A listener in Southampton, New York, puzzles over the language at the end of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, in which the narrator assures that the story will continue so long as children are “gay and innocent and heartless.” What does heartless mean in...
Lady, woman, and girl carry different signals depending on speaker, listener, age, number, and setting. Rachel, a 22-year-old from upstate New York, heard a hostel roommate described as a lady and pictured someone older. Her Wisconsin friend meant...
thrival n.—Gloss: doing well in a place, at an occupation, or at an undertaking; the act of thriving. «Adulthood is about “thrival,” not so much survival, as we are no longer vulnerable to adults as we were when we were minor children.» —“Anger in...