Mental Floss

WORDS







What constitutes ‘upstate’ is a little controversial.

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.

Rick Marshall


(It might have something to do with sick days.)

The day after Thanksgiving, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, has a rather sinister label: Black Friday. How did that happen?

Jake Rossen
In German, the word for ‘gloves’ translates as “hand shoes.”

Germany is the land of Oktoberfest, Christmas markets, and super literal compound words like Glühbirne (“glow pear,” a.k.a. “lightbulb”) and Baumwolle (“tree wool,” otherwise known as cotton).

Sophie Lau








German is known for its extremely long compound words—Mark Twain once complained that some were “so long they have a perspective.” This quick video demonstrates how those words are constructed.

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

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.

Arika Okrent






Go ahead—belch.

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.

Erin McCarthy


The options for laughing online are numerous.

Everyone has a preferred way to laugh online, whether it’s an acronym like IJBOL (“I Just Burst Out Laughing”), a reaction GIF, or a crying laughing emoji. Which one do you use?

Gretchen McCulloch