Latest articles by James Harbeck
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In defense of 'anyways'The Explainer This is not a bit of backwater American slang. In fact, it's a word with nearly 1,000 years of history.
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A brief history of royal baby namesThe Explainer Will and Kate's wee one will be the seventh British king to be called George
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How advertisers trick your brain by turning adjectives into nounsThe Explainer It's all about the bisociation
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A phonological description of beatbox noisesfeature Your guide to impressing (and alarming) your beatbox-admiring friends
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What language is your baby speaking?The Explainer Your linguistic guide to baby babbling
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Why pain is expressed differently in different languagesThe Explainer Pain is universal. Its expression is not.
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10 words that are badly brokenThe Explainer Some words are born from strange splits that were never meant to happen
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There's a number of reasons the grammar of this headline could infuriate youThe Explainer Blame our shifting definitions of the singular and the plural
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It's all right to spell it 'alright'The Explainer Relax, language peevers
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A linguist's guide to HULK SMASHThe Explainer Dissecting the strange, wonderful grammar of Hulkspeak
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Quiz: Drug brand or sci-fi name?The Explainer No Google cheating!
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How to be a champagne snobThe Explainer Warning: This might require a saber
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Linguistic invasion! The foreign influence of English's political and military wordsThe Explainer It might seem like our language is under attack. But in reality, we're the ones taking linguistic prisoners
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The science of making a guitar sound like a human voicefeature Or what puts the "wah" in the wah-wah
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9 compellingly strange letters you don't know aboutThe Explainer Meet eng, thorn, hwair, and more
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Capital letters: FTW or WTF?The Explainer Your comprehensive, unassailable guide on when and where to capitalize
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A herstory (or mansplanation) of portpersonteau wordsThe Explainer From broceries to guybrarian to Galentine's Day, we often employ wordplay to poke at differences between the sexes
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A linguistic tour of a 'night out' around the worldThe Explainer And how to tell if it's a Canadian or an Australian asking you out
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How languages are like foodThe Explainer You've had gumbo, but have you tried Bislama?
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