(Last change: 21 October, 2007.)

Words & Stuff was a column on words and wordplay that ran on this site (first weekly, then fortnightly) from 1997 through 2000, with occasional subsequent additions. I'm no longer updating the site (the last new column was in 2003), but I'm leaving it online.

The organization and structure of the site, and the page design and (lack of) navigation, are all very mid-'90s. At some point, I may try to improve the navigation, so that people who arrive at a column via web search get some sense that there's more than one column here, but don't hold your breath.

Here are the main parts of the site:

• If you're new here, you may want to read the Introduction.
• The archive comprises over 150 columns (along with reader commentary on some columns), grouped chronologically into "alphabets" of 26 columns.
• To find a particular item or topic, see the index. (Last updated, by hand, 12 January 2000.) Alternatively, do a Google search for [your topic site:kith.org].

Since I stopped writing the column here, I've continued to occasionally write elsewhere about words, wordplay, and language. Here's where you can find some of that writing:

• In my main journal/blog, I have a "language" category for entries; not all entries are categorized, but following that link will show you most of my language-related entries in the past couple years, including my "words easily confused" series.
• I have another blog called Neology, covering various language/wordplay things but mostly focused on discussing words that I came across that I'd never seen before. Sadly, I put that blog on hold in February of 2007, after about a year of sporadic entries. But I'm still collecting material that I intend to someday post there.
• Once a year, I write a 1200-word-or-so Words & Stuff column for Tim Pratt & Heather Shaw's printed 'zine Flytrap. Those columns generally focus on the intersection of words and my editorial role at the online speculative fiction magazine Strange Horizons. They're not available anywhere but in alternating issues of Flytrap, but perhaps some day I'll post them online.

Feel free to send me email about the column if you have comments or questions. Note, however, that (a) I assume reader comments are intended for (eventual) publication unless you specify otherwise; and contrariwise, (b) I am very slow about responding to them, and very very slow about posting them. I will be happy to hear from you, but you may not receive a response. I apologize in advance.