We’ve mentioned the word orts before. It means “leftovers,” but if you want another great word for leftovers or various little odds and ends, there’s always manavalins. That’s how Herman Melville spelled it, although there are several other versions. Manavalins may derive from manarvel, “to pilfer from a ship’s stores.” This is part of a complete episode.
The so-called “lifestyle influencer accent” you hear in videos on TikTok and YouTube, where someone speaks with rising tones at the end of sentences and phrases, suggesting that they’re about to say something important, is a form of what linguists...
Meg in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, gets why the state highway department encourages drivers to use their blinkers when changing lanes, but placing a digital sign at the Sagamore Bridge that reads Use Ya Blinkah is, well, a lexical bridge too far. Meg’s...
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