Latest articles by Arika Okrent
-
Now you can Rickroll your friends (or enemies) in Klingonfeature "I am certainly considering a blood oath with you."
feature -
15 weird sample dialogues from old English textbooksfeature These pieces of text are just... off
feature -
7 ways we could tell that AP tweet was a fakefeature Take out your red pens, folks
feature -
6 creative uses of sentence diagrammingfeature The architecture of sentences can be quite beautiful
feature -
Fascinating facts about 10 national anthemsfeature Andorra is the only nation whose anthem has a first-person narrative. France's anthem is incredibly gory. And more!
feature -
Haiti is teaching kids in the wrong languageThe Explainer Most Haitians speak Haitian Creole. And yet, the country's traditional language of education is French — which less than 10 percent of Haitians speak fluently
The Explainer -
Why are 'rhyme' and 'rhythm' spelled like that?feature Blame some showoffs in the 16th century
feature -
15 words etymologically inspired by animalsfeature Animals have always been important to the lives and livelihoods of humans, so it's no wonder they've left a mark on language
feature -
17 words that describe themselvesfeature Autological words are a self-centered, self-referential bunch
feature -
The language Isaac Newton inventedfeature Newton is credited with many, many scientific innovations. His linguistic creations, on the other hand, never really took off.
feature -
The evolution of Facebook's pronoun problemfeature "Arika has changed their profile picture."
feature -
11 inscriptions on old buildings that tell it like it isfeature "We shall die all"
feature -
11 brand names with plural problemsfeature We're looking at you, LEGO
feature -
7 sentences that sound crazy but are still grammaticalfeature Believe it or not, this sentence is grammatical: "The rat the cat the dog chased killed ate the malt."
feature -
11 classy insults with classical Greek and Latin rootsfeature Next time you punk a ructabunde, don't be so excerebrose
feature -
12 onomatopoeias from around the worldfeature Chik chik pok pok is the sound of a train in Korean. Ghrutu ghrutu is pig grunting in Georgian. And more!
feature -
21 fancy medical terms for mundane problemsfeature Overdid it last night? Just explain to your boss that you've got a bit of veisalgia.
feature -
11 remnants of the Bastille you can still see todayfeature A piece of the French prison's actual moat wall? You'll find it in the subway.
feature -
12 animals whose names etymologically describe themfeature Armadillo means "little armored one," because of course it does
feature -
The secret emotional lives of 5 punctuation marksfeature From the angry period to the dramatic asterisk...
feature -
Dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells: Why do we call weights 'bells'?feature It dates back to a fitness craze of the 1700s
feature -
What most people get wrong about 'o' vs 'oh'feature O reader, we're here to help!
feature -
Explained: English's 3 different prefixes for 'half'feature Semi, hemi, demi
feature -
21 wonderful words for windfeature Do you know a willy-willy from a williwaw?
feature
