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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.
WORDS
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.
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.’
The meaning of ‘Bah, humbug!’ is a little more layered than what people normally attribute to Ebenezer Scrooge of ‘A Christmas Carol.’
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.
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.
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.
Social media is changing language again.
James Joyce once famously declared, “The demand that I make of my reader is that he should devote his whole life to reading my works.“ After 28 years, members of a Venice, California-based book club have come pretty close.
Whether they like books or word games, there's something on this list for the logophile in your life.
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.