Jim Karpen Tips

July 2001

Several times lately I've been telling people about my youthful travels, which included Europe and Israel, and a week staying on a kibbutz. But each time I couldn't remember how to pronounce "kibbutz." Was the accent on the first or second syllable? So it was the first word I looked up when I tried the new pronunciation feature of the excellent Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.

The site is fast and efficient. And when you do a search, the word you're looking up will have a small red icon by it. Click on the icon, and a window pops up on your screen and speaks the word. "In the case of "kibbutz," there are two red icons, indicating alternate pronunciations. Turns out, it can be accented on the first or second syllable, but I hadn't been pronouncing one of the vowels correctly in the second option. There's also a third icon which offers the correct pronunciation of "kibbutzim," the plural form.

This feature alone makes the site worthwhile, but I then began exploring and immediately got hooked on some of the other features on the site--both fun and useful. One useful feature is the option to see web sites related to the word you look up. Right under the definition there was a link titled "The 10 Most Popular Sites for 'Kibbutz,'" which offered a useful list of sites ranked by popularity. In addition to the links, the search results page also suggests other related searches, such as "kibbutz volunteer," "kibbutz jobs," and "map Israel."

The fun features include The Lighter Side, which has excerpts from word-related books. One, titled What's in a Name, gives a list of famous people who had changed their names. Who was Archibald Leach? Cary Grant. Henry John Deutschen-dorf? John Denver. It also tells about Ellen Cooperman, a feminist who tried to legally change her name to Ellen Cooperperson. But the New York State Supreme Court didn't let her, arguing that it would lead to a trend and cause problems. And this section includes information on words coined by Shakespeare, which include "lonely," "hobnob," and "watchdog."

Another fun feature is Word Games. This section uses Java applets to put a word game on your screen. I tried the "Transform Brainstorm" game, in which you're given a minute to gradually change one word into another by clicking on one letter at a time in response to clues.

Other areas of the site include Word of the Day and Word for the Wise, which has transcripts from the popular radio program of that name. The site also has a link to Word Central, an award-winning site for kids.

If you'd like to master difficult words, see: http://www.lineone.net/dictionaryof/difficultwords/index.html.

© 2001 by Jim Karpen, Ph.D. (#275)