Mental Floss

WORDS



While your Deaf friends might get a good laugh when you accidentally sign “f**k you” instead of “thank you,” it’s still best to know the correct signs when interacting within the Deaf community.

Dominique Swanson






Knowing a bit of Dutch slang will not just help you find your bearings when you visit Amsterdam and its surroundings, but also earn you respect from the locals—who, despite being great at English, have a strong connection to their mother tongue.

Tim Brinkhof
Can you bee-lieve it?

We’re all familiar with the feeling of having an idea or subject stuck in your head that makes it difficult to think about anything else. But why (and when) did we start comparing that experience to a bee buzzing around in your hat?

Rick Marshall




It’s not bad breath, it’s bromopnea.

Need a better word to describe what ails you? Look no further than this list of old, unusual ways to describe your aches, pains, and whatever else is happening in your body.

Erin McCarthy


Ye olde boob tube.

When TVs became popular in the 20th century, some people started calling it ‘the tube.’ That nickname soon spawned an even catchier one: ‘the boob tube.’

Ellen Gutoskey


It’s time to get creative.

The f-word is often thought of as the most useful and flexible word in English. Whether that’s true or not, the term is so successful that it’s spawned dozens of euphemisms. Here are a few of them.

Mark Peters