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Why is February spelled the way it is? Delve into the linguistic evolution of the month’s name and its journey from Latin to modern English.
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En français, the name for ‘jellyfish’ comes from a famous figure in Greek mythology—can you guess which one?
Why are we still employing a kiss-off that references a near-obsolete form of transportation?
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.
Née’s meaning is technically “born,” and we borrowed it from the same place we got the terms ‘déjà vu’ and ‘cul-de-sac.’
Maybe you already know the meaning of 'jajaja.' But what about all these other expressions of online laughter?
From ‘Angela’ to ‘Wolfgang,’ these German names are commonly mispronounced by English speakers.
If you watched television in the 1990s, you probably saw an ad for a green blob that could teach you French.
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.
This particular corner of Super Bowl history involves tons of bowl games and at least one bouncy ball.
How a love of drinking and Britain’s 18th-century Toby jugs might have inspired the slang word for ‘face.’
With dolphins masquerading as whales, lizards as toads, and marsupials as bears, it can be tough to keep track of which animals are which.
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.
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.
Opening a can of worms, metaphorically speaking, is trying to solve a problem and ending up in more trouble. And the idiom really does refer to actual worms.
Deciding to write 'disc' or 'disk' depends on what kind of disc it is. Sometimes.
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.
The Amish aren't known for their bawdy senses of humor, but try telling that to the couple snapping a photo under the sign announcing they've arrived at Intercourse.
From pronouncing the name of one of the Beastie Boys to how to say “Sade” correctly, here are a few tips for your tongue.
The internet has given us all kinds of delightful slang terms for what our cats and dogs do, from ‘blep’ and ‘bork’ to ‘smol’ and ‘sploot.’
The meaning of ‘Bah, humbug!’ is a little more layered than what people normally attribute to Ebenezer Scrooge of ‘A Christmas Carol.’
Once again, Mental Floss readers proved to be curious about all sorts of niche topics—and our editors and writers were happy to oblige their interests.