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.

You’ll want to start using these butt-related euphemisms from days past.

13 Old and Obscure Terms for the Butt

When talking about the fundament, some terms have slipped through the crack of lexical history—so please enjoy these old and enjoyable terms for the hindquarters.

The Surprisingly Long History of the Word ‘Yo’

The word ‘yo’ was around long before Rocky movies and rap songs.

21 Old and Odd Directional Words

The rich history of the English language is full of similar directional words that are cool but uncommon, like ‘pancakewards,’ ‘couchward,’ and ‘pocketwards.’

How Did ‘Jones’ Come to Mean ‘Craving’?

Nowadays, we use jones to express an intense craving for something. But it used to refer specifically to drugs.

Why Is Sneakily Leaving Called an “Irish” Goodbye or Exit?

What is an Irish goodbye—and why is it called that?

Benjamin Franklin’s Long List of Synonyms for ’Drunk‘

“The Drinkers Dictionary,” published by Franklin in the ‘Pennsylvania Gazette’ in January 1737, features terms like ‘nimptopsical’ and ‘cherubimical’ as synonyms for ‘drunk.’

Whatever you do, don’t mess up the meanings of ‘punter.’

30 British Slang Terms You Should Know

You’ll be chuffed after you read this peng British slang list, with bare terms that will keep you from looking like a pillock.

Here are all the new jawns in the dictionary.

Jawns and Shower Oranges: See 30 of Dictionary.com’s Newly Added Terms

Non-Philadelphians can finally look up the meaning of ‘jawn’ in the dictionary.

77 Delightful Victorian Slang Terms You Should Be Using

We don’t know how these Victorian slang terms ever fell out of fashion, but we propose bringing them back, as soon as possible.

Are these two kaylied up, or are they merely drinking dog’s water?

20 Delightful Slang Terms From the 1930s

These terms are sure to blow your wig.

15 Obscure Words That Are Pure Fire

The world is heating up, and things are often on fire—literally. As we do what we can to squelch the flames, check out some old and obscure words people of the past used when they wanted to talk about all things fire.

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