
The Reason Why Americans Refer to Autumn as ‘Fall’
The words ‘fall’ and ‘autumn’ appeared around the same time in Great Britain, but only one of the seasonal names is still used there today.
The words ‘fall’ and ‘autumn’ appeared around the same time in Great Britain, but only one of the seasonal names is still used there today.
Try spicing your fall with a few of these rustic charmers, drawn from the pages of Washington Irving.
“The Drinkers Dictionary,” published by Franklin in the ‘Pennsylvania Gazette’ in January 1737, features terms like ‘nimptopsical’ and ‘cherubimical’ as synonyms for ‘drunk.’
You’ll be chuffed after you read this peng British slang list, with bare terms that will keep you from looking like a pillock.
Non-Philadelphians can finally look up the meaning of ‘jawn’ in the dictionary.
Stick these terms in your cauldron and pass them around your coven.
History is filled with figures who were single-handedly—yet often undeservedly—held responsible for epic societal failures. But what do goats have to do with it?
We don’t know how these Victorian slang terms ever fell out of fashion, but we propose bringing them back, as soon as possible.
A 2019 study of scientists over-wintering in Antarctica revealed subtle but measurable changes in the participants’ speech.
Many bad words come and go, but these six have withstood the tests of time. Here’s how they came to be.
These sentences are sure to make you scratch your head.
These terms are sure to blow your wig.
First, you have to understand the difference between England and Britain (and the UK, while we’re at it).
Whether scripted or spontaneous, expletives have been making their way on to the air for decades.
Here’s how to avoid bungling 20 commonly mispronounced Spanish names.
Don’t get embarrassed if you can’t spell ‘embarrass.’ It’s apparently—not ‘apparantly’—a pretty common error.
Ever wonder why there’s a ‘k’ in ‘knead,’ or a ‘d’ in ‘Wednesday’? While there isn’t always a good reason for why some English words are spelled the way they are, there are reasons.
‘Less’ versus ‘fewer’ is pretty straightforward. ‘Less than’ vs. ‘fewer than’ is slightly less so. Here’s how to get it right every time.
If you've ever felt that English could use a couple more tenses to truly capture the nuances of the past, present, and future, this exploration of languages that have taken verb tenses to fascinating new heights is for you.
No, we’re not f***ing lying.
The idiom goes back centuries. And no, it's not 'nipping it in the butt.'
There are plenty of obscure English words you can turn to when the current dictionary just isn't cutting it.
A conlang is a constructed language, where someone has intentionally created its grammar, vocabulary, and phonology. Here are five you can learn.
You can’t spell ‘hearty’ without ‘heart,’ or ‘hardy’ without ‘hard.’