WORDS

In the ’80s, Mariko Aoki wrote to a magazine about her strange habit of having to poop in bookstores. Now, she’s the namesake for the condition.

To celebrate the launch of their new Finnish course, Duolingo partnered with the website Very Finnish Problems to find out which words make the people of Finland happiest.

The universal language never quite changed the world, but enthusiasts and Duolingo users are doing their bit to change that.

The name "Jim Crow" appears throughout many U.S. history books, but he was a caricature—not a real person.

Robert Berger tried to avoid a jail sentence by forging a death certificate. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as the Office of Vital Statistics and Regsitry.

It all started as a reminder about which relatives the Catholic Church prohibited you from marrying.

After sending Merriam-Webster a series of emails, Kennedy Mitchum convinced the dictionary to revise its entry for 'racism' to better emphasize the systemic aspects.

Something systemic—like a disease—means it’s present throughout a system. ‘Systematic’ refers to how a system is operated.

If our hands turn into a mess of smeared dirt when gardening, how come we have green thumbs? Why not green fingers?

"Great Scott!" was around long before it became the go-to expression of Doc Brown in ‘Back to the Future.’

So, you’d like to write for Mental Floss? We've assembled a handful of helpful tips to help you craft the best pitch possible.

If you’re struggling to describe the new coronavirus era we’re living in, well, you’re not alone. In fact, many new terms have been coined to help us talk about these unprecedented times.