#Language

Pets & Animals | Other Kinds Of Animals

How 20 Animals From Around the World Got Their Names

‘Hippopotamus’ is Latin for “river-horse,” which makes sense for these semiaquatic mammals. The origins of some other animal names aren’t quite as literal.

Science & Technology | Technology

Former Google employee: How a ‘code red’ meeting and ChatGPT led execs to take 'shortcuts' in Gemini AI launch

A former high-level Google employee detailed significant structural issues at the company and said they cut corners to compete with ChatGPT and launch Gemini.

Politics | Politics

Conservatives Won The Word ‘Woke.’ Now It’s Time To Reclaim Accurate Language Everywhere

There is nothing to be gained by good-naturedly going along with linguistic charades. There is the entire discourse to be lost.

News | Interesting Stories

Wordle editor Tracy Bennett reveals what words get the most complaints

Wordle editor Tracy Bennett opens up about the most popular starter words, and the social media reaction to themed words.

Miscellaneous | Interesting & Helpful Information

Six Verbs That Make You Sound Weak (No Matter Your Job Title)

Sometimes it’s the smallest words and phrases that shape how you’re perceived around the office. Here are a few to watch out for at every level.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Stuff

What Came First: The Color Orange or the Fruit?

The story behind which orange came first involves Arab trade routes and a bunch of old phrases that mean 'orange apple.'

Miscellaneous | Random

13 Cool Slang Terms From the 1950s

From 'beatnik' to 'backseat bingo,' here are some notable pieces of lingo popularized in the 1950s.

News | News

Shelly Schreter – How Hebrew Interacts with Other Languages

Shelly Schreter – How Hebrew Interacts with Other Languages Like every other living language, Hebrew contains many foreign words and expressions. My purpose here is to collate some of these “imports”, for our amusement and interest, and to refle

Miscellaneous | I Like This

15 of the Funkiest '70s Slang Terms

If you’re up to speed on the tubular ‘80s slang and the wicked vernacular of the ‘90s, check out some terms and phrases that made the ‘70s groovy.

Politics | Leftist Lies

Control of the Language: The Battle Is On!

The Left has seized control of the English language and is using it as a club to pummel non-conformers.

Politics | Woke Insanity

She's No 'Showgirl': Microsoft Pummels the Problematic by Correcting Your Unwoke Words

Whatever you're involved in, you don't have a 'mistress.'

Miscellaneous | Interesting & Helpful Information

How Brains Seamlessly Switch between Languages - Scientific American

Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives.

Politics | Woke Insanity

CDC Appoints Itself Language Police With Science-Defying Lingo List

In its latest lurch to the left, the CDC is instructing its healthcare partners to adopt anti-science language manipulation to satisfy woke demands.

Miscellaneous | Interesting & Helpful Information

Advice on Learning a New Language From People Who Speak Up to 16

Anyone can learn a new language, no matter their age. Simply follow this expert advice down the sweet-talking path to success.

News | News

France Bans Woke Language in Schools: ‘A Danger to Our Country’

As the United States steamrolls toward Marxism, the French government is taking a stand against the influence of woke-ism banning schools...

News | Israel & The Jewish Community

Associated Press Changes Spelling of ‘Anti-Semitism’ to ‘Antisemitism,’ Joining Leading Experts

Part of an exhibit on the Holocaust supported by the International Holocaust Remembrance Association. Photo: courtesy of IHRA. The Associated …

Politics | The Hall of Idiots

And they said Trump was dumbing down America — Dictionary.com now is approving incorrect words for entry into its lexicon

You people and all your fancy book-learnin' were just wasting your time!

Psychology | Personality

The Unusual Language That Linguists Thought Couldn’t Exist

A new sign language is developing in the Negev desert and it’s catching linguists off-guard.

Miscellaneous | Miscellaneous

10 ways to fight back against woke culture

I realize the faddish thing to say these days is that we live in the worst, most broken and backward country in the world and maybe in the history of civilization. It’s utter nonsense. I have a few…

Psychology | Personality

This is How Tiny Changes in the Words You Hear Impact Your Thinking

In a fascinating look at language, a professor lays out how political parties can sway supporters with tiny tweaks in word choice.

Science & Technology | Science & Technology

The Amazing Ways Duolingo Is Using Artificial Intelligence To Deliver Free Language Learning

When it's time to learn a new language, Duolingo offers a fun, interactive learning experience through its cross-platform app that's powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

Politics | Leftists Are Insane

The Associated Press Says It Will Capitalize ‘Black’ But Not ‘White’

The Associated Press often sets the way people use language. For instance, the international wire service recently decided that the word “internet” would no longer be uppercase. The news agency, which puts out an annual “style book&#8221

Miscellaneous | This is stuff I like

Slang words from the 1950s that we should bring back - Insider

Slang is an ever-changing thing — but here are 10 slang terms from the 1950s that we think deserve a comeback in 2020.

Miscellaneous | Interesting & Helpful Information

How Much Does Our Language Determine Behavior? - David Shariatmadari - Behavioral Scientist

In his latest book, Don't Believe a Word, David Shariatmadari explores how the language we speak impacts the way we see the world, and our behavior in it.

Advice & Self-Help | Meditation and Other Practices

Here are 5 Great Tips to Learn a New Language (Based on Science!)

By Emma Young. Getting better at a new language doesn’t have to mean hard hours on lists of vocab and the rules of grammar.

Travel | Israeli Culture

How do you say fake news in Hebrew? - Israel News

Academy of the Hebrew Language also gives officials translations for driverless cars and chocolate truffles.

Advice & Self-Help | Meditation and Other Practices

The Danish word 'pyt' as an antidote to anxiety.and stress - The Washington Post

Like “stuff happens” or “oh, well,” the Danish word cultivates healthy thoughts to deal with daily irritating troubles.

Politics | Gender Insanity

Why Eliminating The Word ‘Mother’ Eliminates Motherhood Itself

If the word for ‘mother’ falls out of fashion or is pushed out of language entirely, will we still be able to form the idea of mother without the word?

Advice & Self-Help | Advice & Self-Help

Ben Dreyer, Author of Dreyer’s English, Talks About Language

Ben Dreyer, the author of Dreyer’s English, a modern style guide, is also the copy chief and managing editor of Random House. He talks about Twitter language, the words he hates now, including “onboarding,” and his own editors on the book.

Psychology | Personality

Your native language affects what you can and can’t see – Research Digest

By Emma Young. This is the first demonstration that language affects whether we consciously perceive a stimulus or not.

Advice & Self-Help | advice and self help

These midterm elections, vote 'yes' on laughter | Fox News

My mind is on healing right now for a simple reason. As midterm elections approach, too much charged political speech is ricocheting about our homeland. We seem to relish growing more distant from, as President Lincoln put it, the better angels of our nat

Health & Fitness | Health & Fitness

Why Do We Call a Leg Cramp a Charley Horse? | Mental Floss

Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links

This bizarre-looking font helps you remember what you read

The half-finished letters are designed to make us more engaged with what we’re reading, which increases memory retention.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Stuff

What Would English Sound Like If Its Rules Were Consistent? | Mental Floss

Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.

Psychology | Parenting and Kids

Baby Talk May Sound Silly, But It's Crucial For Building Language Skills - Study Finds

When Mommy and Daddy use baby talk, it is more than child's play. That repetitive, cute speech pattern that seems to come so naturally to most parents, grandparents and caregivers also speeds up vocabulary development and language skills, a recent study f

Advice & Self-Help | Advice & Self-Help

A Simple Trick for Eliminating 'Filler Words' Like 'Like' From Your Vocabulary | Mental Floss

Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.

Miscellaneous | Chicagoey Stuff

The disappearing Chicago accent is layered with local history | Reasons to love Chicago

Da dialect of da Daleys is becoming increasingly rare.

Miscellaneous | Other Stuff

Study: Two Spaces After a Period May Be Better Than One - The Atlantic

A new study proves that half of people are correct. The other is also correct.

Miscellaneous | Other Stuff

Quiz: Call the Grammar Police | Mental Floss

Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.

Pets & Animals | Other Kinds Of Animals

Why Can Parrots Talk? | Mental Floss

Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Stuff

To Brits with knickers in a twist over Americanisms: don't get your panties in a bunch | Science | The Guardian

Many ‘American’ phrases are actually British but a new book argues why we say what we say reveals a lot about our cultures

Psychology | Personality

(Just)ification

Funny thing about this word… We use it to imply “merely” when what we really mean is just the opposite. “Can you just tweak this design?” “Can you just re-write this page?” “Can you just tell us wh…

News | Interesting Links

Commonly Misused Phrases That Will Make You Sound Unprofessional | Work Money

There’s a good chance you’ve said at least one of these phrases wrong to your boss – so it’s about time to learn how to get them right.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links

27 fascinating maps that show how Americans speak English differently across the US

A survey of more than 30,000 people, turned into a series of maps, showcase the linguistic quirks that make American English such a fascinating dialect.

Psychology | Health & Wellbeing

Language patterns reveal body's hidden response to stress

Volunteers' use of certain words predicted stress-related changes in gene expression better than their self-reported feelings.

Science & Technology | Apps I Like

This app could be the key to speaking a second language

uTalk Language Education teaches you how native speakers actually talk, so you're not listening to a robot with strange intonation and inflection.

Business & Finance | Business

The Startup Teaching Languages That Have Almost No Teachers

After failing to find a Buryat instructor, Inky Gibbens launched Tribalingual to offer e-courses in endangered languages spoken only by thousands of people.

Pets & Animals | I Love Dogs

What a Border Collie Taught a Linguist About Language | WIRED

The whistles that a shepherd uses to command her dog sound a whole lot like human language.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Stuff

Hear the Interviews that Helped Build the Dictionary of American Regional English | Mental Floss

Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links

10 Long-Forgotten Expressions To Drop Into Conversation | Mental Floss

Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.

News | News Items

The Language of Gender Violence

The use of terms like "battered woman" and "accuser" have absolved men from taking responsibility for their actions, says educator Jackson Katz.

Pets & Animals | Cat & Dog Resources

Dogs can talk to humans, study suggests

Dogs have a surprising ability to make humans understand what their barks and growls mean, a study has shown.

History | History

Here's How British and American Spelling Parted Ways | Mental Floss

Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.

Miscellaneous | OTHER STUFF

Book Publishers Are Printing More #@$% Than Ever - WSJ

Expletive-laden book titles, some with strategically placed asterisks, are proliferating in cookbooks, memoirs, self-help guides, even coloring books for grown-ups—presenting challenges for bookstores and reviewers.

Miscellaneous | Interesting & Helpful Information

Want Synesthesia? Try Learning a New Language

People who became bilingual later in life are more likely to experience the mysterious blurring of the senses.

Miscellaneous | Interesting & Helpful Information

It’s Actually Pretty Weird That We Think in Words

“When you talk to yourself, you step out of yourself for a moment and get some perspective on what you are doing.”

Advice & Self-Help | Couples and Relationship Support

Learn to Say No by Using 'Don’t' Instead of 'Can’t'

Whatever the temptation is, saying "I don't" can empower you to stay true to your goals.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links

Learn a Foreign Language Quickly | The Art of Manliness

Learn how to learn a foreign language quickly and fluently from a man who knows how to speak 12 different languages.

Health & Fitness | Health News

The Human Brain as a Word Cloud, on a Shared Drive

In research reported Wednesday in Nature, neuroscientists at the University of California at Berkeley created a comprehensive atlas of neural patterns sparked by spoken language.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links

Wait … is that a rule? Ten everyday grammar mistakes you might be making | Books | The Guardian

Before their workshop at the NGV Art Book Fair in Melbourne, writing studio the Good Copy shares some tips

Books | Books

45 Everyday Phrases Coined By Shakespeare | Anglophenia | BBC America

[caption id="attachment_118801" align="aligncenter" width="612"] William Shakespeare (Pic: AP Images)[/caption] April 23rd is generally considered to be a good day to celebrate the birth of...

Miscellaneous | Potpourri

6 Things We Owe to the Vikings - History Lists

Despite their barbaric reputation, Vikings left a legacy of achievements that forever changed the way we speak, travel, exercise—and even groom ourselves.

Miscellaneous | Judaism

What Does “Oy Vey” Mean? - Questions & Answers

Oy and vey are two very old Jewish interjections which both mean “woe.” Oy is found many times in the Bible (see Numbers 21:29, I Samuel 4:7 and Isaiah 3:11 for a few examples). Vey is newer than oy; it is oy’s Aramaic equivalent..

News | Interesting Links

How language can affect the way we think

A look at the ways that the construction of language can have implications for the way we think, act and parse the world around us.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links

Why Does 'Terrible' Mean Bad and 'Terrific' Mean Good? | Mental Floss

Terrible and terrific both come from terror. And they both used to mean terror-inducing. So how did they end up meaning such different things? Here's the story of how terrific and terrible became terrific and terrible.

Psychology | Relationships

Beyond Words: A New Book About What Animals Think and Feel

Award-winning scientist Carl Safina's "Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel" is an excellent summary of recent research on the fascinating animals with whom we share our magnificent planet. I highly recommend "Beyond Words" and I

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links

The Anatomy of a Grammar Nerd

Are you an Oxford comma enthusiast? Sure, you know the difference between between there, their, and they're, but would you consider yourself a true grammar nerd? While some people balk at the term, plenty of others embrace it.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links

15 Common Expressions Younger Generations Won't Understand | Mental Floss

Here are 15 etymologies to answer the questions of future English speakers. Because the future is already here.

Pets & Animals | Cat & Dog Resources

How To Understand What Your Cat Is Trying To Say

Humans are lucky. We have complex verbal and physical languages that can get across pretty much any message that we feel we need to.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links

Are Incomplete Sentences the New Thing Or...? | Mental Floss

How is language evolving on the internet? In this series on internet linguistics, Gretchen McCulloch breaks down the latest innovations in online communication.

Sometimes a sentence doesn't end where you'd expect, but. And yet somehow, you still know what the writer intended, so. This may be something you do all the time, or.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links

The food words you are mispronouncing! Including sriracha, pho, tzatziki, and more!

How the hell do you pronounce "tzatziki," anyway?

Miscellaneous | Other Stuff

Top 10 Grammar Myths | Mental Floss

Before you argue with me, read the whole explanation about why each of these is a myth.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links

Is It Possible To Think Without Language?

Language is so deeply embedded in almost every aspect of the way we interact with the world. What would our thoughts be like without it?

Miscellaneous | Interesting Stuff

The top 10 words invented by writers | Books | The Guardian

‘Authorisms’ – neologisms coined by authors which have entered the wider language – have been enriching English for centuries. From Shakespeare to Joseph Heller, Paul Dickson selects his favourites

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links!

Is There Such a Thing as Not Having an Accent? | Mental Floss

Even the staunchest dictionary-thumping pronunciation stickler has a regional inflection. Still, accents that are more common can sound neutral. In the U.S., that title belongs to the General American accent, which you probably know from the nightly news. There’s nothing neutral about it: General American resembles the accent spoken in a small swath of the Midwest, stretching from eastern Nebraska through Iowa and parts of western Illinois. It doesn’t sound funny to many of us simply because we’re so exposed to it.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links

Why Isn't 'Arkansas' Pronounced Like 'Kansas'? | Mental Floss

Kansas and Arkansas aren’t so far from each other on the map, but their names seem to want nothing to do with each other.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links

12 Horrible Gobbledygook Words We Reluctantly Accepted

Years ago these words were considered hideous jargon, but over time we grew to accept them.

Miscellaneous | Interesting Links

How Many Languages is it Possible to Know?

There are millions of people, even in the mostly monolingual US, who speak more than one language at home. Competence in three languages is not unusual. But what about 10, 20, 30, 100 languages? What's the upper limit on the number of languages a per