Latest articles by Arika Okrent
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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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Watch the Surf Punks explain the latest slang in this 1980s news report
feature Radical, dude
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16 simple concepts made simpler on Simple Wikipedia
feature Wikipedia is great for getting a quick overview of a subject. But did you know you can get it boiled down even further?
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LISTEN: Singing the ABCs in 8 different languages
feature Not every country learns their ABCs to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
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4 good reasons why people say 'I could care less'
feature No, you couldn't
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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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Was the sign-language interpreter at the Mandela memorial faking it?
feature The interpreter on stage with Obama was signing nonsense, according to South Africa's deaf community
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7 ways to be ready next time news breaks in Latin
feature If only you'd studied Latin, maybe you could have broken the story of Pope Benedict's resignation
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The 5 linguistic styles of exciting goal calls
feature "GOOOOOOOOOOAL!" is but one possibility
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22 songs that write themselves, from the Songwriter's Rhyming Dictionary
feature "Mildewy, St. Louis, chop suey" — it just needs a tune!
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The strange evolution of 'because'
feature Because reasons
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16 reasons why putting 'twerk' in the dictionary is no big deal
feature Miley Cyrus' twerking was awful. The word's inclusion in the dictionary? Not so much.
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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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7 ways to maximize your online dating profile with the power of words
feature Men who used the word "whom" get 31 percent more contacts
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How the U.S. made war with the language of peace
feature Poor, poor Esperanto
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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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17 overly optimistic book titles
feature Despite the names of many how-to guides, you actually can't make a Stradivarius violin, master life, or be happy with dental plates
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12 things made collectible thanks to spelling errors
feature When "oops" turns into opportunity
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9 reasons we adore this little girl's sign language version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas'
feature We dare you not to say, "Awwww"
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Check out these fascinating experiments in Ngram art
feature Words are strange creatures that do not necessarily behave as you would expect when graphed over time
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4 crazy, early foreign language versions of Beatles songs
feature Spoiler: The Russian interpretation of "Let it Be" is not exactly inspirational
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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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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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Listen to a quartet sing while you watch a close-up of their vocal cords
feature It's like Fantastic Voyage (without the lasers)
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