Jesse Sheidlower
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jessesword.com
Jesse Sheidlower
@jessesword.com
5K followers 470 following 2.3K posts
Lexicographer. The F-Word (new edition Nov. ’24!), sfdictionary.com, ex-OED, coder (mainly Perl and Python), Threesome Tollbooth #cocktail bar manager, adjunct @ Columbia.
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jessesword.com
My sense of what words might count as "common" vocabulary is, I think, rather different from most people's. Still: is the word _rudder_ really something that anyone needs to have explained?

www.nytimes.com/athletic/677...
"On they rowed, even when one week into the trip, around 350 miles in, a broken rudder (a blade at the rear of a boat used for steering) left them stranded at sea. Repairs were attempted, but even the spare rudder malfunctioned due to what they would later learn was a manufacturing fault."
November 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
jessesword.com
This weekend's sourdough effort. Looked and tasted pretty great, but I probably overproofed it a bit.
Photo of a boule of sourdough bread, in a cast-iron baker with its top removed and set on the side. Photo of a sourdough boule, cut in half. The crumb has even but relatively small holes.
November 3, 2025 at 1:58 PM
jessesword.com
Got that taken care of. 5m.
Picture of my torso (and a bit of my unshaven face), fearing a "Manhattan votes early" sticker on a blue Shetland sweater under a brown leather jacket, with Manhattan buildings in the background
November 1, 2025 at 3:39 PM
jessesword.com
Charles Barsotti cartoon, featuring a bearded writer writing longhand with a half-smile, and his thought bubble reading "'A writer?', she gasped, her perky breasts heaving. 'God, I _love_ writers!'"
October 31, 2025 at 6:37 PM
jessesword.com
The OED on _aunt_ n. sense 1.b.
1750– A woman who is regarded with respect or affection similar to that often accorded to an aunt (sense 1a) despite not being linked by this specific kinship; esp. a close family friend or (chiefly regional, as a term of respect or affection) an elderly woman. Also as a form of address or as a title preceding a first name. Cf. auntie n. 1b, uncle n. 1b. Frequently as a title. Cf. sense 1a.ii.
October 28, 2025 at 8:25 PM
jessesword.com
Me, remove a DJ? Are you mad?

There is a back band, though:
Photo of the back of Webster's 12th, showing the back band, with typical promo copy
October 17, 2025 at 6:23 PM
jessesword.com
Hey check it out I am as cool as the other cool people on Bluesky!

Seriously, this is really exciting to me.
Photo of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 12th edition, on a glass desk with a small stack of books in the background, &c.
October 17, 2025 at 5:43 PM
jessesword.com
Email that I probably shouldn't open
Screenshot of a command-line email reader (Mutt), showing an unread message from Sunspel with the subject "The Sunspel Bespoke T-shirt Service"
October 17, 2025 at 2:19 PM
jessesword.com
@lancerichardson.bsky.social being interviewed by @shamblanderson.bsky.social at the NYPL, for the publication of True Nature, his biography of Peter Matthiessen
Picture of Sam Anderson interviewing Lance Richardson on stage at the New York Public Library
October 14, 2025 at 10:39 PM
jessesword.com
This anecdote is found in D.G. Wells's _Recreations in Logic_ (1979):
The curate of Lower Purdham was notorious for his fiery sermons, not least with his uncle, who was the local landowner and bigwig and did not appreciate what he took to be frequent references to his wealth and social position. One day his uncle and aunt were visiting him as he was preparing one of his sermons and his aunt, glancing over his shoulder was horrified to see that it started off, in the curate’s hand, “UNCLE AND I SHALL OWE DEVIL . . .” Quite apart from the poor standard of English, this was clearly going to be a hellfire sermon of the first order, and she hastened to tell her husband. In the ensuing explosion a lot of hard words were spoken, but to no purpose, as became apparent when the curate explained how his sermon actually started. How did it start?
October 14, 2025 at 1:05 AM
jessesword.com
Here's one additional example, albeit from a self-published novel (Ryan Rayston, The Quiet Sound of Disappearing, 2011):
Screenshot from a book, reading in relevant part "The next day, ready to Agatha Christie the information, I applied for a job at Elan. I was hired on the spot."
October 13, 2025 at 7:24 PM
jessesword.com
Do you have an allergy to LaTeX? Try groff instead!

(Shamelessly copied from @Doveux@meow.social on Mastodon.)
A laminated A4 poster with the title "Do YOU have an ALLERGY?" with three icons, but the icon for latex is the logo for LaTeX the typesetting tool.
October 10, 2025 at 1:26 PM
jessesword.com
By complete coincidence, I was at one of my favorite bars in Brooklyn, Tooker Alley, tonight, and they had the Diamondback on the menu! Of course it was great.
Photo of a bar menu including a barely visible description of the Diamondback cocktail, illuminated by candlelight, with a Diamondback-cocktail-containing Nick and Nora glass in the shot.
October 10, 2025 at 2:51 AM
jessesword.com
Here for @modaviau.bsky.social's NYC launch of her great new novel Epic and Lovely, at Lofty Pigeon Books in Kensington.

Also bought @davidwondrich.bsky.social's new Comic History while here. Support local bookstores!
Picture of Mo Daviau with Roohi Choudhry at Lofty Pigeon Books
October 9, 2025 at 10:59 PM
jessesword.com
More on Jilly Cooper: Just wanted to point out that the term _bonkbuster_, appearing frequently in coverage of her death, is in fact really used in the UK, not just a one-off joke. And yes, it's in the OED! Here's the entry, which has the deets:
Screenshot of the OED entry for _bonkbuster_, labelled "Chiefly British (colloquial and humorous), defined as "A type of popular novel characterized by frequent explicit descriptions of sexual encounters between the characters. Also: a film or television programme of this nature.", with the note "Popularized by the British writer Sue Limb (b. 1946), writing under the pseudonym ‘Dulcie Domum’, in her humorous newspaper column ‘Bad Housekeeping’ (1988–2001)", and quotations from 1988 onwards.
October 6, 2025 at 2:41 PM
jessesword.com
My foyer ceiling has wallpaper in the form of marbelized book endpapers, and it's awesome, and also some people have been over repeatedly and never noticed it.
Picture of room, focusing on the ceiling, which has wallpaper resembling marbleized book endpapers. Also with Cappiello's 1927 poster for Cognac Monnet, a black leafy lamp, and a scary wooden chair.
October 2, 2025 at 3:08 PM
jessesword.com
Thrilled to see @sternbergh.bsky.social used as a source text in Charles Bonnot's paper about the difficulty of translating the word _fuck_ into French.
Photograph of a conference slide, reading: *Morphological plasticity* _An inmate tries to interrupt Robinson's orientation speech:_ Tattoos says brightly, "So *who are we supposed to fuck*? Each other?" "Well, *you're fucking with me* right now," Robinson says. (_The Blinds,_ Adam Sternbergh, p. 24)
September 26, 2025 at 3:23 PM
jessesword.com
Sent to me (nothing to do with the current trip).

#Linguistics #Scots #dialect
Photo of a printed sign reading "Dear Scotland, it's "you" not 'youse'. Sincerely, The English Language." Underneath which is tacked a handwritten note: "Dear England, Youse dinnae ken wit yer talkin aboot. Cheers, Scotland."
September 25, 2025 at 4:44 PM
jessesword.com
That sad, sad thing where you are leaving town just before the World French Fry Championships begin.
Picture of a sign reading: Championnat du Monde de la Frite / Arras With images of a mythical-ish athletic figure holding a batch of French fries, and a trophy containing French fries
September 25, 2025 at 1:05 PM
jessesword.com
I am not generally an overly fancy person, but why does this sound like an industrial waste product? "Parsley stem"? Why not "compost"?
Picture of a pump bottle of "parsley stem hand & body wash"
September 24, 2025 at 5:09 PM
jessesword.com
Fascinating @merriam-webster.com entry for "aulos". I'm not sure I recall ever seeing a #dictionary entry that corrects a misconception in the body of the definition itself. Feels particularly un-Merriam. @petersokolowski.bsky.social?
Screenshot of the Merriam-Webster entry for "aulos", reading: aulos noun au·​los ˈȯˌläs plural auloi -ˌlȯi : a Greek woodwind musical instrument that is commonly called a flute but is in fact a reed instrument similar to an oboe
September 22, 2025 at 2:57 PM
jessesword.com
A rare contextual example of the slang term _Abe_ 'a $5 bill', which appears in today's NYT #Crossword.

This one is Williams S. Burroughs, "The Evening News," from _Exterminator!_ (1973).

cc @rexparker.bsky.social
Screenshot: A drunk banging on the door of his cell thin grey pickpocket stops him. "Get me this letter out, Screw. It's worth an Abe to you." pulls [sic] the Abe out of his fibrous junkie shoe. "I need an arrest, Mike. I'm thin." "Fuck off punk I can't find an old drunk."
September 19, 2025 at 7:30 PM
jessesword.com
Store I must visit: Bookz&Booze, in Antwerp. Sells a curated selection of books that are paired with a bottle of alcohol that matches them in some way.

bookznbooze.be/antwerpen/
Photograph of a store called "Bookz&Booze", in Antwerp. Visible in the picture is mostly bottles of liquor.
September 17, 2025 at 1:14 PM
jessesword.com
Oof.
Screenshot of the whatisnewyork account, featuring a picture of a beat-up air-conditioner being supported by a very faded copy of the first volume of the Historical Dictionary of American Slang.
September 12, 2025 at 9:20 PM
jessesword.com
Fascinating correction on placement of _fucking_ adv. from Hochul's team, via @jccoltin.bsky.social (screenshot is from X; his post here here has the "correct" version only):
Screenshot of Jeff Coltin's post on X, where he initially reported that Kathy Hochul said "We're not selling out our fucking city", but with a followup tweet saying "Hochul's team has asked I correct the record on the expletive placement, to note that she said 'We are not fucking selling out this city'."
September 6, 2025 at 2:32 AM