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Traditionally speaking, the team that publishes the Oxford English Dictionary picks a “word of the year”—a word or expression that has attracted significant interest over the course of the past 12 months. It’s a way to capture the mood or lasting impact that a particular year has had on us all; for example, 2019's…Read more...

As a child, I had this bit where I’d attempt to delay my bedtime by asking my mother to read me a story, and then returning with the household copy of the unabridged Webster’s Dictionary after she sent me to pick out a book. (I’d imagine this was a common kid strategy until relatively recently). We had the 1966 versionRead more...

Given the recent conversations about and demonstrations against racial injustice, the words “systemic” and “systematic” have been popping up a lot, and are sometimes used interchangeably. And while they do have the same root word, they also have different meanings. If you’re not quite sure exactly when to use each…Read more...

“Quarantine” was never quite right. “Reopening” isn’t an accurate term either. What we’re going through as a society is unprecedented, and we do not have the words to describe it. I think that’s because we can’t name that which we can barely wrap our minds around. Read more...

Linguist and Because Internet author Gretchen McCulloch asked her Twitter followers to share the words that they can’t actually spell without relying on spellcheck. The answers she got will comfort and edify you.Read more...

Earlier this year, Christini Tosi changed the name of “Crack Pie” to “Milk Bar Pie,” explaining that the name “fell short” of Milk Bar’s mission “to spread joy and inspire celebration.” It wasn’t exactly an apology, and it wasn’t clear if Tosi really understood why the name was a problem in the first place, but at…Read more...

The talk coming from the back seat of my car was starting to make me uncomfortable. Read more...