100 Things We Learned in 2023
From record-breaking plants and incredible animal news to space superlatives and the awesome power of Taylor Swift fans, here’s the long list of things we learned in 2023.
From record-breaking plants and incredible animal news to space superlatives and the awesome power of Taylor Swift fans, here’s the long list of things we learned in 2023.
The two dialects have transformed to the point that North Korean defectors often struggle with unfamiliar language when arriving in South Korea—so much that the South Korean government publishes a list of commonly confused words to aid new defectors.
Deciding to write 'disc' or 'disk' depends on what kind of disc it is. Sometimes.
You may know Austin, Texas, as the Live Musical Capital of the World that’s devoted to keepin’ itself weird—but you might not be familiar with the city’s many slang terms.
From pronouncing the name of one of the Beastie Boys to how to say “Sade” correctly, here are a few tips for your tongue.
On New Year’s Eve, after the ball has dropped, revelers queue up "Auld Lang Syne"—that song that makes you cry, even though you don’t understand it and know almost none of the words.
The meaning of ‘ring in the New Year’ is now mostly metaphorical, but it used to involve literal ringing.
Exolangs are constructed languages that imagine how the languages of extraterrestrial beings might look and sound—and linguists have come up with some pretty mind-bending options.
The internet has given us all kinds of delightful slang terms for what our cats and dogs do, from ‘blep’ and ‘bork’ to ‘smol’ and ‘sploot.’
The meaning of ‘Bah, humbug!’ is a little more layered than what people normally attribute to Ebenezer Scrooge of ‘A Christmas Carol.’
Once again, Mental Floss readers proved to be curious about all sorts of niche topics—and our editors and writers were happy to oblige their interests.
Discover 10 of the best last-minute gifts to give this holiday season, including MasterClass, Nuuly, Blue Apron, and more.
The ‘egg’ part of ‘eggnog’ is obvious. The ‘nog’ is a little more mysterious—possibly involving noggins and/or grog.
Here are 10 colorful phrases of yore to use the day after you partied a tad too passionately.
U2 was at a breaking point when “One,” which has been repeatedly named one of the greatest songs of all time, brought the band back together.
We often use ‘eldest’ and ‘oldest’ interchangeably, but the words shouldn’t be swapped out so easily. Here's how to use each.
Most contractions in English are pretty straightforward. Put it together, and shorten it up. But that isn't the case for ‘will not.’
With Prohibition—which ran from January 17, 1920, to December 5, 1933—came language to describe everything from drinking establishments to the people who made booze to booze itself.
Social media is changing language again.
’Tis the season to learn how to say “Merry Christmas” in many languages.
There are only so many ways to say “it’s cold outside,” which is why it’s time to supplement your vocabulary with these vintage words and phrases related to winter.
The literal meaning of ‘sic’ is ‘so’ or ‘thus.’ But the way writers use it is a little more nuanced.
You might know everything there is to know about New York City slang, but the moment you leave the city, fuhgeddaboudit. Upstate New York has its own set of regional colloquialisms, often depending on which area of the state you’re in.
Americans favor 'Merry Christmas,' while Brits opt for 'Happy Christmas.' Here's how we got here.