As the winter season rapidly approaches, we look forward to such things as softly falling snow, sledding breathlessly down a wintery slope, chesnuts roasting on an open fire (okay, not really on that last one), and, if you’re anything like MRP . . . annual report planning. Am I right?

Hat tip to Gopher.

Steve Pagliuca is one of the candidates for the U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts left open after the recent passing of Ted Kennedy. MRP just spotted this advertisement for his campaign. I’m sure Pags is an endearing nickname among those who know the candidate, but it’s hard to take seriously as a campaign pitch:

Call me fussy if you like, but I prefer my candidates to have a certain amount of gravitas. “Building a Bridge to a Better Bubba”? “Poppy for President”? “Dubya=Compassionate Conservative”? They’re just missing a certain je ne said quoi.

The Word of the Year parade makes a stop at the New Oxford American Dictionary, which named unfriend (as in “If you don’t stop writing annoying comments on my Facebook wall, I will unfriend you”) as its top pick for 2009.

According to senior lexicographer Christine Lindberg:

It has both currency and potential longevity. In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year. Most “un-” prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar “un-” verbs (uncap, unpack), but “unfriend” is different from the norm. It assumes a verb sense of “friend” that is really not used (at least not since maybe the 17th century!).

Here’s my question though: As a Facebook user, I rarely unfriend (or defriend) people, but I friend others and am friended all the time (okay, maybe I exaggerate a little bit). Given the criteria that’s been outlined, isn’t there a much more compelling case for friend as the word of the year?

Oddly enough, many of the words that didn’t have the same “lex-appeal” bear a remarkable resemblance to MRP’s Top Ten Words I’d Vote Off the Island in a Heartbeat:

intexticated – distracted because texting on a cellphone while driving a vehicle

sexting – the sending of sexually explicit texts and pictures by cellphone

birther – a conspiracy theorist who challenges President Obama’s birth certificate

death panel – a theoretical body that determines which patients deserve to live, when care is rationed

And possibly my favorite, because it’s the most ridiculous and I love the idea of a bunch of lexicographers sitting around discussing it in all seriousness:

tramp stamp – a tattoo on the lower back, usually on a woman

See the rest of the nominees here.

Who couldn’t use a helpful flow chart on the do’s and don’ts of apostrophes? Well, the folks at the Oatmeal have created one!

There’s so much more where this came from. Check it out.

Hat tip to Captain Moondog at Today in Awesome.

In this episode of the children’s television program “Arthur,” Binky Barnes finds himself trapped in Verseberg, a town where everyone speaks in poetry. Here, he meets William Carlos Williams, and they engineer an escape in what else but a red wheelbarrow:

For the whole episode, check it out here.

There’s just something awfully familiar about the new look of Ditech’s advertising:

Wonder where I’ve seen that color scheme and that dang bluebird before . . . hmm . . . where could it be?

Tweet, tweet!

I have to give this guy a pass for misspelling hemorrhoids only because he managed to pull off hemorrhaging.

This person, on the other hand, gets no such pass for misspelling hypocrisy.

Signs spotted on Huffington Post.

If you love online handicraft market Etsy, you’ll also love Regretsy, which chronicles some of the best of the worst of Etsy. There’s something for everyone; here’s one word nerds will love:

It’s magnificent, isn’t it?

Hat tip to Non Sequitur.

Now I’ve heard it all.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is being accused of sending secret messages via acrostic. At issue is a veto message he sent to a state assemblyman named Tom Ammiano who heckled him during a recent speech. Check out the first letters of each line, which appear to reflect the real meaning behind the governor’s note:

According to his spokesman, the acrostic in the governor’s message is just some sort of unfortunate coincidence:

“My goodness. What a coincidence,” said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. “I suppose when you do so many vetoes, something like this is bound to happen.”

Image from the Huffington Post.