Jesse Sheidlower
jessesword.com
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
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
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.
December 28, 2025 at 3:29 AM
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
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.
July 2, 2023 at 3:01 PM
It's less weird than it used to be on Teh Internets, but at least I can still find someone writing in detail about the Edwardian phenomenon of dying from banana-peel accidents.

londonist.substack.com/p/londons-fo...
London's Forgotten Banana Nuisance
Death by banana skin.
londonist.substack.com
December 27, 2025 at 2:46 PM
I know this is meant to be a "cool" way of writing "land", but I can't help reading it as a lambda, and then wanting to pronounce it with a [ɬ], as if it were a "cool" way of writing Welsh "ll".
December 25, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
New post, in which I talk about the Old English poem “The Wanderer” and the place of empathy in interpretation.

nikolasgunn.co.uk/2025/12/19/t...
The Wanderer
The role of empathy in reading pre-modern literature If you’d prefer, you can listen to this article below The Wanderer was the first piece of Old English literature that really grabbed …
nikolasgunn.co.uk
December 21, 2025 at 8:16 AM
@archive.org Hey is this thing on?
December 22, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Thing I learned today: Thurl Ravenscroft, who was the (uncredited) singer of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" in _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_, was also the voice of Tony the Tiger in the Frosted Flakes commercials.

Totally makes sense as soon as you know this!
December 21, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
"Even as the F-word has proliferated on smaller screens, a rule from the 1980s that limits its use in PG-13 movies has endured, influencing the way some filmmakers write, shoot and edit." | cc @stronglang.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The Filthy Word That Filmmakers Swear By (Gift Article)
How directors and writers striving for a PG-13 rating have learned to ration the use of a four-letter obscenity.
www.nytimes.com
December 20, 2025 at 1:18 AM
I was today years old when I learned that the name of Antigua, the island in the Antilles, is pronounced /ænˈtiːɡə/, not /ænˈtiːɡwə/.
December 19, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Swearing makes you stronger!

Richard Stevens (of the "swearing makes you more resistant to pain" study) is back, with a study showing that swearing helps you release your inhibitions and give it your all.

Attn @stronglang.bsky.social

psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
December 18, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
People who aspire to be academics: I wish to live a life of the mind

Actual academics:
I have a weird question for the #bird people on here. Do you think someone could tell that a book was pooped on specifically by a sparrowhawk (or perhaps hawks generally) just from the feces? I'm looking at a 16th c. case where witnesses claim books were pooped on specifically by sparrowhawks!
December 18, 2025 at 3:34 PM
This seems to be the 10-year anniversary of my nerdiest Twitter post (which has to be saying something), wherein I bitch-slapped @jonathanhoefler.bsky.social for confusing the heraldic terms "rampant" and "segreant".
December 18, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
If there is an artist/cartoonist/designer out there in the world of crosswords, I have a potential job for you. A small job (an image for my 2026 thank-you cards), very quick turnaround time (2 weeks). message me or email rexparker at icloud dot com ❤️
December 17, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Because we all need a bit of optimism, today's new entry for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction is "solarpunk". Apparently coined in a 2008 blog post; most recent example from @clivethompson.bsky.social. A few more of this sort are in the queue.

sfdictionary.com/view/2916/so...
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: solarpunk
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
sfdictionary.com
December 17, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
Fun fact: 'Deck the Halls' was written in 1862, the exact year in which use of "it's the" overtook "'tis the" in books.
December 14, 2025 at 6:11 PM
RIP John Varley.

We have a lot of quotations from him in the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction, and he is credited as being the originator of four terms: cryosuspension, cyborg (v.), cyborged, and nearside (n.):

sfdictionary.com/author/59/jo...
December 11, 2025 at 5:16 PM
New entry for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: @greatdismal.bsky.social's "Raygun Gothic". Will be adding other retrofuturistic style terms in the near future.

Would be grateful for any pre-2008 examples _not_ referring to the original story.

sfdictionary.com/view/3043/ra...
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: Raygun Gothic
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
sfdictionary.com
December 11, 2025 at 3:38 PM
At auction: The original art for Neal Stephenson's _Snow Crash_. Estimate $100k–150k. Good luck bidders!

#sciencefiction

www.bonhams.com/auction/3120...
www.bonhams.com
December 9, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Very excited to be seeing @gweniferraymond.bsky.social perform tonight. One of my favorite guitarists.
December 6, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Text from a friend, that I have absolutely no idea how to interpret
December 5, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Jesse Sheidlower
Support your local college student by treating yourself to some hand-drawn proxies!

All of these were drawn DURING FINALS, giving them that extra special hint of desperation that you just can’t get anywhere else.

Comment/DM to claim, free shipping to US, Venmo preferred, make me an offer!
December 4, 2025 at 4:48 PM