WORDS

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.

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.

Before you talk turkey this Thanksgiving, find out what we know about the phrase’s meaning and origins.

Penguin Books commissioned the work in 1965, but the "A Clockwork Orange" author only completed several hundred entries before discarding the project.

Dropping that ‘t’ sound is an example of what linguists call glottalization, or replacing a sound with a pause in the vocal cords.

Here’s how to pepper your next argument with Shakespearean insults.

The word predates social media.

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.