Words

For people who love words, and I'm sure there are a lot of us, there are a few new sites up.

First is Wordie - which describes itself as "Like Flickr, but without the photos". Wordie lets you make lists of words - you can have more than one list - for example, words you like, words you hate, strange words, words to do with biology or whatever. No definitions - though there are links to definitions of the words on various online dictionaries and Google and Wikipedia.

Verbotomy, found via Walking Paper, is a great site where they give you a definition, and you have to come up with a word for it. Results in some very very silly words, obviously.

This reminds me of The Meaning of Liff - that wonderful book by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd.

DingQuote has been described as "Flickr for words", but is in fact for keeping quotes - not so much ones from famous folk - but more for things you've heard people say. You can tag the quotes, and even submit them by text.

If you do like words, then you might also like to have a look at:

WordWizard - a resource for the origins of words, and their usage - includes sections on insults, quotes and slang.

WordAssociation.org - Play word associations with the computer - type in the first word that comes into your head.

The Random Word Generator will generate a random new word for you, should the current set of existing words prove inadequate.

Dictionary.com's Word of the Day is always good for learning new words, or to feel smug if you already know them!

The Free Dictionary has a customizable home page in the style of Google, with word of the day, quote of the day, a little game called Match Up, where you match words with their synonyms, and a hangman game. All good fun, and you can add their widgets to your Google home page too.

Christmas

is coming, so here are some games with a Christmassy theme.

• Snowball fight
• Festive Turkey Scoffing Game
• Christmas Space Invaders
• Pudding Man
• Santa vs the Turkeys
• Chimney Packer
• Christmas Bounce
• Christmas Shuffle
• Present Bounce
• Gift Worms
• Sleigh Ride

Cilip

Phil Bradley's post on the pronunciation of Cilip was interesting - I'd never considered it could be said any other way! But thinking about it, I don't talk about it very much, if at all possible, because I don't like it. It sounds stupid. I'm a member of Cilip. It doesn't roll off the tongue nicely (however you pronounce it).

But we're not alone. It's not just us information/library folk that suffer. Other professional bodies have terrible names. The IEE (Institution of Electrical Engineers, generally referred to as the I-double-E) recently changed its name to IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology). Spare a thought also for NACGT (National Association of Careers and Guidance Teachers), IMBM (The Institute of Maintenance and Building Management), RCVS (The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons) and BWDMA (British Web Design and Marketing Association). At least we have an acronym that is pronounceable.

Advent calendar

Richard Sellmer's (a German advent calendar company)Online Advent Calendar museum has a history of the advent calendar, and examples of lots of old advent calendars.

Lots of advent calendars available online. Some of the better ones include:

NorthPole.co.uk have one with puzzles, jokes etc. You can open the 'doors' before the correct date (if you are the sort of person who likes to do that).

Woodland's Junior School have an educational advent calendar, with facts about other countries. I'm assuming - it's India today, but you can't peek ahead.

Harpold.com provides a Christmas related item every day - today it is a poem. No peeking here either.

Billy Bear provides two advent calendars - one Special Advent Calendar, with no peeking, which provides free clipart, games, and programmes, and a Wallpaper Advent Calendar, with downloadable wallpaper.

BBC Radio 3 has Bach Advent Calendar with a quiz and music clips.

There are loads more.