PLANNING A STAYCATION THIS YEAR? LOOK IT UP NOW IN
MERRIAM-WEBSTER’S COLLEGIATE ® DICTIONARY, ELEVENTH EDITION

SPRINGFIELD, MA, July 2009—Hardworking word-lovers everywhere can now learn the meaning of the word staycation (“a vacation spent at home or nearby”) along with nearly 100 other new words and senses added to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. America’s best-selling dictionary offers its new 2009 entries in its updated print edition and online at Merriam-Webster.com.

“Our language evolves in many ways,” said John Morse, president and publisher of Merriam-Webster Inc. “As we’ve seen from our Open Dictionary feature on Merriam-Webster.com, people enjoy blending existing words, like combining ‘stay’ and ‘vacation’ to make staycation.  Staycation is a good example of a word meeting a need and establishing itself in the language very quickly.  Our earliest record of use is from 2005, but it seems to have exploded into popular use in 2007.”

“Another example of this kind of creative wordplay from this year’s list,” said Morse, “is frenemy: one who pretends to be a friend but is actually an enemy. But, in addition to these ‘portmanteau words,’ we have added new words from more predictable categories, like science, health, technology, and popular culture, which have also seen widespread use across a variety of publications.”

Many of the new words reflect the importance of the environment (carbon footprint, green- collar), government activities (earmark, waterboarding), health and medicine (cardioprotective, locavore, naproxen, neuroprotective), pop culture (docusoap, fan fiction, flash mob, reggaeton), and online activities (sock puppet, vlog, webisode).  Other words added include haram, memory foam, missalette, and zip line.

For a sample blend of the latest Collegiate Dictionary entries—and their definitions—please visit www.Merriam-Webster.com. For additional information on how words are selected for a Merriam-Webster dictionary, or to arrange an interview on this topic with Merriam-Webster’s Editor at Large Peter Sokolowski, please contact Arthur J. Bicknell, Senior Publicist, at the above address.

Merriam-Webster, Incorporated
Merriam-Webster Inc. acquired the rights to revise and publish Noah Webster’s dictionaries in 1843. Since then, Merriam-Webster has maintained an ongoing commitment to innovation, scholarship, and love of language. Today, the company continues as the leader in both print and electronic language reference publishing with reference products, learning tools, and word games. For more information about the company, visit www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Mike Rothstein was doomed to use his hands, not his brain. This, the St. Louis Park native said, was the verdict of his high-school guidance counselor as he neared graduation in the early 1980s. Rothstein’s lifelong battle with dyslexia, a disorder that hampers reading and other commonplace skills, had left him lagging academically behind his peers. Still, he was convinced he was smart enough to make it in college. No, the counselor insisted. You’ll be a baker.
Rothstein, now 43, recalls blurting a few obscenities and stalking from the room, nearly convinced that staffer was correct but intent on trying to prove the person wrong. This set him on a path to eventually found Innovative Knowledge, an educational-software company that helps other kids attain their full school potential.

It was no easy journey. Unable to follow his friends to the University of Minnesota after high school, he settled for Normandale Community College but haunted the U’s Wilson Library in his spare time. It was there he met a nearly blind man listening to tapes – transcripts of his textbooks, as it turned out. Rothstein learned that the Library of Congress did transcription work for other blind people who requested it, so he said he was blind and got his audiobooks. (He still feels a bit guilty today about lying.)

Magically, he said, these recordings somehow helped him master printed text, too, and he finally became a reader. Rothstein was then accepted into the U’s General College, but found that taking class notes was a major challenge. Still, he was able to “keep adapting, keep finding new ways of breaking through to the next level.” He graduated with degrees in marketing and journalism and, not long afterward, embarked on his long career in software publishing. This culminated in 1999 with the founding of Silicon Valley-based Innovative Knowledge, which he says is now doing well.
Rothstein still faces doubters. Many don’t think educational software like his Innovative Knowledge titles can be a valuable complement to classroom lessons and after-school tutors. He argues his educational computer discs are different from “edutainment” platters, which he says are basically games with embedded lessons for kids. So, again, he finds himself on a stubborn mission to prove his skeptics wrong. Watch out, Rothstein says, he’s just getting going.

By: Julio Ojeda-Zapata
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Parents who see iPod fever as a pox may want to reconsider, says Mike Rothstein of education-software publisher Innovative Knowledge. His Silicon Valley firm has long provided hundreds of computer mini-courses for schoolkids. Now, the iPod is getting in on the fun. Almost anything found on computer DVDs, such as “Mastering Middle School” and “Mastering High School,” can now be moved to one of the Apple players for learning on the go, with only minor format changes for the tiny screen. It’s easy to pick and choose what gets onto the iPod. For example, we synced over “World Literature: Greek Mythology I” from the “Mastering Elementary School” disc. Individual lessons – including “King Midas.” “The Labors of Hercules” and “Jason and the Golden Fleece” – were then easily accessible via the iPod Notes menu, which is tucked within the Extras master menu.

Many lessons consist solely of audio, often with pleasingly mellifluous narrators, but video-based lessons also are available for those with newer video-compatible iPods. Innovative Knowledge offers nearly 500 individual lessons, which are divvied up in nearly 40 packages. But not all of these are iPod-compatible. “Preparing for Kindergarten” and “Mastering High School SAT Math” are iPod-less, for instance. About 15 packages do provide iPod compatibility, and new releases will all be iPod-ready. Material on Innovative Knowledge discs comes from several textbook publishers, the Meriam-Webster reference-book firm, teachers hired by Innovative Knowledge and the Weekly Reader, a famed series of classroom magazines and education supplements on all subjects under the sun.

As a result, content on the disks tends to be more reliable than what kids would dredge up via Google, and its age-appropriate and kid-safe, Rothstein says. It’s not intended to supplant classroom instruction, Rothstein adds, but it’s a potential cash saver for parents who might drop thousands on supplementary tutors or learning centers. “While those are great and definitely beneficial, parents shouldn’t overlook this software,” her says. “They’ll have a great tool right at their workstation.”

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) May 25, 2008 — To support learning in and out of the classroom, Weekly Reader Corporation, a leading publisher of classroom magazines and educational supplements, and Innovative Knowledge, a leading San Jose-based educational software developer, have teamed up to provide its popular Weekly Reader: Mastering series of educational software to schools free-of-charge. If a student purchases the software, Weekly Reader and Innovative Knowledge will donate a single user installation to the student’s school.