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