During the late 19th and early 20th century, thousands of volunteers helped crowdsource the Oxford English Dictionary. This venerable reference work includes citations sent in by inventors, eccentrics, scientists and educators, an Arctic explorer —...
The new book Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language is a smart, engaging, introduction to language and linguistics in general. It’s also rich with insights about how we communicate online. With verve, wit, and nerdy delight...
Barbara in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, wonders whether her mother’s favorite warning that a crowded place would be “a mob scene” was a family invention. The expression has been around since at least the late 1800s and comes from theater, where...
We got a call from Nan Sterman, host of the public television gardening show A Growing Passion, who writes so much about plants that she’s looking for some alternatives to the verb “to plant.” But what to say if you don’t...
sidewalk alumni n.pl.— «A cheering, singing throng of 5,000 students, alumni, faculty, and sidewalk alumni braved 20 degree cold to crowd Boston’s south terminal.» —“Boston Leaves Star Back Home From Bowl Trip” in Boston...
only meatball in the rice n.— «So many Jew fro’s at the party that for once, it was hard to spot Alex in the crowd….except that he’s usually the only “meatball in the rice.”» —“Gawker / Lifehacker...