Mental Floss

WORDS





Hey, which high school did you go to?

From purposeful mispronunciations and secret shorthand to one very oddball question, these are the slang terms you should know before setting foot in the STL.

Kate Schweitzer








Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language.

Noah Webster’s two-volume 'An American Dictionary of the English Language' earned him a place in linguistic history, and a reputation as the foremost lexicographer of American English.

Paul Anthony Jones


Samuel Johnson.

'Dictionary of the English Language,' published in 1755, remained the foremost dictionary of British English until the early 1900s when the very first installments of the Oxford English Dictionary began to appear.

Paul Anthony Jones


Noah Webster.

Noah Webster—who was born on October 16, 1758—compiled America’s most influential dictionary, Americanized our English, essentially founded the publishing industry, and was a pioneer in epidemiology. Here's what you should know about Webster.

April Snellings








Only about 0.02 percent of the words in a dictionary start with the letter 'X.' Here are 40 of those rarities.

Paul Anthony Jones
James Joyce.

Making up words is a common internet pastime, but James Joyce was way ahead of the curve in this area. Discover 13 of the most fascinating words coined by the famed Irish author.

Mark Peters