eBay hosts moth-naming auction

11552628565_22d22839ba_mWhat do you call a grey-green moth that weighs less than on ounce, measures approximately an inch in length, and frequents the White Sands National Park in New Mexico? That was the question which entomologist, Eric Metzler, asked the general public this past October.

In a novel attempt to raise funds for the Western National Parks Association (WNPA), Metzler generously auctioned off the right to name his newly discovered species to the highest eBay bidder and donated the proceeds to the WNPA. According to eBay, the auction ended on the 23rd of October with the winning bid reaching an astounding $12,600.

We don’t know the name yet. It can take as long as year for the Latinized name to be officially registered by the Commission of Zoological Nomenclature. Stay tuned.

For more information, see this article and this article.

PARSEME General Meeting, Struga, Macedonia, April 7-8, 2016

1467019878_0d4be6b0fb_mPARSEME is the acronym given to a scholarly network of scientists dedicated to the investigation of parsing and multi-word expressions.

From the 7th to the 8th of April 2016, this organization will be holding its 6th General Meeting in Struga, Macedonia. Lexicography researchers and language technology experts from 30 member countries are invited to submit poster proposals by the 30th of November 2015.… Read More

Conference on Hebrew and Yiddish in Contemporary Education and Culture, Saint Petersburg, Russia, June 27-30 2016

8516082292_dc3045a3d4_mFrom the 27th to the 30th of June 2016, the Department of Jewish Culture at Saint Petersburg University in Russia will be holding a conference on Hebrew and Yiddish in Contemporary Education and Culture. The aim of this 2nd international conference is to provide researchers specializing in Yiddish or Hebrew Studies a forum for sharing their findings and experience.… Read More

More Entrepreneurs Going for Invented Names

com-659090_640A recently Clutch study found that new companies are increasingly inventing new names. This is fueled in part by the want for a dot-com domain name. Additionally, an invented name isn’t restricted by the meaning of existing words. This can allow more freedom to create a memorable brand.

International Conference of Near Eastern Achaeomusicology, University of Oxford, December 14-16, 2015

14425360160_2357bdb396_mThe International Conference of Near Eastern Achaeomusicology (ICONEA) will be holding a scientific forum devoted to all aspects of onomasiology and semasiology in the music of the Ancient World. Interested participants are invited to send in their abstracts before the 16th of November 2015. The conference will be held in the Oriental Institute of the University of Oxford from the 14th to the 16th of December 2015.

Dictionary Society of North America (DSNA) redefines membership category to be more inclusive

5510506796_dff8c07b64_mThe Dictionary Society of North America (DSNA) is devoted to supporting scholarly and professional activities relating to dictionaries, lexicography, and lexicology.

In the summer of this year, the DSNA announced that it had voted to change the wording of its constitution to remove exclusive language. The previous constitution defined the category name of “joint membership” as belonging to a “husband and wife.” The newly revised definition stipulates that the category name pertains to a “member and partner or spouse.”

According to the report issued on the DSNA website, these terminological changes were made in advance of the US Supreme Court ruling that laws prohibiting the marriage of same-sex partners are unconstitutional.