Do you find yourself dodging the dictionary, confounded by collocations, terrified by translation yet somehow in love with LEO? Perhaps you just feel overwhelmed by words and their wily ways. If you haven’t found your inner “word nerd” yet (and even if you have), this seminar will make a logophile (or maybe even a logomaniac) out of you. 

After a brief introduction to the perils of translation and the benefits of effective cross-referencing skills, subsequent course topics will include but are not limited to: eponyms; acronyms and initialisms; clippings and blends; connotations and denotations; homonyms, homophones, and homographs. Using a variety of cultural texts (e.g. lyrics/poetry, fiction and non-fiction, films and television series, etc.) as potential sources, you will begin collecting and selecting new words for practical as well as creative exercises. The ultimate objective is not only to learn how to work with words but also how to make them work for you.