Words

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

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.

This particular corner of Super Bowl history involves tons of bowl games and at least one bouncy ball.

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

Koala bear, mantis shrimp, maned wolf, and king cobra are all misnomers.

With dolphins masquerading as whales, lizards as toads, and marsupials as bears, it can be tough to keep track of which animals are which.

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 dialects of the two countries have been diverging.

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.

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.

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.

The Amish aren't known for their bawdy senses of humor, but try telling that to the couple snapping a photo under the sign announcing they've arrived at Intercourse.

Rihanna, David Bowie, and Bjork have all had their names mispronounced—frequently.

From pronouncing the name of one of the Beastie Boys to how to say “Sade” correctly, here are a few tips for your tongue.

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.’

What did Scrooge mean when he said “Bah! Humbug!” anyway?

The meaning of ‘Bah, humbug!’ is a little more layered than what people normally attribute to Ebenezer Scrooge of ‘A Christmas Carol.’

There was something for every type of reader on MentalFloss.com in 2023.

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.

Liven up your singing of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" by subbing in these old—and occasionally strange—lyrics.

Where the ‘nog’ came from is a bit of a mystery.

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.

Margaret O'Brien and Judy Garland in 'Meet Me in St. Louis' (1944).

The original “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” implied that you’d never have a merry Christmas again.

How quickly can you spot the hidden holiday terms?

How well do you know your Christmas vocabulary?

Even a pair of siblings might not really know the difference.

We often use ‘eldest’ and ‘oldest’ interchangeably, but the words shouldn’t be swapped out so easily. Here's how to use each.

Confused as to why ‘will not’ gets shortened to ‘won’t’? Blame Old English.

Most contractions in English are pretty straightforward. Put it together, and shorten it up. But that isn't the case for ‘will not.’

Officials emptying barrels of beer during Prohibition.

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.

38 Terrific Slang Terms From the Last Century

The Accidental Origins of the Super Bowl’s Name

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

15 Animals With Misleading Names

100 Things We Learned in 2023

13 Words That Differ in the North and South Korean Dialects

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

Disc vs. Disk: What’s the Difference?

14 Austin Slang Terms You Should Know

From Blue Ball to Intercourse: Why Pennsylvania's Amish Country Has Such Lewd-Sounding City Names

14 Musician and Band Names You've Probably Been Mispronouncing All Along

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

What Does “Bah, Humbug!” Actually Mean?

Our 25 Most Popular Stories of 2023

15 Alternative Lyrics From Old Versions of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”

How Did Eggnog Get Its Name?

10 Old-Timey Ways to Say You’re Hungover

Not the Same: How Creative Strife Led to the Creation of U2’s “One”

How “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” Went From Morbid Omen to Holiday Mainstay

Can You Spot the Five Holiday Words in This Festive Scene?

Eldest vs. Oldest: What’s the Difference?

Why Does ‘Will Not’ Become ‘Won’t’?

15 Words and Phrases Popularized During Prohibition

Oxford University Press Names 'Rizz' Word of the Year