List of All Articles with Tag 'words'

There are only so many ways to say “it’s cold outside,” which is why it’s time to supplement your vocabulary with these vintage words and phrases related to winter.

Whether they like books or word games, there's something on this list for the logophile in your life.

You might know everything there is to know about New York City slang, but the moment you leave the city, fuhgeddaboudit. Upstate New York has its own set of regional colloquialisms, often depending on which area of the state you’re in.

The day after Thanksgiving, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, has a rather sinister label: Black Friday. How did that happen?

Germany is the land of Oktoberfest, Christmas markets, and super literal compound words like Glühbirne (“glow pear,” a.k.a. “lightbulb”) and Baumwolle (“tree wool,” otherwise known as cotton).

Before you talk turkey this Thanksgiving, find out what we know about the phrase’s meaning and origins.

Here’s something else to stress about for Thanksgiving.

Dropping that ‘t’ sound is an example of what linguists call glottalization, or replacing a sound with a pause in the vocal cords.

You think you’ve seen every category of words … then you find this batch, including such oddities as tableclothwise and rabbitwise.

German is known for its extremely long compound words—Mark Twain once complained that some were “so long they have a perspective.” This quick video demonstrates how those words are constructed.

Here’s how to pepper your next argument with Shakespearean insults.

The word ‘gross,’ which came to English from French, took on a variety of senses in English related to size. But the ‘gross of today is different from the ‘gross’ of the past thanks to teens.