LANGUAGE

25 Place Names and the USDA Rules for Their Use on Food Labels

The government guidelines for place names on product labels can be quite complex.

11 Classy Insults With Classical Greek and Latin Roots

Make use of these fancy insults with classical Greek and Latin roots to really class up the joint while you twist the dagger.

"Accidentally misfired" and "young baby" are redundant terms that should not be used.

11 Grammar Lessons From a Leaked CIA Style Book

In 2014, a leaked copy of the Directorate of Intelligence Style Manual & Writer's Guide for Intelligence Publication, a.k.a. Strunk & White for spies, found its way to the Internet.

"Excuse me, ma'am—would you be interested in some horizontal refreshment?"

31 Adorable Slang Terms for Sex From the Last 600 Years

You'll be looking for a way to work these adorable old-timey slang terms for sex into conversation—trust us.

14 Hilarious Automatic Text and Tweet Generators

We now have the processing power, and mountains of language data, to automate all kinds of useful language tasks, from translation to reading messy handwriting. These automatic text generators may not be, strictly speaking, useful, but usefulness was neve

Learning a Second Language Keeps Your Brain Young

Parli Italiano? ¿Hablas Español? Can you speak more than one language? No matter how old you are, it’s not too late to learn. In fact, new research finally shows that learning a second (or third) language as an adult can help slow brain decline.

13 Fascinating Word Origin Stories (That Are Completely Untrue)

Thirteen of these etymological tall-tales, taken from word origins guide 'Haggard Hawks and Paltry Poltroons,' are explained and debunked here.

Middle Initials Make You Seem Smarter

George R.R. Martin sure seems smart. It might not be the hundreds of characters and complicated plots in the Song of Ice and Fire series (Game of Thrones to neophytes) that make him seem so intelligent, though—it might be his middle initials. A recent stu

11 Comic Sans Disses and Tributes

When Vincent Connare designed Comic Sans for Microsoft, he couldn’t have known how controversial his font would become.

The 5 Different Linguistic Styles of Exciting Goal Calls

Hearing hundreds of goals called, one right after the other, by excited announcers from various countries, can really make you notice the international differences in goal announcing style.

15 Dissertation Titles Translated Into Clickbait Headlines

These dissertation topics were kind of boring. You won't believe what happened next.

Why Have Baby Names Become Increasingly Female-Sounding?

The overarching drive in naming practices over time seems not to be toward giving names pre-determined masculine or feminine properties, but toward keeping them different.

5 Boring Subjects Translated Into Clickbait Headlines

These headlines were kind of boring. You'll never guess what happened next.

Where Do U.S. Coin Names Come From?

A little fiscal etymology.

Use anguilloform to describe something eel-shaped.

18 Fancy Words for Specific Shapes

Circle, square, triangle—boring! There are so many more shapes than those in nature. Good thing there’s a rich vocabulary of fancy scientific words for shapes. Most of them don’t get much use, which is a shame. Get to know a few of these, and describe you

Why Does “Terrible” Mean Bad and “Terrific” Mean Good?

Terrible and terrific are both formed off the same root: terror. Both started out a few hundred years ago with the meaning of terror-inducing. But terrific took a strange turn at the beginning of the 20th century and ended up meaning really great, not ter

Watch Germans Try to Say the Word “Squirrel”

A few years ago, Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson pointed out that the best way to expose a German spy would be to ask them to say the word “squirrel,” because “no German, no matter how well they speak English, can say ‘squirrel.’” So naturally, someone test

9 Fun Facts About the Schwa

What is a schwa anyway? Here are nine things to help you get to know this very important vowel.

11 Places to Visit on a Tour of the English Language

If linguistic history is your thing, here are some can’t-miss stops.

What’s the Difference Between “O” and “Oh”?

16 Characters From Other Languages That Make Great Emoticons

There’s an art to creating emoticons from simple characters. Here are 16 characters you can borrow from the writing systems of other languages to up your emoticon game.

Decipher These Mysterious Margin Notes and Win $1000

In a special collection at the University of Chicago, in a rare 1504 edition of Homer’s Odyssey, there are two pages—and only two pages—covered with notes in a strange language. As if that wasn’t strange and spooky enough, those pages are in Book 11, the

12 Things You Didn't Know Were Named After People

Fun With the Interactive Algonquian Language Map

A clear and fascinating way to get in touch with the linguistic history of our continent.

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