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Gre tough words - from handango

GRE Tough Words
for Cell phones and Mobile devices

Learn the GRE words that matter! Improve your vocabulary using your cell phone!

Overview:
GRE Tough Words is an application designed for your mobile phone to quickly improve your vocabulary of carefully selected toughest words often asked in GRE / GMAT / SAT verbal exams. This handy application allows you to train your vocabulary effectively during on-the-go, quick burst sessions or planned long practice sessions. The application has already improved practice GRE scores of many students within days!
This application is tested to work on several mobile phones. For your phone, please download and try first. Please purchase (or register) only after the application works on your phone.

FREE: Download and install GRE Tough Words to experience the full functionality of this application. However, the unregistered version is limited to 15 words only. The entire word list of approximately 400 carefully selected toughest GRE words is available only after full registration.

Features:

An extensive collection of only the toughest words often asked in GRE / GMAT / SAT verbal sections. No need to waste time with long lists of easy words. This targeted application helps you stay focused.
Ability to conduct a short review quiz from unmastered words, from the entire word list, and only from the mistakes from past quizzes.
Ability to change settings of number of words asked per quiz.
One hand operation with minimal clicks needed for quick burst sessions during free time or while waiting in lines

Go here to learn and buy the product

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Scrabble Words

There has been a few requests from different folks to provide a list of the tough words. Also there were a few requests on some of the word games like scrabble related word tips. I ventured into finding more about the second aspect. Wow the power of blog! to use the limited time i had i made a quick search on what the game owners provide and use it as the first list while doing the rest of the research. So here is the list and you can get the complete list and details from Here.

Words that include at least 66% vowels in order of length:

aa naoi aculei aucuba easies iodine
ae obia adagio audile eelier iodise
ai oboe adieus audios eerier iodize
oe odea adieux augite eidola iodous
ogee aecial auntie ekuele iolite
eau ohia aecium aurate elodea ionium
olea aedile aureus eluate ionize
aeon oleo aedine aurora eluvia ionone
aero olio aeneus aurous emeute koodoo
agee ooze aeonic ausubo eolian kookie
agio ouzo aerate auteur eonian lamiae
ague quai aerial autoed eosine laurae
aide raia aeried avenue epizoa league
ajee roue aerier aviate epopee liaise
akee toea aeries bailee equate looies
alae unai aerobe bailie equine louies
alee unau aerugo bateau etoile mealie
aloe urea agapae baubee eupnea meanie
amia uvea agapai beanie eureka mediae
amie zoea agorae beebee euripi meinie
anoa agouti booboo exodoi meoued
aqua aalii aikido boogie exuvia miaous
area adieu aiolis boohoo faerie milieu
aria aecia airier bookie faunae moirai
asea aerie alexia bootee feirie muumuu
aura aioli alodia bootie feriae nausea
auto aquae alulae boubou flooie obelia
awee areae amadou bougie foodie ocreae
beau audio amebae bureau footie odious
ciao aurae amoeba caeoma foveae oedema
ease aurei amusia caique galeae oeuvre
eaux cooee anemia coatee gateau oidium
eave eerie anomie codeia gaiour oilier
eide looie anopia coocoo goalie oleate
emeu louie anoxia cooeed goatee oleine
epee miaou anuria cooees goodie oolite
etui oidia aortae cookie gooier oomiac
euro oorie aoudad coolie goonie oomiak
idea ourie apiece cootie guaiac oorali
ilea queue apnoea coteau guinea oozier
ilia uraei apogee coulee heaume opaque
inia zoeae areola curiae hoagie opiate
iota areole daimio hoodie opioid
ixia aaliis ariose dautie hoolie oreide
jiao abasia ariosi dearie hoopoe oriole
lieu abulia arioso doolee hoopoo oroide
luau acacia arouse doolie iguana otiose
meou acajou ataxia doozie iodate ourari
moue acedia aubade easier iodide ourebi
outage reseau urania yautia areolae oogonia
outate roadeo urease zaikai aureate ouabain
outeat roadie uredia zouave aureola ouguiya
outlie rookie ureide aureole rouleau
outsee roomie uremia aboulia aurorae sequoia
outvie soiree utopia acequia couteau taeniae
peerie souari uveous aecidia epinaoi uraemia
peewee teepee uvulae aeneous eucaine
pereia teniae veepee aeolian eugenia aboideau
quaere tibiae voodoo aeonian eulogia aboiteau
qualia toupee weenie aerobia eupnoea aureolae
queued ubique weepie alienee evacuee eopoeia
queuer unciae weewee amoebae exuviae eulogiae
queues unease wienie anaemia ipomoea
quinoa unique woodie aquaria miaoued
rediae uraeus woolie aqueous nouveau

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All tournament players make it a high priority to learn these 16 Q-words that don’t use a U:
FAQIR - Variation of FAKIR, a Hindu ascetic.
FAQIRS - Plural of FAQIR.
QAID - A variation of CAID, a Muslim leader.
QAIDS - Plural of QAID.
QANAT - A system of underground tunnels and wells in the Middle East.
QANATS - Plural of QANAT.
QAT - Variation of KAT, an evergreen shrub.
QATS - Plural of QAT.
QINDAR - Variation of QINTAR, a monetary unit of Albania.
QINDARS - Plural of QINDAR.
QINDARKA - Albanian currency.
QINDARKAS - The plural of QINDARKA.
QINTAR - See above.
QINTARS - Plural of QINTAR.
QOPH - A letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
QOPHS - Plural of QOPH.
QWERTY - A standard typewriter keyboard.
QWERTYS - The plural of QWERTY, see above.
SHEQEL - An ancient unit of weight and money.
SHEQALIM - The plural of SHEQEL, see above
TRANQ - A variation of TRANK (i.e. tranquilizer).
TRANQS - Plural of TRANQ.
——————————————–

Other useful LISTS ARE compiled in the hasbro website.

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Man-Made Englisg due for a service


Man-made English due for a service

The development of language is an evolutionary process. One only need cast an eye over the new inclusions in English language dictionaries to prove this. But despite this, we still read of “mankind, businessmen and penmanship” as if women are not part of the human race, are absent in the business world, and for that matter do not record and change and create history through writing (which they certainly have done!). Sexism it appears has been slow to be expunged from the English language.

The male pronouns he, his and him are often used automatically even though the sex of the person is unknown. In fact we are told to assume that “he” in some outdated legal documents should be accepted as meaning men and women! Such distinctive male terms that are supposedly meant to embrace women are in effect a negation and marginalisation of more than half of the human population who are often linguistically invisible. Women are never seen in terms of general or representative humanity while men represent the universal or the human to which women are the “other”.

Language is also used to reflect the sexist stereotypes of certain occupations. Hence we talk about male nurses, woman doctors, male clerks, female principals, firemen and chairmen . And what about expressions such as : “manning the space shuttle, manning the phones, displaying true sportsmanship, doing a man-sized job%E

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Rockford Register Star - Rockford’s Newspaper and Website - Local & State News

Rockford Register Star - Rockford’s Newspaper and Website - Local & State News
Ebonics were hot in the ’90s; this is a decade of Webonics.

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Star - Sexism prescribed by language

Sexism prescribed by language

Gender inequality is evident in the words and expressions we use daily, which reinforce patriarchal ideas
November 15, 2005

By Adhis Chetty

The development of language is an evolutionary process. One only need cast an eye over the new inclusions in English language dictionaries to prove this.

But despite this, we still read of “mankind, businessmen and penmanship” as if women are not part of the human race, are absent in the business world and, for that matter, do not record and change and create history through writing. Sexism it appears has been slow to be expunged from the English language.

The male pronouns; he, his and him are often used automatically even though the sex of the person is unknown. In fact we are told to assume that “he” in some outdated legal documents should be accepted as meaning men and women!

Such distinctive male terms that are supposedly meant to embrace women are in effect a negation and marginalisation of more than half of the human population, who are often linguistically invisible.

Women are never seen in terms of general or representative humanity, while men represent the universal or the human to which women are the “other”.

Language is also used to reflect the sexist stereotypes of certain occupations. Hence we talk about male nurses, women doctors, male clerks, female principals, firemen and chairmen.

And what about expressions such as “manning the space shuttle”, “manning the phones”, “displaying true sportsmanship”, “doing a man-sized job”. The list of sexist terms is endless and a reflection of the erroneous belief that men are innately superior to women and they therefore have a monopoly of the mastery of knowledge and skills.

Language has asymmetrical qualities that further discriminate against women with similar terms connoting vastly different ideas for both men and women.

The term “bachelor” does not conjure the image of failure, relegation and rejection as does the word “spinster”. What is the male equivalent of an “old maid”? In this context, language is clearly reflective of the perception that marriage is more important for women than men.

Unmarried older women are clearly scorned in society as rejects who failed to capture the commitment from the Alpha male, while men who enjoy greater freedom of choice in the sphere of marriage are insulated from this scorn – hence the absence of a negative term for unmarried men, rather the more appealing “bachelor”.

Language is also used to characterise certain personality traits positively for men and negatively for women. Thus an ambitious woman will be considered “pushy” or a “castrating bitch” while an ambitious man will be considered a “go-getter” and a “self-starter”. Similarly, a woman who agrees with the views of her employer will be considered cooperative and agreeable while a man with similar traits will be considered a “Yes-man”. “Yes-woman” is an unheard of term because accepting the views of those in authority is deemed desirable for women, just as ambition is deemed a desirable quality in men.

Where are the male equivalents for words reserved for sexually expressive women such as “bitch”, “harlot”, “whore”, “slut” and “nymphomaniac”? The word “stud”, which refers to a sexually expressive man, certainly does not bear negative connotations and in fact is deemed complimentary. The prescribed social roles for men and women and the social expectations of both sexes are clearly reflected through language. Hence, language prescribes that women should ideally restrain their sexual desires and that it is acceptable and even desirable for men to give free and overt expression to their sexual desires.

This sexist language which reflects the double standards to which men and women are subjected in the sphere of sexual expression is also reflected in the language of youth. A promiscuous boy is referred to as a “player”, a term which connotes virility and sexual popularity while the pejorative term “bitch” is used to refer to promiscuous girls. A sexually expressive girl or woman is said to be “easy” but similar descriptions have not been constructed for men who enjoy greater sexual expression without the sanction and strictures to which women are subjected.

Perhaps the most annoying among the many sexist linguistic practices is the insistence or compulsion that women define themselves as either Miss or Mrs.

This is in effect compelling women to define themselves in terms of the institution of marriage while exempting men from a similar definition since the term Mr does not denote marital status.

Many women proudly call themselves “Mrs” while others proudly call themselves “Miss” and they are entitled to the pride in their marital status. However, the different ways in which men and women are defined in terms of the institution of marriage is highly offensive and I would like to think that a woman’s avowed commitment to another human being which characterises a marriage is a personal, private matter that bears no relevance in the public sphere.

When I am confronted with an anachronistic official form that compels me to indicate whether I am a Miss or a Mrs I decisively and deliberately strike out the Miss and Mrs and resolutely write down the word “Ms” and in so doing I am saying: My marital status is a personal, private matter that bears no relevance to the issue at hand, I will take a stand against my fellow sisters being elevated, denigrated or categorised in terms of the institution of marriage because this serves patriarchy’s end of dividing the oppressed. I wish to enjoy the same status as my male counterpart who need not define himself in terms of marriage.

Language is a vehicle for the expression of existing power relations and perceptions in society – simultaneously, it has the potential for the construction of new perceptions and the transformation of the status quo.

Let us be grateful that language by its very nature is not solidified into a golden hallowed “untouchable” we dare not question, but rather is fluid, dynamic and arbitrary.

We have a responsibility to harness these features of language and rid all the languages we use of all unfair discriminatory terms, even as we reconstruct language.

Otherwise, given the daunting challenge of transforming our unjust society, we will be attempting to traverse the global highways of the world by foot!

nAdhis Chetty is a secondary school teacher. She writes in her capacity as a freelance writer. This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service .

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WORD COURT: Jargon writers alienate others

WORD COURT: Jargon writers alienate others

A good find in the detroit press.
November 12, 2005

BY BARBARA WALLRAFF

Karen Moore of Madison, Wis., writes: “I am an accountant. I recently encountered the following sentence, composed by a native English speaker, in an e-mail: ‘Facilities with surface transportation destinating at West Palm Beach P&DC should hold the mail at the origin facility until further notice.’ I am appalled that a corporation communicates with its professional clientele in such terms.”

Dear Karen: It may be worse than you think: Your correspondent didn’t write that sentence. It originated with the U.S. Postal Service, in a service update issued on Oct. 24, the day Hurricane Wilma hit Florida.

If you want to cut your correspondent a break, you could figure that he or she was afraid to change the postal service’s wording for fear of changing the meaning. But that’s not much of a reason to send weird jargon out into the wider world. People who don’t know what they’re telling other people should go find out before spreading the word.

If you want to cut the postal service a break, you might figure its staff was in no mood to weigh word choices while a hurricane was going on.

If you want to consider the broader issue, though, think about this: What’s wrong with bad English is that the people who write it aren’t paying attention to what they’re saying, or they’ve never learned to communicate well. Either way, the person who did the writing is making readers do work that he or she should have done. Readers have to stop and ask themselves, What’s this supposed to mean? and then puzzle it out: Ah, “destinating at” must mean “destined for” or “whose destination is.” And the “origin facility” is of course the “originating facility” or “the facility of origin.”

Sloppy writers used to appall me, too. But then I realized that they are telling us things about themselves they’d never tell us directly: They are hasty or inconsiderate, and they aren’t thinking clearly. Nowadays I feel more sorry for sloppy writers than horrified by them. Not only do they have trouble getting their points across but also they alienate people when they try.

Rita Agabashian of Livonia writes: “I keep hearing educated people say, ‘It’s deja vu all over again.’ Isn’t that redundant?”

Dear Rita: Yes, pretty nearly. In English “deja vu” originally meant an illusion that one had experienced something before when one really hadn’t. Strict constructionists still use “deja vu” only that way, though most people now use it for the feeling that something that did happen before is happening again, and dictionaries give that meaning.

As for “deja vu all over again,” it started out as a Yogi-ism — something funny that Yogi Berra, the beloved New York Yankees catcher, said. (Other Yogi-isms include “The future ain’t what it used to be,” “When you come to a fork in the road, take it” and “I really didn’t say everything I said.”)

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OneLook Dictionary Search

OneLook Dictionary Search

the simple neat look of this website beats the other top websites. the search is simple and straight forward. This is something like the meta search engines… that query multiple dictionaries for the word. Although it is good sometimes… i really get confused sometimes at the number of results returned.

This is one good website that offers wild card search try it on other dictionary websites…!

Directory of Dictionaries

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Merriam-Webster Online

Merriam-Webster Online

The addition of the live real time word feature is pretty good… i just spent some 10 minutes watch the words pop in the small box on the top… i wished it was in the form of a scrolling applet rather than the texts that blink in and blink out. My guess they will make it something for premium users as it is real time words people are searching for meaning.

But you know what? i found some silly words pop up like “full” “each” “problems” “the”…

But there were some very good finds there… i was literally noting down words i had trouble remembering the meaning. This feature has made me a fan of m-w moving away from dictionary.com good job…

Directory of dictionaries.

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Dictionary.com

This is one very good website that offers an online retrieval of definitions. What i like is the word of the day feature… the words on some of the days are kind of odd which never figure anywhere. The banners and promotions and the number of advertisements have increased multiple folds in the website. This shows the popularity of the website. I have a toolbar from dictionary.com which is real handly… but lately i figured it is easy to type the word into the google toolbar which gives the definition on top of results. My ewviews of the website will continue for the months to come…

Directory of dictionaries

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