BS Summary: This article contains 13 faulty reasoning types, including Halo Effect, Appeal to Authority, and Framing Effect, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 47.6% saturation with 60 hits. Analysis detected 372 faulty-reasoning hits from 126 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 92.8% and a BS Rank of 95% (844 of 16,813 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 95.00% of the article peer group.
Two decades ago, there were roughly 200 commercial lexicographers in the United States.
Today, fewer than 50 remain.
Stefan Fatisis’s new book, “Unabridged,” chronicles his time embedded at Merriam-Webster, defining nearly 90 words — only 14 of which made it into the dictionary.
It’s hard getting a word into the dictionary, even if it’s been in use for a while.
Take “microaggression,” for example.
It’s been in consideration since 1974, and thanks to Fatsis, now appears in the new edition.
Stefan Fatsis joins us to talk about how words make it into the dictionary, how they’re defined, and how they change culture.
Stefan Fatsis is a journalist and the author of four books.
His latest is Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary.
Analysis
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