Words

Some office buzzwords can be unbearable for employees.

If you’ve ever tried to give “110 percent” to a task, chances are you’ve worked in an office where people tend to use a lot of corporate jargon.

‘Spick’ doesn’t mean ‘clean.’ And ‘span’ doesn’t mean ‘clean.’ So what’s going on here?

A Chicago-area family plays Scrabble, ca. 1952

Whether you’re a logophile or just enjoy casual wordplay, chances are you’re obsessed with Scrabble. Here’s what you should know about the game.

It's Chick-fil-A's pleasure to serve you.

If you say “my pleasure” before your Chick-fil-A cashier has a chance to utter it, you won’t score free food.

Hulton Archive / Stringer // Getty Images

If you’re easily startled or just need some alternatives to “By the hammer of Thor!” and “Damn!,” read on for some old-timey outbursts.

If your Wordle game is feeling stale, these math-backed opening words could give the momentum you need.

Even the most well-respected dictionaries consider ‘mistrust’ and ‘distrust’ interchangeable. But people do tend to use them a little differently.

Battologize your friends by repeating these over and over again.

Linguists and lexicographers have truly gone the whole nine yards to uncover the origin of ‘the whole nine yards.’

It's said that everyone gets to be a bit Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. In that case, it's only fair that everyone has a few words of Gaelic origin ready.

Incorporate these 'A' words into your vocabulary.

Don't be agelastic or an ashcat—these words will help even a budding abecedarian advance their vocabulary.

The situation has clearly gone from bad to worse.

What's the 'worse' or 'worst' that could happen if you use the wrong form of this commonly used word? Here's what to know.

Having to yell "Fore!" probably bodes ill for your score.

It all started with forecaddies … or the military. Either way, ‘fore’ is the most succinct way to say “You might be about to get hit by an errant golf ball.”

If you know, you know. And if you don't know, this list should help.

Zoomers have revolutionized the slang game on- and offline with colorful terms like ‘stan’ and ‘She ate.’ But some are older than you think.

That wallpaper is giving us the willies.

To get the willies is to feel a sudden onset of nervousness or skittishness. But why 'willie'? It may have something to do with itchy underwear.

These phrases likely came from some dark places.

From poisoning to warfare, these are the dark origin stories behind eight common phrases and idioms.

If you're obsessed with Wordle, the popular online anagram game, check out these 12 fun word games, including "Scrabble," "Quiddler," and "Bananagrams."

Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight (1944).

Before psychologists gave it a formal definition, ‘gaslighting’ just meant "what happened to Ingrid Bergman in the movie ‘Gaslight.'’’

Social media has helped create a thriving slang landscape.

Maybe you know ‘GOAT,’ ‘FOMO,’ and ‘stan.’ But thanks in part to TikTok, slang is a little more complex than that these days.

Wordle is the new hotness in portable time-wasting.

The simple word game is like 'Wheel of Fortune' meets a crossword puzzle. And according to a philosophy professor, there's a clear reason we're obsessed with it.