The news roundup today is a fun-filled, multimedia extravaganza: alphabet soup, a video, an anagram animation, and, of course, a cartoon. It is Friday after all.
- “Alphabet soup, part 1: V and Z”: A fascinating look at spirants and how “historical phonetics keeps us in permanent suspense.” (OUPblog)
- “Video: A Very Short Introduction to Dictionaries”: An excellent 2.5-minute introduction to the dictionary and its history. (OxfordWords blog)
- “Should We Write What We Know?”: Ben Yagoda asks and answers, with bonus animated anagrams. (“Draft” on the NYT’s Opinionator)
Friday bonus: Any day that Yoda and “syntax” show up in a cartoon together is a good day. (Mother Goose and Grimm)