'Top Words from 2007': _hybrid_, _surge_, _climate change_

[Sam Clements]

Well, accept this from an amateur.

Paul Payack graduated from Bucknell in 1972.  He was a student of Dr. Robert
Beard.  According to what I could find, Beard was a professor of
Russian(which doesn't automatically make you a professional linguist, nor
would it disqualify you).  Dr. Beard,  authors a site on the Web as Dr.
Goodword.  http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=89

in which he appears to put down the numbers game that his pupil, Payack,
thrives on.

BTW, Payack lists in his biographies that he is a Harvard graduate.
According to
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:4LmhlyV_LeAJ:www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20060402-9999-1c02words.html+payack+harvard+graduate&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us
he "... earned a B.A. in comparative literature through Harvard University's
extension program.."

Whew!  If it's not some Irish linguist, it's another self-promoter.

Sam Clements



----- Original Message -----
From: "Benjamin Zimmer" <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 6:35 PM
Subject: Re: 'Top Words from 2007': _hybrid_, _surge_, _climate change_


> On Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 12:45 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky
> <zwicky at csli.stanford.edu> wrote:
>>
>> On Mar 30, 2008, at 9:36 AM, Damien Hall wrote:
>>
>> > NPR's _Weekend Edition Saturday_ yesterday had a little piece about the
>> > 'top
>> > words of 2007' as determined from their popularity in the media by
>> > Global
>> > Language Monitor LLC...
>>
>> oh christ, this is Paul J.J. Payack's outfit again.  search our
>> archives and Language Log's archives on "Payack".
>
> And now Payack is bringing his chicanery to Barry Popik's hometown of
> Austin. See John Kelso's column in the Austin American-Statesman:
>
> http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/03/30/0330kelso.html
>
> In an email, Barry has rightly chastised Kelso for his credulous
> piece, cc'ing a number of us.
>
> (BTW, in his sign-off, Barry refers to himself as "new father this
> Easter weekend".)
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org