Latest articles by Arika Okrent
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16 words that are much older than they seem
feature Every generation likes to think it invented slang anew, but often the latest words are actually very old
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The grammar rules behind 3 commonly disparaged dialects
feature All dialects, from the very fanciest to the ones held in lowest esteem, are rule-governed systems. That includes Appalachian English, Southern American English, and Ebonics
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9 common words that come from words for heat
feature Temperature has a surprising effect on language
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How Kongar ol-Ondar sang two notes at once
feature He helped us hear the world a little better
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Why is 'Weiner' sometimes 'weener' and sometimes 'whiner'?
feature Anthony Weiner's name is not Wiener!
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How ABC gave viewers a taste of what it's like to be deaf
feature Switched at Birth took a big risk — and it paid off
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11 words from a 1940s song about slang
feature Betty Hutton sings about how hard it is to understand her boyfriend, who uses too much slang
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Do your texts make you sound old?
feature Younger generations are far more adept at textspeak, a rich and subtle form of communication
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7 fun facts about the Dothraki language from Game of Thrones
feature The words that the characters on the HBO speak aren't mere gibberish. Someone created a whole Dothraki dictionary
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18 academic papers about '90s TV shows
feature If we can learn about the ancient Romans by studying their drinking songs, surely we can learn about ourselves by studying our TV shows
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What online dictionaries are learning about us
feature They've been tracking your word lookups for nearly two decades. And the results are striking
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How the U.S. made war with the language of peace
feature Poor, poor Esperanto
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How does an exception prove a rule?
feature Wouldn't it do just the opposite? Doesn't it prove that the rule does not hold for all cases and is therefore not a rule at all?
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10 viral hits (from the 19th century)
feature Researchers analyzed 1.6 billion words from 41,829 issues of 132 newspapers in the period covering 1830 to 1860. This is what they found.
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17 words that describe themselves
feature Autological words are a self-centered, self-referential bunch
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How to do an Australian accent
feature As explained by, well, Australians
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Don't Ask, Don't Tell: The end of a policy, the beginning of an idiom
feature It's been two years since the repeal of the policy, but the phrase seems here to stay
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How many spaces should there be at the end of a sentence?
feature Grammar nerds, sharpen your swords!
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How many words do Eskimos really have for snow?
feature Depending on whom you ask, anywhere from 2 to 99
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The best shots fired in the Oxford comma wars
feature A look at the strongest points on each side of the great grammar debate
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The Klout score of 1903: A statistical study of eminent men
feature How do you measure the influence of important people?
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11 baby-naming trends of the past
feature The whole cities-as-names thing goes back way farther than you think
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Tips for keeping your tenement tidy (in 1911)
feature The Martha Stewart of early 20th century tenement living has some advice for young ladies
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4 shows from Norway's crazy, successful slow TV experiment
feature Norwegians embrace television that challenges them to take it all in, including a 4-hour discussion about firewood
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