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6 Punctuation Marks Hated by Famous Authors
“Cut out all these exclamation points," F. Scott Fizgerald once said. "An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.”
LANGUAGE
10 Words and Phrases That Came From TV Shows
Television can be a hotbed of creativity (or mediocrity, depending on who you ask). But it's not just characters and storylines writers are coming up with—they also coin words.
15 U.S. Town and City Names With Unusual Backstories
While many towns in the U.S. were named after historical figures or nearby topographical phenomena, some monikers have origin stories that are a little more unusual.
9 Splendiferous Words from the Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary
The dictionary goes from aardvark to zozimus because "every dictionary has to start with aardvark; otherwise it would have to start with aback, which is just too boring."
A Small Colorado Town's Punny Signs Are Receiving National Attention
Warning: dad jokes ahead.
10 Letters That Didn't Make the Alphabet
There are quite a few letters we tossed aside as our language grew, and you probably never even knew they existed.
25 of the New Words Merriam-Webster Is Adding to the Dictionary in 2018
"Fave" is new to the dictionary, but it dates back to 1938.
Can You Spot All the Hidden Sayings in This 450-Year-Old Painting?
There are more than 100 common proverbs hidden in Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder's 1559 work 'Netherlandish Proverbs'—can you find them all?
11 Delightful Icelandic Words and Phrases
Hunting for new ways to express yourself that don't involve emojis? Look no further than these charming words and phrases hailing from the land of fire and ice.
What Would English Sound Like If Its Rules Were Consistent?
The answer: Really bizarre.
Attention Nintendo Fans: You're Pronouncing 'NES' All Wrong
This is bound to upset some people.
Buy Books and Never Read Them? There's a Japanese Word for That
It sounds a lot nicer than "hoarding."
The History Behind 8 Famous Tongue Twisters
Whether it's selling seashells by the seashore or buying Betty Botter's bitter butter, some of these difficult phrases go way back to when elocution was practiced as routinely as multiplication tables.
How to Sing 'Happy Birthday' Around the World
Candles not included.
Supper vs. Dinner: Is There a Difference?
They're not completely interchangeable.
50 Collective Nouns for Groups of Animals
What's the correct way to describe a group of your favorite animal? A "bunch of worms" may sound like a lazy descriptor, but it's correct.
How Do Linguists Pronounce GIF?
The debate rages on.
A New App Interprets Sign Language for the Amazon Echo
Abhishek Singh just made Amazon Echo a lot more accessible for the hearing impaired.
How to Craft the Perfect Comeback, According to Experts
Winston Churchill had it down cold.
Why Do Americans Call It ‘Soccer’ Instead of ‘Football’?
It may rankle purists, but American English isn’t the culprit.
How a Deaf-Blind Person Watches the World Cup
Brazilian Sign Language interpreter Hélio Fonseca de Araújo hit the hardware store, rigged up a tabletop model of the field, and enlisted a friend to provide extra interpretation for all the complex information that needs to come through in a game.
5 Fascinating Facts About Koko the Gorilla
The celebrity ape, who passed away in her sleep on June 21, changed what we knew about language.