The Mysterious Origins of the Phrase ‘The Whole Nine Yards’
Linguists and lexicographers have truly gone the whole nine yards to uncover the origin of ‘the whole nine yards.’
Linguists and lexicographers have truly gone the whole nine yards to uncover the origin of ‘the whole nine yards.’
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From poisoning to warfare, these are the dark origin stories behind eight common phrases and idioms.
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One historical definition of ‘whereas’ is ‘preamble.’ But that’s probably not the one you’re looking for.
‘More than’ or ‘more then’ isn’t a matter of opinion. But there was a time when they were interchangeable.
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Insure and ensure started out as alternate spellings of the same word, but today they have slightly different definitions.
Calling all Latin teachers and classics scholars: this is the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” cover of your dreams.
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Many a teacher has reinforced the grammar rule that ‘may’ is for asking permission—not ‘can.’ But there’s a little more to it than that.
Kate Winslet's Philadelphia accent in 'Mare of Easttown' could be a linguistic time capsule in a couple of decades.
Southpaws are most often talked about in baseball and boxing. But which sport (if either) coined the term?
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The definition of ‘eponymous’ has changed over time, and ‘titular’ has more than one. Here’s how to use each word correctly.
A factoid isn’t just a fun fact—at least, it wasn’t when Norman Mailer allegedly coined the term in 1973.
It doesn’t have to be in the dictionary—in fact, it doesn’t even have to be a word. Phrases, slang, and even hashtags are all fair game.