Words

Here’s a sampling of terms that went overboard. Be their lexical lifeboat.

As languages change, so do pronunciations.

The "Comprehensive English-Yiddish Dictionary" is the first work of its kind to be published in nearly 50 years.

He'd had enuf of the old way. Known for his uncompromising stance on many issues, in the early 1900s Roosevelt used the full power of his position to try to force through several hundred new spelling reforms.

It's human nature to conceive of abstract ideas through more immediate, concrete experiences—which is to say, through metaphors. Most of the words we have for abstract concepts began this way.

Call us mint jelly ...

And how did they get that name?

Bullet_Chained (monsters), AJWAD CREATIVE (SPEECH BUBBLE) // ISTOCK VIA GETTY IMAGES PLUS

On Halloween, witches and werewolves, ghosts and ghouls, and demons and devils stalk the streets for tricks or treats. But the real tricks and treats—at least for the horror-loving word nerds among us—might just be the strange and far-flung origins of the

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Pull apart the word "trivia," and you’ll be left with two fairly familiar Latin roots.

Let me put this right up front. The headline to this post is slightly misleading, but not dishonest.

By some accounts, the average person owns 19 pairs of shoes. But it’s not just our closets that are overflowing with sneakers, loafers, pumps, and wedges. It’s also our vocabulary.

These common birds are masters of the four-letter word.

Concepts like "nose" and "tongue" share some of the same sounds no matter what language you're listening to.

Some plurals work in unexpected ways.

The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang pinpoints comedian Jimmy Durante as the first person to use this meaty metaphor.

Here are 20 American towns that have really cut the cord from the sources of their names.

Sometime around the 7th century, a grammarian got fed up and started collecting all the annoying mistakes that people kept making in Latin. He wrote them up in the 'Appendix Probi,' a straightforward list of the “say this, not that” variety.

You keep using that word…

Your beloved pup is paying attention both to what you say and how you say it.

Auribus teneo lupum means "holding a wolf by the ears."

Next time you spot a misbehaving child, or you want to seize the night rather than the day, you’ll have the perfect phrase at hand.

Make sure to use them the next time you dither.

You might be one of a lucky type who rarely attract bites, or you might be someone skeeters love to feast on—in which case, you’ll want plenty of ammunition for name-calling. Here are a few choice terms for mosquitoes courtesy of the Dictionary of America

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English-Yiddish Dictionary Breathes New Life Into a Historic Language

When Theodore Roosevelt Tried to Reform the English Language

15 Perfect Metaphors Hidden in Word Etymologies

Why Do Criminals Go “On The Lam”?

Who Wrote History's First Blurb?

13 Fiendish Etymologies for Halloween Monsters

How A Misinterpreted Anagram Predicted The Moons of Mars

Why Do We Call General Knowledge “Trivia”?

Why Do We Call Weights "Bells"?

The Origin of the Word Slang Has Been Found

10 Words with Hidden 'Shoe' Etymologies

Pigeons Can Distinguish Written Words From Nonsense

Most Languages Use the Same Sounds for Certain Words, Study Finds

26 Unusual Plurals That Work Like "Attorneys General"

Why Are Inferior Things Referred to as “Chopped Liver”?

20 Towns Named for Other Towns But Pronounced Differently

5 Annoying Latin Errors from an Ancient List That Predicted Latin's Descendants

18 Common Words That Have Unexpected Science Definitions

Like Humans, Dogs Understand Both Tone and Vocabulary

20 Latin Phrases You Should Be Using

9 Old-Fashioned Words for the Fickle

16 Buggy Ways to Say Mosquito