User: Dvortygirl

From open-dictionary.com - the free dictionary.

Etymology

From Dvorak (an alternative keyboard layout) + qwerty (a standard keyboard) + girl (hey, that's me!), because I type on a qwerty keyboard with a dvorak keyboard map in software.

Santa Clara, CA, USA

I have long been fascinated with language, words and meaning, and more recently, with education, open source, and the dissemination of thought. May my contributions assist you in your quest for knowledge (or simply your crossword puzzle)!

Present Preoccupations

• Idioms and idiomatic usage. I have worked with a number of new English speakers and this seems to be a sticking_point. Hence, I have tried to catalog idioms with examples in context. For an example, see related terms section under put. Idiomatic usage is something native speakers take for granted, that we walk over to the store or simply wish for something, rather than, say, about it. It's another stumbling_block, best cleared with examples and practice. I hereby dedicate my work in these regards to everyone trying to learn the screwball language that is English, and especially to C. and V., who would never have asked me the meaning of wishy-washy had it been easy to find in a basic dictionary.
• Interjections. Wow! These words are weird (and therefore interesting). They are also frustrating to learners, since they are not a particularly regular part of grammar and they are seldom discussed in classes. Oh_boy is for V, too.
• Grandiloquent words, mainly for my own personal amusement. I am a verbivore, to borrow a term from the eminent author Richard Lederer. If you think you know everything, or just like weird words, look up omphaloskepsis, defenestrate, or infundibulated. Yes, there's a word for that!
• Offbeat or just fun, juicy words. See squelch. Also, unusual uses for words and euphemisms.
• Music, a language unto itself.
• Technical jargon. What can I say? I am an engineer and live in an engineering community. The stuff seeps unbidden into the psyche and the conversation.

Languages Known

Excellent English, a little Spanish, a very little Greek, and a degenerating, pitiful and rusty tidbit of American Sign Language.