Latest articles by Arika Okrent
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11 nouns that only have a plural form
feature We never talk about a singular scissor...
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11 common words with very specific meanings on food labels
feature Companies can't use the word "light" lightly
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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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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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11 totally redundant place names
feature Lake Tahoe means Lake Lake. La Brea Tar Pits means The Tar Tar Pits. And more!
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What the spelling bee loses by adding definitions
feature Scripps is turning its National Spelling Bee into a vocabulary quiz. B-A-D D-E-C-I-S-I-O-N.
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Where did the expression 'OK' come from?
feature It's amazing that we ever got along without it at all. But we did until 1839
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20 towns named for other towns but pronounced differently
feature In Illinois and Kentucky, don't call the cities of Athens, ATH-ens. They're pronounced EIGHTH-ens, apparently.
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12 old words that survived by getting fossilized in idioms
feature "Sleight of hand" (not "slight of hand" as it's often misspelled) helped the Middle English word "sleight" survive obsolescence
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Why is Y sometimes a vowel?
feature In "yes," Y is representing a consonant, and in "gym" it is representing a vowel
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The tiny island where men have their own language
feature Women and children can understand the language, but it is primarily used among men engaged in male domain activities like fishing and boat-building
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Argle bargle: 5 meanings of word reduplication
feature You may have a hoity toity degree from a fancy schmancy school, but blowing a gasket over certain kinds of hanky panky makes you an old fuddy duddy
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11 mots merveilleux recently added to the French dictionary
feature The term "French kiss" is finally being captured in the eponymous language with a single word: galoche
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6 dictionary mysteries you can help solve
feature Where did the word "mullet" really come from?
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8 symbols that we turned into words
feature How / and ♥ became words in their own right
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Where did the phrase 'come out of the closet' come from?
feature This expression for revealing one's homosexuality may seem natural. But it's actually a relatively new thing.
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6 creative uses of sentence diagramming
feature The architecture of sentences can be quite beautiful
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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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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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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 Pig Latins of 11 other languages
feature English speakers aren't the only ones who can make a pseudo-language
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Rules shmules: 5 phonetic pitfalls of shm- reduplication
feature With shm- you can be simultaneously grumpy and cute. But it's not always easy to figure out where to put the shm-
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