Latest articles by Arika Okrent
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Your family name did not come from a mistake at Ellis Island
feature So how did Jensen become Johnson, Koenigsberger become Kingsley, and Mlodzianowski become Murphy?
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The true origin story of the football huddle
feature It was first invented by deaf players
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How do you say 'pecan'?
feature You can trace the debate back to 1066
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Where did the word 'dude' come from?
feature Or El Duderino, if you're not into the whole brevity thing
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7 overlooked Thanksgiving rituals, according to sociologists
podcast Here are some surprising "rituals" from the first major sociological study of Thanksgiving
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15 unusual college mottos
feature The standard school motto is a Latin platitude about truth, knowledge, honor, duty and stuff like that. Some mottos do things a little differently.
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Does English only need 850 words? This guy thought so.
feature Granted, "sweat" became "face water"...
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This language is based only on whistles
feature And it can travel for miles
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15 common expressions younger generations won't understand
feature Why do we "hang up" a phone?
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Why do we say 'believe you me'?
feature It's a rather baffling word order...
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Where does the expression 'hands down' come from?
feature Hint: It has to do with reins...
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17 'bon' figures of speech from Louisiana French
feature How’s it plucking?
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The late, great William Zinsser: The man who taught old-school writers to embrace word processors
feature It seems obvious now. At the time, it was radical.
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Goodbye, Gwyneth: The biggest changes from this year's list of top baby names
feature And hello, Axl and Anakin!
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How a bag of potato chips can spy on you
feature A team of MIT computer scientists have figured out how to do just that, turning one bag into a "visual microphone"
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Hear what rapping sounds like in 14 different languages
feature From Arabic to Welsh
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This is what American Sign Language looked like 100 years ago
feature The Library of Congress put this footage in the National Film Registry
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Vote on a message to send to space about what earthlings think of the world
feature A laser-engraved disc will be sent to the moon next year — and you can vote on what it should say
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Game of Thrones: 8 fun facts about the Valyrian language
feature It has four genders
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How do you say 'pecan'?
feature You can trace the debate back to 1066
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11 best uses of bad grammar from The Simpsons
feature When it comes to comedy, sometimes a little grammatical wrongnity is exactly what's called for
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Should research animals get names?
feature You might not want to get too attached...
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How deaf people come up with signs for slang terms like 'photobomb'
feature In any language, change tends to be driven by the younger generation
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These are the top dictionary words searched at colleges across the country
feature What's going on at Boise State?
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