Latest articles by Arika Okrent
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7 words that came about from people getting them wrong
feature The word "pea" was originally "pease" and it was singular but confused for a plural
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3 fascinating facts about English's most adorable suffix, -ling
feature Surely you've heard of ducklings. But what about viperlings, frumberdlings, and deathlings?
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How an awesomesauce new suffix came to be
feature This etymology is seriously nerdsauce
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The many failures of the 'I before E except after C' rule
feature The one general language rule that most people remember from school is not a very good rule at all
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Where do U.S. coin names come from?
feature It's all about fractions, raw materials, and history
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14 fascinating language facts from the U.S. Census bureau
feature Americans speak more than 300 languages
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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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Why English spelling is so messed up
feature The explanation may not comfort you, but it may at least make you see the language as less arbitrarily maddening
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Here's how crazy-long German words are made
feature An animated guide to creating Rhababerbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbierbierbarbärbel
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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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Why do people say 'um'?
feature It's not because they're nervous
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18 complicated scientific ideas explained simply
feature Using a custom-made text editor, scientists describe complicated ideas using only the 1,000 most frequently used words in English
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The bizarre syntax of 'sexiest man alive'
feature Who talks like this?
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Pop song titles are losing the love
feature In recent years, the percentage of music hits with love in the song title has been only 30 percent of what it was in 1980. Why?
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12 things made collectible thanks to spelling errors
feature When "oops" turns into opportunity
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26 of Noah Webster's spelling changes that didn't catch on
feature Really, shouldn't machine be spelled "masheen"?
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11 nouns that only have a plural form
feature We never talk about a singular scissor...
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12 animals whose names etymologically describe them
feature Armadillo means "little armored one," because of course it does
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The secret emotional lives of 5 punctuation marks
feature From the angry period to the dramatic asterisk...
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Dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells: Why do we call weights 'bells'?
feature It dates back to a fitness craze of the 1700s
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Explained: English's 3 different prefixes for 'half'
feature Semi, hemi, demi
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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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'Tis and 10 other fun proclitic words
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35 classy slang terms for naughty bits from the past 600 years
feature Your vulgar vocabulary can now span centuries
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