How do languages change and grow? Does every language acquire new words in the same way? Martha and Grant focus on how that process happens in English and Spanish. Plus, the stories behind the Spanish word gringo and the old instruction to...
Say you have an acquaintance you always see at the dog park or the playground. But one night, you run into them at the movies, and for a moment, it’s confusing. Is there a word for that disorienting sense of someone or something being out of...
What’s the meaning of the word raunchy? A woman in Indianapolis, Indiana, thinks it means something bawdy or ribald, but to her husband’s family the word can mean “icky” or “unpleasant.” She learned this when one...
You’ve been reading a book but you’re just not into it. How do you quit it, guilt-free? How do you break up with a book? Also, what do you ask for when you go through the grocery checkout line: bag, sack, or something else? Plus, brung...
watch wardrobing n.— «This transformation of the business has also given rise to some horrendous new terminology, with “watch wardrobing” and “accessorizing your wrist” as two of the more egregious examples of the...
leverite n. (also leaverite) a worthless stone or rock, especially one mistaken as being valuable. Editorial Note: Paul Dickson writes in Family Words (1998, p. 79), “Heaverite, according to Raymond J. Nelson of Cody, Wyoming, is a rock that...