Language

11 Words and Phrases Popularized by Teddy Roosevelt

Contrary to his well-known slogan “speak softly and carry a big stick,” Theodore Roosevelt was hardly one to speak softly.

The One Word You Should Never Use When Apologizing

How to not sabotage your own apology.

How 10 Edinburgh Neighborhoods Got Their Names

Some of these ancient etymologies might not be quite what you expect.

Designer Reimagines the Spanish Alphabet With Only 19 Letters

Nueva Qwerty makes language a little simpler.

Why Does Japan Have Blue Traffic Lights Instead of Green?

It’s a matter of language.

Using Words Like 'Really' A Lot Could Mean You're Really Stressed

Our speech patterns reveal more about us than we may realize.

The Origins of All 32 NFL Team Names

Here are the stories behind the nicknames of the NFL’s 32 teams—and what they were almost called. All photos via Getty Images.

As Big as a What? How Literary Size Comparisons Change Over Time

Authors have stopped turning to the natural world for size comparisons and started referring to sports.

4 Phonetic Alphabets That Didn't Survive

Long before "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie," there was "Amsterdam, Baltimore, Casablanca."

9 Spoonerisms (and Other Twists of the Tongue)

You know how sometimes when you're talking, your mouth is moving faster than your brain and you inevitably transpose the beginning parts of a couple of words? That's called a Spoonerism.

Want to Improve Your Foreign-Language Skills? Grab a Beer.

People get a little more fluent when they're tipsy, a new study found.

This Game About Soup Highlights How Tricky Language Is

Defining soup is harder than it sounds.

25 Words That Don’t Mean What They Used To

It’s to be expected that the words we use will change and develop over time. In some instances, these developments can lead to words gaining new meanings entirely different from their original implications.

25 Words That Don’t Mean What They Used To

It’s to be expected that the words we use will change and develop over time. In some instances, these developments can lead to words gaining new meanings entirely different from their original implications.

Ajwad Creative (Speech Bubble), Overearth (book) // iStock via Getty Images Plus

25 Smart Words You Should Be Using But Aren’t

There are countless words lying ignored in the murkier corners of the dictionary. Here's how to use them.

Today is a Holiday in Honor of the World’s Most Remarkable Alphabet

Happy Hangul Day!

10 Everyday Phrases Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Made Popular

Curiouser and curiouser.

11 Examples of the Odd Dialect Called 'EU English'

Every profession has its in-group ways of using language, but not every profession requires native speakers of many different languages to communicate with each other every day.

Why Is 'Colonel' Spelled That Way?

English spelling is bizarre.

Zuki (speech bubble), pleshko74 (buffalo)/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Beyond “Buffalo Buffalo”: 9 Other Repetitive Sentences From Around The World

Repetitive or so-called antanaclastic sentences and tongue twisters like these are by no means unique to English—here are a few in other languages that you might want to try.

'Froyo,' 'Troll,' and 'Sriracha' Added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The new batch of official entries includes more than 250 terms and phrases.

How New Words Become Mainstream

The path a word takes to enter the general lexicon isn't always a straightforward one.

The Evolution of "Two" in the Indo-European Language Family

Once you see it laid out like this, it doesn’t take much to put *dwóh and *dwóh together.

Why You Should Drop 'Kind of' and 'Sort of' From Your Vocabulary

Your listeners will thank you.