WORDS

The stories behind these phrase origins are amazing. Too bad they’re not true—and too bad they’re often repeated as fact. Here’s the real scoop behind the expressions.

It’s another in a long line of etymologies that doesn’t have one clear-cut answer, but a few plausible (and interesting) possible explanations.

The Swedish pronunciation of ‘IKEA’ is significantly different from what we say in the States.

Despite what you may have guessed, the "ham" in 'hamburger' doesn't mean meat. Here are 14 other words that might surprise you.

You don’t need to be a smark to appreciate these pro wrestling slang terms (but it might help).

African descendants in the U.S. have been speaking varieties of English, today known as African American Language (AAL), for many centuries. Here's what you should know.

We all know someone who never seems to stop talking. They’re a yammerer, a babbler, a chatterbox—but they’re also a blatherskite, a clatterfart, and a twattle-basket.

It wasn’t inspired by a beast of burden named Laurie, if that’s what you assumed.

‘Possum’ and ‘opossum’ are sometimes synonyms—but sometimes they refer to different animals. (Also, there’s a chance you've been pronouncing ‘opossum’ wrong all along.)

Nothing makes you feel more like a flivver than getting too peloothered and waking up with the woofits.

Do you know your 'craic' from your 'cat'? If you read this wee list, no one will be able to slag you.

The dictionary’s new words range from acronyms like ‘CODA’ to slang like ‘sh**housery.”