Floordrobe is the new word for an old habit: piling your clothes on the floor instead of putting them away. The Oxford English Dictionary recently added an entry for it, defining floordrobe as “an untidy heap of discarded clothing left on the floor...
A ballicater is a jagged wall of ice that forms on a frigid shore when pans of ice catch on rocks and slush freezes over them. A Canadian woman who grew up in Newfoundland says she’s warned never to go near one. Ballicater, spelled several ways...
The Merriam-Webster.com dictionary now includes an entry for TL;DR, also rendered as TLDR. It’s a speedy way of dismissing overlong text or introducing a shortened version of something. This useful locution also inspired AI;DR, short for AI;didn’t...
Advice about college essays from the winner of a top prize for children’s literature: Kelly Barnhill encourages teens to write about experiences that are uniquely their own, from a point of view that is theirs and no one else’s. Plus...
While compiling the Oxford English Dictionary, lexicographer James Murray exchanged hundreds of letters a week with authors, advisors, and volunteer researchers. A new collection online lets you eavesdrop on discussions about which words should be...
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a word-pecker is “a person who trifles or plays with, or quibbles over, words.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Word-Peckers” I always love it when I’m looking through...
