WORDS

Learn these, lest you become a syntactic ultracrepidarian.

'Noise' and 'sound' are often used interchangeably—even when they shouldn't be.

Some of these words may not be used until Tib's Eve, but that shouldn't stop you from trying, lest you look like a timdoodle.

The origin of the phrase ‘silver screen’ is less about movies and more about how people watched them in the good old days.

Don't let these trip you up.

The term ’burned out’ dates back to the early 19th century—and people have had other names for it for much longer than that.

Our humble letter R has one of the lengthiest and most complicated histories of all the letters of the alphabet.

From hot chicken to honky-tonk and beyond, here are some terms that will give you a leg up when you visit Nashville.

Horses own the winner’s circle in English idioms. But where did these popular phrases originate?

People have been “dropping like flies”—often due to weather—since at least the mid-19th century.

You've called it the John and the Crapper—now try out these more creative euphemisms the next time you head to the loo.

In 1992, the mainstream media was eager to learn about the lexicon of the surging grunge scene. So a New York Times reporter phoned up an insider—who proceeded to make up a bunch of words.