Why are spectacularly successful movies called blockbusters? Why does "putting your best foot forward" mean you hope to make a good impression? Why is rowdy and prankish behavior called horseplay and what does it have to do with the rarity of horses? Word Nerds Unite! shares 200 fascinating word meanings for fans of Wordle, Scrabble, and other word games. You've probably used words or phrases like these without giving them a second thought. But you'll be surprised and interested to discover the fascinating and sometimes curious origins to these fun sayings! In Word Nerds Unite! you'll find: 200 quirky, interesting words, phrases, and colloquial terms Backstory for these colorful sayings still used today How some of our favorite expressions have evolved through the years You'll discover such fascinating word and phrase origins for: handwriting on the wall play for keeps raining cats and dogs break the ice bull's eye and many more! Word Nerds Unite! is perfect for word lovers, Wordle enthusiasts, homeschoolers, and anyone curious about the illuminating history of 200 words that pepper our everyday dialogue and how they gained contemporary use. Organized by subject, each chapter begins with a quote, an introductory paragraph, and a list of what you'll discover! This fun read is great for sharing with and gift-giving to the Word Nerd in your life--even you!

Are You a Word Nerd? Did you know... Only a human (not an animal or thing) is "able" to do something The five on dice is called cinque "K" for strike-out in baseball comes from the last letter of "struck" To skice is to frisk about like squirrels in spring For word lovers everywhere, Word Nerd is a rich—and fun—compendium of more than 17,000 fascinating facts about words. Bestselling author Barbara Anne Kipfer has spent years compiling little known tidbits about common—and not so common—words in the English language. Filled with interesting information about words, sure to amaze and spark conversation, this incredible collection is perfect for the word nerd in each of us.

After years of building the same interface elements, some designers and developers get wise and try to create reusable, common solutions to help everyone stop reinventing the wheel every time. Most fail. In Design That Scales, design systems expert Dan Mall draws on his extensive experience helping some of the world's most recognizable brands create design practices that are truly sustainable and successful. "Dan's book is a game–changer for our approach to design systems, leading to significant changes at my company, making it a must–read for streamlining anyone’s complex design systems!" —Nadine Sarraj, Product Designer, 365 Retail Markets "A lively and paradigm-challenging evaluation of what makes good system designs work at any scale."—Kirkus Reviews Who Should Read This Book? People who are building and maintaining design systems, large or small. Designers, engineers, and product managers who are in search of a more efficient way to work. Leaders and executives who want to effect change but aren't sure how to do it. People who have designed web forms and tables, but don't know what’s next. Takeaways A design system is crucial for any organization managing two or more digital products. Learn how to create, manage, and sustain a successful design system. See how the ecosystem of a design system works in order to understand the context for success. Figure out where the people involved in a design system fit and how they can best collaborate. Learn the metrics for success within a design system and how to measure them. Determine the best techniques for marketing your design system to stakeholders. Learn what guidance and relationships are crucial for a design system to succeed. See the end-of-chapter questions that highlight how to guide your design system to a profitable outcome.

Word mastery comes from intimate knowledge of language. In Word Nerds : Teaching All Students to Learn and Love Vocabulary, authors Leslie Montgomery and Margot Holmes Smith take you inside classrooms where they implement creative, flexible vocabulary instruction that improves their students' word knowledge and confidence. With support from literacy specialist Brenda Overturf, the authors developed a five-part plan to teach all students to learn vocabulary: Introducing new words in contextAdding related synonyms and antonymsEngaging in several days of active learningCelebrating new wordsAssessing vocabulary developmentThis easy-to-read reference explains how to plan, teach, and assess based on the latest research in vocabulary instruction and learning. After incorporating the authors' plan, you can be a Word Nerd too!

Networking for Writers ~ A guide for writers to build connections in the writing industry. Most of us are tired of navigating the writing world alone. But wait! This practical workbook is packed with tools to help you build and strengthen connections for long-term results. As a writer, building a network of clients, readers, publishers, or influencers who support your work can be challenging to do on your own. But you don’t have to do alone. Networking for Writers guides you and provides the resources and connections you need to establish a reliable and sustainable writing career. With “Networking for Writers,” you learn to: - Customize networking to your goals, style, and interests. - Streamline your process for faster success in the writing industry. - Strike the perfect balance between creativity and productivity within your work. Don't let your dreams of being a full-time published writer remain just a dream! Grab your copy of “Networking for Writers” and discover how to effortlessly expand your network, grow your profile, increase your income, and become a writer who is so happy about the choices you made. How I do I know this book works? Because it’s based on my already successful Networking for Freelance Editors, published in 2021 (which won an IBPA silver medal award because it was that good!). The great reviews show how readers used it and have seen their businesses grow! With an Introduction by Ran Walker, this book includes over twenty real-life experiences (quotes or excerpts) from successful indie writers who share how and why networking has been key to their success. Author’s perspectives included in the book are from Brittany Dowdle, Ebonye Gussine Wilkins, Jordan Rosenfeld, Katherine Pickett, Michelle Lowery, Nathan Makaryk, Louise Harnby, Christine Van Zandt, John Peragine, Cherie Kephart, Leejone Wong, Tenesha Curtis, Bailey Harrington, Cody Sisco, Kitty Felde, and Luis Arturo Pelayo.

The English language is full of beauty and surprises. If you're a lover of the weird and wonderful, from fascinating etymology to the ten most overused and useless English phrases, this book isn't averse to a peppering of persiflage! Did you know: - pilots and air traffic controllers at major air international airports have to speak English - the hashtag symbol is an "octothorpe" - "bumfiddle" means to spoil a piece of paper or document - the word "noon" originally meant 3pm; the literal meaning of "bamboozle" is to make a baboon out of someone. This book contains a boatload of things you didn't know about the English language and it's a guaranteed prolix-free zone.

In this zany, one-of-a-kind memoir, former executive director of the National SCRABBLE Association John D. Williams Jr. brings to life the obsessions, madness, and glory of the SCRABBLE® culture—from living-room players to world champions. Beginning his career on a lark as a freelance contributor to SCRABBLE News, John D. Williams fell down a rabbit hole inhabited by gamers, geeks, and the grammar police. For twenty-five years, as the executive director of the National SCRABBLE Association, Williams served as the official spokesperson for the game, and as the middleman between legions of fanatical word-game fans and the official brand. Now Word Nerd takes readers inside the byzantine, dog-eat-dog world of top tournament players, creating a piquant (seven-letter word, 68 points!) work that is part pop-cultural history, part anthropological study. Indeed, what Christopher Guest did for the world of dog shows in his film Best in Show, Williams does for the world of competitive word games in this funny and perfectly observed memoir. As readers will discover, Word Nerd explores anagrams, palindromes, the highest-scoring SCRABBLE plays of all time, the birth of the World SCRABBLE Championship, as well as many of the more colorful figures that inhabit this subculture. Die-hard word fans will find invaluable tips on how top players see their boards and racks to come up with the best play, how they prepare, and the psychology of tournament competition. Those uninitiated in the mysteries of SCRABBLE mania will find a delightful, madcap memoir about all the fun people have with language and how words shape our lives and culture in unexpected ways. Whether reminiscing about past national champions, detailing the controversy over efforts to purge the Official SCRABBLE Players Dictionary of all offensive words, opining on the number of vowelless words that are allowable (cmw for a Welsh deep-walled basin or nth for the ultimate degree), noting how long it takes a word to get into a dictionary, or explaining why there remain more male than female champions, Williams crafts a loving tribute to words and the games people play with them. Word Nerd will fascinate both amateurs and seasoned experts alike.

Effortlessly acquire an SAT vocabulary through hilarious high school essays Every year, 9 million American students expend large amounts of time and energy preparing for proficiency and entrance exams like the SAT, ACT, PSAT, and SSAT with a heap of vocabulary flash cards and a fat volume of repetitive practice tests. Each one of them, along with their parents and teachers, wishes that there was a less painful way to prepare for test day. There is, and this book is the solution: a collection of ten well-written, entertaining essays by recent college-graduates-turned-writers that honestly and amusingly recount wild, traumatizing, and hilarious high-school events, using common SAT words as a study tool. (*gluteus: any of the large muscles of the buttocks; esp: gluteus maximus)

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of All Things Weird Sure, you probably know that George Washington was our first president and that Christopher Columbus accidentally discovered America in 1492, but did you know that there are more plastic flamingos in the United States than there are real ones and that Disneyland employees were not permitted to wear their own underwear while dressing in character until 2001? Behind the portrait of America that history classes, news reports, and boring documentaries have painted lies a strange and perplexing country that you couldn't imagine even in your wildest dreams. Featuring 1,001 shocking facts, this book reveals all the secrets and weirdness that you never knew about the United States. From the thirty-two(!) bathrooms in the White House to the fact that a single U.S.–made hamburger may contain meat from 100 different cows, these wacky tidbits will guarantee that you'll never look at this nation the same way again!