SLANG

17 Irish Sayings You Should Know

Discover the vibrant Irish culture through its language and slang. Learn key phrases to use on St. Paddy’s Day and beyond, from ‘craic’ and ‘sláinte’ to ‘céad míle fáilte’ and ‘may the road rise up to meet you.’

You’ll want to work these Scottish slang terms into conversation.

Scottish Slang: 13 Terms You Should Know

Curious about Scottish slang? Learn the meanings of terms like ‘git awa’ and bile yer heid’ and impress your friends on your next visit to Scotland.

Welcome to the land of pub subs and snowbirds.

13 Fun Florida Slang Terms You Should Know

From pub sub to snowbird, here's the slang you need to know to sound like a local in the Sunshine State.

15 Kitchen Slang Terms You May Know From ‘The Bear’

From 'yes, chef’ to ‘eighty-six,’ we’ve decoded restaurant kitchen lingo with help from a professional chef.

The 1960s gave us a lot of marvy slang still in use today.

25 Bits of Groovy ’60s Slang

Discover the most iconic slang from the 1960s and how it shaped modern language. From 'flower power' to 'groovy,' these terms are the linguistic legacy of the decade.

You might want to keep some of these slang terms for kids in your back pocket.

16 Funny Slang Terms for Children

Looking for new ways to describe the children in your life? From ankle-biters and saucepan lids to breadsnatchers and drape apes, these are funny slang terms for kids you’ll definitely want to use.

‘Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire’ by Russell Patterson.

1920s Slang: 35 Hotsy-Totsy Terms We Should Bring Back

From ‘alarm clock’ to ‘zozzled,’ these delightful 1920s terms will transport you back in time.

This person is literally feeling their oats—but is that where the phrase came from?

Where Does the Phrase ‘Feeling One’s Oats’ Come From?

The idiom has little to do with playing with our food and more to do with equine diets.

35 Awesome Australian Slang Terms You Should Know

Australian English is more than just an accent. From ‘arvo’ to ‘yakka,’ learn fun and fascinating Australian slang terms to help you speak like a true Aussie.

In Gen X parlance, this dude totally rocks.

11 Words Gen Xers Made Popular

From yuppie to headbanger, we have Generation X to thank for these terms that became popular in the 1980s and ’90s.

Residents of London’s East End, circa 1900.

13 Cockney Rhyming Slang Terms You Should Know

Grab your best china plate (a.k.a. mate) and feast your mince pies (otherwise known as your eyes) on these fascinating and delightful terms in this guide to Cockney rhyming slang.

Emojis transcend language in a way that 'lmao' can't.

From ‘DWL’ to ‘MDR’: See How People Laugh Online in 46 Different Languages

Maybe you already know the meaning of 'jajaja.' But what about all these other expressions of online laughter?

Ladies riding in a car—or, if you’re using slang from the 1900s, an ‘automobubble’—circa 1901.

38 Terrific Slang Terms From the Last Century

Wastoid, wedgie, and dumpster fire, oh my! In the latest episode of The List Show, you can learn about the fun origins of some pretty wacky and absolutely real slang terms from the last hundred years.

Why Do We Use the Word ‘Mug’ as a Synonym for ‘Face’?

How a love of drinking and Britain’s 18th-century Toby jugs might have inspired the slang word for ‘face.’

Why Don’t We Want to ‘Open a Can of Worms’?

Opening a can of worms, metaphorically speaking, is trying to solve a problem and ending up in more trouble. And the idiom really does refer to actual worms.

14 Austin Slang Terms You Should Know

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.

Sploot 101: 13 Animal Slang Words Every Pet Parent Should Know

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.’

10 Old-Timey Ways to Say You’re Hungover

Here are 10 colorful phrases of yore to use the day after you partied a tad too passionately.

What constitutes ‘upstate’ is a little controversial.

15 Upstate New York Slang Terms You Should Know

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.

25 of the Most Confusing Acronyms and Initialisms

You’re not the only person who has Googled “NPC meaning” of late.

There’s no doubt about it—rotting food is gross.

How Did ‘Gross’ Become a Term of Disgust?

The word ‘gross,’ which came to English from French, took on a variety of senses in English related to size. But the ‘gross of today is different from the ‘gross’ of the past thanks to teens.

The face that launched a thousand memes.

Where Does the Word ’Meme’ Come From?

The word predates social media.

35 Old-Timey Slang Terms for Informants

We’ve used the term ‘rat’ to refer to an informer since approximately 1910. But criminals have had many more names for snitches over the years.

Some words are bound to make you laugh—but why?

From Farts to Floozy: The Funniest Words in English, According to Science

“Wriggly, Squiffy, Lummox, and Boobs: What Makes Some Words Funny?” analyzed an existing list of 4997 funny words and recruited 800 survey participants to whittle down the collection to the 200 words the people found funniest.

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