The only time you’ll ever see the sun’s outer atmosphere is during a full solar eclipse, when sun itself is completely covered. That hazy ring is called the corona, from the Latin word for “crown” — just like the little crown...
A second-generation Filipino-American finds that when he speaks English, his personality is firm, direct, and matter-of-fact. But when he speaks with family members in Tagalog, he feels more soft-spoken, kind, and respectful. Research shows that...
How many different ways are there to say you have a baby on the way? You can say you’re pregnant, great with child, clucky, awkward, eating for two, lumpy, or swallowed a pumpkin seed? • The story behind the word...
A new online archive of Civil War letters offers a vivid portrait of the everyday lives of enlisted men. These soldiers lacked formal education so they wrote and spelled by ear. The letters show us how ordinary people spoke then. • Is there a single...
spray and pray
v. phr.— «Spray and pray from tee to green, and then pray, brother, pray.» —“Sport Podge” by Rex Hess Mansfield News-Journal (Ohio) June 2, 1942. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
garbage head n.— «Soon, you become a garbage head; you take anything—downers, speed, LSD, mescaline—like, you know.» —“Be ‘Cool’ and Have Pals” by Jim Bishop News Journal (Mansfield,Ohio) Oct. 25, 1972...