WORDS

Finally!

The vast history of English has more than a few options for describing the non-musical kind of funkiness.

The skin is the largest organ in the human body, covering a surface area of nearly 2 square meters. Skin covers a great deal of the English language, too, if we look to its many skin-related words, expressions, and idioms.

In the U.S., pudding has a relatively small life, nutritionally and lexically. But when you look back at jolly old England, this seemingly one-dimensional word has lived a vibrant life in metaphors and idioms.

Some languages lack what we might consider the most fundamental words—yet somehow manage to get by without them.

Let's raise the curtain on 'barnstorming,' 'catastrophe,' and other terms that have their origins in the theater.

The concept of cowardice is an old one, and there are many now-obscure words for, as Yosemite Sam might put it, lowdown yellow-bellies.

Thirty-two years ago this month, Sixteen Candles blew its way into theaters. With it came those now iconic teen characters, the Geek, hot Jake Ryan, the ridiculously stereotypical Long Duk Dong, and misunderstood every-girl Sam, along with some major ‘80s

On May 6, 1751, the first U.S. cricket match was recorded. In honor of that game, and to decipher some of the seemingly complex intricacies for the uninitiated, check out these 15 corker cricket terms.

Drawing might be the smartest way to encode an idea in your brain.

Scots is close to Standard English in the way Norwegian is close to Danish, which is to say, they are pretty much mutually intelligible. It’s possible to read the Scots Wikipedia and understand nearly everything, but there’s just enough unfamiliar vocabul

The Hogwarts houses in Harry Potter stay pretty much the same in most of translations of the books—but some languages go a different way.