If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the word regret: Say you wish you’d been able...
Pat from Bishop, California, shares a story about a college history professor who gave a detailed lecture about a heroic Norwegian named Loof Lirpa. Only after taking extensive notes did the students realize that the professor was lecturing on the...
Some people proudly embrace the label cancer survivor, while others feel that’s not quite the right word. Is there a better term for someone who’s battled cancer? Writers and listeners share the best sentence they’ve read all day...
Lots of things happening in Language Land these days! First, we were amused by the New York Times’ blog post titled, “Iceland Volcano Spews Consonants and Vowels.” We’ll say! Speaking of the word “blog,” Grant is...
piquerism n.— «In Michigan, for example, Detective Lieutenant Darrell Pope, a Vice-Investigator with the Michigan State Police, in a public lecture (May 1, 1979) titled, “Does Pornographic Literature Incite Sexual Assaults?”...
simul n.— «At each event in her new Summer Chess Lecture/Simul Series there, a grandmaster will give a talk about chess and then take part in what is called a simul: boards will be set up for participants, and the grandmaster (Susan...