
DORIAN: Can I hide it?
DEVIL: Well, yes, but—
DORIAN: And there are no other consequences?
DEVIL: This… This picture will become so foul!
DORIAN: Again, probably I’ll hide the picture.