Mental Floss
Mental Floss

WORDS

It’s not straightforward.

In the United States, the most common pronunciation is “FEB-yoo-air-ee.” Both Merriam-Webster and American Heritage dictionaries consider the common pronunciation correct, along with the less common, more traditional standard “FEB-roo-air-ee.”

Arika Okrent
In Gen X parlance, this dude totally rocks.

From yuppie to headbanger, we have Generation X to thank for these terms that became popular in the 1980s and ’90s.

Michele Debczak
Residents of London’s East End, circa 1900.

Grab your best china plate (a.k.a. mate) and feast your mince pies (otherwise known as your eyes) on these fascinating and delightful terms in this guide to Cockney rhyming slang.

Mark Peters
Ladies riding in a car—or, if you’re using slang from the 1900s, an ‘automobubble’—circa 1901.

Wastoid, wedgie, and dumpster fire, oh my! In the latest episode of The List Show, you can learn about the fun origins of some pretty wacky and absolutely real slang terms from the last hundred years.

mentalfloss .com
Koala bear, mantis shrimp, maned wolf, and king cobra are all misnomers.

With dolphins masquerading as whales, lizards as toads, and marsupials as bears, it can be tough to keep track of which animals are which.

M. Arbeiter
We learned a lot in 2023.

From record-breaking plants and incredible animal news to space superlatives and the awesome power of Taylor Swift fans, here’s the long list of things we learned in 2023.

mentalfloss .com
The dialects of the two countries have been diverging.

The two dialects have transformed to the point that North Korean defectors often struggle with unfamiliar language when arriving in South Korea—so much that the South Korean government publishes a list of commonly confused words to aid new defectors.

Sophie Lau
Deep in the heart of Texas, indeed.

You may know Austin, Texas, as the Live Musical Capital of the World that’s devoted to keepin’ itself weird—but you might not be familiar with the city’s many slang terms.

JC De Leon
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