World Wide Words -- FAQ

[Michael Quinion]

World Wide Words FAQ
--------------------
This document is sent every three months to subscribers to World
Wide Words. It contains useful information about the commands
available and addresses to write to. Please keep a copy for your
future reference. It was last updated on 31 July 2001.


Contents
--------
1. About World Wide Words.
2. Contact addresses.
3. List commands.
4. Back issues of the newsletter.
5. Current subscribers.


1. About World Wide Words
-------------------------
This list distributes the weekly World Wide Words newsletters that
are written by Michael Quinion.

Newsletters discuss the vagaries of the English language, including
word histories, new words, the background to words in the news, and
some of the problems of English usage. World Wide Words also tries
to answer your questions on English language and usage.

The World Wide Words list is announce-only, that is, subscribers
cannot post messages directly to the list. However, Michael Quinion
is always more than pleased to receive feedback and comments on what
he writes and he frequently includes such feedback in newsletters.


2. Contact addresses
--------------------
* The main contact address is editor at worldwidewords.org. Please use
  this for general queries and feedback on weekly newsletters.

* If you are asking a question for inclusion in the Q&A section, e-
  mail qa at worldwidewords.org. You will receive an automated reply in
  the first instance.

* Problems or queries regarding your subscription should be sent to
  maillist at worldwidewords.org.

* Information on the pronunciation symbols used in mailings can be
  obtained by e-mailing pronguide at worldwidewords.org. This address
  triggers an automatic response. Similar, but more comprehensive,
  information is available at www.worldwidewords.org/pronguide.htm.


3. List commands
----------------
* Commands must be sent to the list server administrative address

    listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org

* Do not send them to any of the World Wide Words addresses such as
  editor at worldwidewords.org, or qa at worldwidewords.org, as they will
  be passed on to Michael Quinion, who will probably bounce them
  back to you with a copy of these instructions. Please do not try
  to send commands by replying to newsletters; such messages will be
  wrongly directed to Michael Quinion.

* To leave the list, e-mail listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org with
  the following text in the body of your message (the subject line
  of requests is ignored):

      SIGNOFF WORLDWIDEWORDS

* To join the list, e-mail listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org with
  the following text in the body of your message:

      SUBSCRIBE WORLDWIDEWORDS First_name Last_name

   replacing "First_name Last_name" with your own first and last
   names. The subject line of command requests is ignored.

* To change the address to which newsletters are to be sent, send
  the following message to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org from
  the ADDRESS AT WHICH YOU ARE CURRENTLY SUBSCRIBED:

      CHANGE WORLDWIDEWORDS newaddr

  replacing newaddr with your new e-mail address. The list server
  will send a message to your NEW ADDRESS, asking for confirmation
  of the change. The change will be made when you reply to this
  message from your new address. Confirmation messages will be sent
  to both addresses.

  If you no longer have the old account, you will not be able to use
  the CHANGE command. In that case, SUBSCRIBE from the new address
  as described above. Then e-mail maillist at worldwidewords.org and
  ask to be taken off the old address (this will be done for you by
  Michael Quinion).

* To suspend receipt of newsletters, e-mail the list server address
  at listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org with the following text:

      SET WORLDWIDEWORDS NOMAIL

* When you are ready to start receiving newsletters again, e-mail
  listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org with the text:

      SET WORLDWIDEWORDS MAIL

* To obtain the current version of an information document that
  lists these commands, e-mail listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org
  with the text:

      INFO WORLDWIDEWORDS


4. Back issues of the newsletter
--------------------------------
Back issues of the newsletter are available from 7 March 1997. The
newsletters are usually sent weekly, but there are some holiday
gaps. The best way of getting them is to visit

  <http://www.worldwidewords.org/backissues.htm>,

where they are archived in monthly sets.

Issues after from the beginning of 1999 are also available in plain
text form from the list archive at

  <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/worldwidewords.html>

This is the better address if you want to get a copy of a very
recent mailing, as the World Wide Words archive is updated a month
in arrears. This archive is searchable.


5. Current subscribers
----------------------
Based on the country codes given in e-mail addresses (which are not
always accurate), World Wide Words has some 13,000 subscribers in at
least the following 111 countries:

  Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain,
  Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Canada,
  Chile, China, Christmas Island, Cocos Island, Colombia, Costa
  Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican
  Republic, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Gambia,
  Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Guyana, Hong
  Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland,
  Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazachstan, Kenya,
  Korea (South), Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein,
  Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malaysia,
  Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Mozambique,
  Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niue, Norway,
  Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines,
  Poland, Polynesia, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian
  Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia,
  South Africa, Soviet Union, Spain, Sri Lanka, St Helena,
  Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga,
  Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Turks & Caicos Islands, Ukraine,
  United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay,
  Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands, Yugoslavia,
  Zambia.

If you are based in a country not listed here, Michael Quinion
would like to hear from you at editor at worldwidewords.org.