The phrase old as Methuselah describes someone quite advanced in years. In ancient scripture, Methuselah was a man who somehow lived to the ripe old age of 969. Plus, a heartwarming book for children tells the story of how a Puerto Rican family...
Ahmed, a native speaker of Arabic who also speaks French, wonders how he should pronounce words from those languages when speaking English. For example, should he model the pronunciation for the name of the writer Kahlil Ghibran the country of Qatar...
What exactly is a planet? Controversy over this question led to Pluto’s redefinition, along with a brand-new English word. And: Some people now use the phrase all the things! to mean and whatnot or you know what I mean. This new sense of all the...
An ambitious effort to install poetry in national parks around the United States features the work of beloved poets in beautiful spots. It’s a reminder that “Nature is not a place to visit. Nature is who we are.” Also, Google Translate has expanded...
Language from inside a monastery. A Benedictine monk shares terms from his world: For example, corporate prayer refers to praying as a group, not urging shares to return dividends. And did you know there’s a term of art for those annoying add-on...
Mahalia from San Diego, California, has a friendly disagreement with her husband over the phrase it takes all kinds. She understands the expression to mean that the world requires many different kinds of people to function. He thinks it means that...