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Knowing a bit of Dutch slang will not just help you find your bearings when you visit Amsterdam and its surroundings, but also earn you respect from the locals—who, despite being great at English, have a strong connection to their mother tongue.

Tim Brinkhof














From Monty Python to Minnesota's SPAM Museum, this little packaged luncheon meat has a big cultural footprint.

Michele Debczak


The tell-tale hourglass identifies female black widow spiders.

Black widow venom is about 15 times as potent as a rattlesnake's, yet these charismatic spiders generally aren't a threat to humans.

Anne Taylor






Is it possible to put a kiss into words?

In English we have a few different ways to write the sound of a kiss: muah, smack, xxx. They get the idea across, but none of them imitate the actual sound of a kiss.

Arika Okrent


Can you bee-lieve it?

We’re all familiar with the feeling of having an idea or subject stuck in your head that makes it difficult to think about anything else. But why (and when) did we start comparing that experience to a bee buzzing around in your hat?

Rick Marshall