Encyclopedia Briannica

@e-briannica

technical editor, historical linguist, 2D cartoon person

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Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Jul 9

Using my phone as a hotspot at the airport and falling in love with someone else's naming choice.

A screenshot of 3 personal hotspots. Two called iPhone and one called "Please work for the love of god"

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Jun 10

CHOMPFIN is a shark that chomps. Is this synecdoche (fin = shark) or is this a shark that chomps the fins of other fish (AKA a cutthroat compound)? I think synecdoche, not cutthroat. But still fun. #AmResearching

A screenshot from Echoes of Wisdom that says "You learned the Chompfin echo!"

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Jun 9

bless you

A screenshot from Beeswax, a daily spelling game. I got 3 out of 5 today.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Jun 2

Shocked that I've already found more #cutthroatcompounds from 2000-2026 than from the 1600-1650, its most productive time til now, when many dictionaries were published. It's easier to find insignificant current examples by walking around than by researching 500-year old ones, but still surprising.

A graph showing the productivity of cutthroats by 50 year increments since 1050. 2000-2049 has the most with 216 vs 200 from 1600 to 1650.

The previously most productive time for cutthroat compounds was the 1600s - this graph shows that bubble and example words like spitfire, rotgut, and scarecrow from the time. The 2000s have already surpassed it in 26 years.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Jun 2

Been enjoying learning fish words from Chillquarium, and now know that WRASSE is from Cornish. Some other maybe Cornish-origin words in English are GUNNEL and SCAD, other types of fish. #AmResearching

A screenshot of the video game Chillquarium with the Exquisite Fairy Wrasse image and value shown on the left side and a grid of discovered fish on the right.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· May 22

I thought HARENGIFORM might be rabbit-shaped, because HARENGON is a name for rabbitfolk beings in @dndbeyond.com as of 2021. But HARENGIFORM means HERRING-SHAPED. Is HARENGON a "hare today, gone tomorrow" pun? #AmResearching

An image of a harengon rabbit-type being standing upright, holding a weapon. The image comes from the Wild Beyond the Witchlight DnD book.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· May 18

I tried to say that it was so windy yesterday, a Runts poster fell onto my head while I was fixing a cabinet door. Listener thought I’d be injured. I said no, it wasn’t framed, it was…. EELSKIN. Couldn’t find the word for OILSKIN because this wordlist primed me for EELS. 🐍 1 pushpin still at large.

An oilskin Runts poster hangs above a sink. Yesterday the wind blew it onto my head while I was fixing a cabinet door.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· May 15

PERCIFORM: Such a fish! I love "I assume you read the thing above" definitions. It was for saving space, it was reasonable, I get it, but has led me to unreasonable joy like "Who sells these, a fish wife?!" in grad school: tankhughes.com?p=983

Of or pertaining to any of very many fish, of the order Perciformes, that have fin spines, a swim bladder without a duct, usually ctenoid scales, and 17 or fewer caudal fin rays. Noun: Such a fish.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· May 5

Unsurprising to learn about a man who checks the harmonics of carrots (Still love that video)

Clip from the video The Noises Rest about foley work. Merlin at the grocery store playing an ocarina and then holding carrots to his ear

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Apr 22

Flying to #ACES2026 tomorrow. Can't figure out the Whova event code yet, but otherwise everything's peachy as long as my suitcase shuts and I set up my Out of Office response. So glad I signed up for the spelling bee 😊 Talk is on Friday morning.

A screenshot of the ACES schedule showing Bri and Lindsay's talk on Friday called "Technical Editing is Technically Just Editing."

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Apr 7

Got @korystamper.bsky.social's new book TRUE COLOR in the mail last night! Excited to think about color in new ways.

The book True Color surrounded by a rainbow of Pantone postcards

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Apr 3

Alanis Morissette is the oldest citation for FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS?! From the song Head Over Feet (1995). Wow. #AmResearching

OED excerpt for the term friend with benefits with the oldest citation the lyrics from Alanis Morissette's song Head over Feet.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Feb 11

Played the new roguelike Plinko game Plinbo this weekend and discovered the DRIFTLEFT and DRIFTRIGHT balls, which are more likely to drop to the left or right (respectively) than a standard ball - therefore more likely to fall into outer slots with higher multipliers. #CutthroatCompounds

A screenshot from the game Plinbo at the ball shop - one of the two options is the Driftleft Ball with the description "Chance to go left +15%"

A screenshot from the game Plinbo showing the triangular shape, with two balls approaching the bottom slots - 0.2x multiplier in the middle, 10x muliplier on the far left and right sides.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Feb 1

Cool lore building can come from not implementing spelling reform in fictional worlds: CARVANHA (Gen III Pokemon) is named after PIRANHA which comes from Tupi (+CAR from Latin/French carnivore). Evokes a lot for English speakers by just including that H. #AmResearching

Official Bulbapedia drawing of the Pokemon Carvanha, which looks like a round blue/red fish with tusks and spiky yellow fins

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Jan 22

Ok, in this episode there's a mutated character who has a cannonball as his midsection and who threatens to light his fuse during a fight, but says he can only do it once. Violence avoided, he introduces himself after as CAPTAIN BLASTGUTS. The first cutthroat known in 2026!! 2/2

Brennan Lee Mulligan, at the beginning of episode 3 of the Gladlands D20 season as an NPC character saying "I'm Captain Blastguts."

Excerpt of a spreadsheet of cutthroat compounds from 2024 to 2026, ending with Captain Blastguts in 2026. 5 from 2024, 5 from 2025.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Jan 22

A character name spoiler for @dimension20.bsky.social: Gladlands Episode 3 below! A rare #CutthroatCompound that names a guy via his custom move that he's never done before but might do someday. 1/2 (like Lance SLASHBLADE from Inside Out 2 who only rolls, never uses his sword)

A still from Inside Out 2 showing envy and Lance Slashblade touching palms from either side of a glass container.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Jan 17

Come over for game night! 🎲 We're gonna catch on-fire drunk raisins in our mouths. #AmResearching #OED

A screen shot from the OED showing the definition and citations for flap dragon: ‘A play in which they catch raisins out of burning brandy and, extinguishing them by closing the mouth, eat them’ (AKA snapdragon)

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Jan 17

Happily continued my SF Sketchfest week with SPONTOURCO, the live offshoot of excellent podcast SPONTANEANATION. @pftompkins.bsky.social (who I once requested and received a hug from at this festival in 2015) sung goddamn beautifully, and plays so well together with Cordero, Newsome, and little JV ❤️

Paul F Tompkins hugs me in 2015 near a merch table, with many onlookers including John Hodgman and Steve Agee.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Jan 8

It's been a long travel day, but it was hard not to appreciate the existence of the generically festive, Legally Distinct™️ lime green GRUNCH GAMES cocktail at PHX 🎄

An airport bar poster for Holiday Hijinks cocktails including Reindeer Ruckus and Grunch Games.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Jan 7

The whimsical linguist's packing dilemma...

A spread of word and punctuation and keyboard-themed jewelry on a white counter

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Jan 6

Dang, it's been a minute since I went to a conference. Can't believe I'm really flying to ADS/LSA tomorrow. I've wished to attend the WOTY vote in person for 10+ years, and now in 3 days I'll be on stage helping out with its logistics. Wild. ✨ #AmResearching #AmEditing @americandialect.org

An excerpt of a notebook page that contains notes from security and editing conferences going back to 2016.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Jan 4

I have them! But there are so many butt and pants-focused ones, I hadn't realized those two were synonyms, thank you :) Images are sorted by "body part -butt" and "object-clothing-pants", respectively. Where should I update the big list? A new E_Briannica blog or a Wordnik list?

Excerpt of cutthroat compound spreadsheet that includes all terms that have nouns in the category of "object-clothing-pants"

Excerpt of cutthroat compound spreadsheet that includes all terms that have nouns in the category of "body part - butt"

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Jan 2

This is a cutthroat joke! It fly, it be, it blow fish. #AmResearching

A screenshot from Tumblr user real-language facts about why animals have certain names - the fly is called as such because it fly, a bee, it be. and a blowfish? "well, I shan't say."

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Dec 22

I love the holidays because it's when my two favorite annual podcasts come out: 1. Till Death Do Us Blart (5 men slowly go mad year over year) 2. Comedy Bang Bang Best Ofs (2 men slowly go mad over 4 episodes recorded in one day)

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Dec 8

I deeply relate to the sentiment of this foreword to "Origins of NASA Names" from 1976 and I am so glad for them that this project was completed. #AmResearching

Origins of NASA names title page in a beautiful pale green.

Foreword from Origins of NASA Names from 1976.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Dec 2

"On which step of the ladder do you feel you personally stand at this time?" is a bad survey sentence. Death by committee? Hire an editor, OneMedical. Think about how a human person will experience this. Start with "imagine a ladder." "And will this wind..." www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjEt...

On which step of the ladder to you feel you personally stand at this time? survey question from OneMedical, with dots from 0 to 10.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Nov 18

👾 The video game edition of @americandialect.org's Among the New Words is out! Very cool it is that I (sometimes known as TankHughes) have written about TANK (v) for ADS 🪖 The focus was on terms that have crossed into mainstream usage (e.g., BUFF, LEVEL UP, THE META, NERF, NPC, OP, and SPEEDRUN) 🎮

The blue and lime green cover of the new edition of American Speech, November 2025, an American Dialect Society quarterly that features the Among the New Words article.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Nov 16

23 new potential #CutthroatCompounds in a day?! There are 4 I'm unsure about (in red), but worth including to research more in the future. (Current list now has 1554 cutthroats.)

A spreadsheet excerpt of 23 potential cutthroats that are all names of pinball machines.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Nov 16

And the pinball people told me about pinside.com and ipdb.com, and now I've found more #CutthroatCompounds! ROLL-IT WHIP-IT, WHIRL-IT, MATCH-IT, HIT-IT (all 1930s), NUDGE-IT (1990) In flipperless machines, "tilt"ing the game was necessary. What a day! www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?...

The backglass for the pinball machine Nudge-It, a gold mining themed game.

A list of pinball games that end in -It. Most are from 1930s except NIP-IT from 1973, and NUDGE-IT from 1990.

Encyclopedia Briannica@e-briannica· Nov 16

Went to the @pacificpinball.bsky.social sale today. My god, what a warehouse, what a collection. Picked up an aesthetically pleasing pre-war art deco playfield but also! saw a new #CutthroatCompound! NIP-IT (1973), a gator-themed pinball game featured in Happy Days. www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?...