Gossip goes by many names: the poop, the scoop, the lowdown, the dope, the scuttlebutt, the 411, the grapes, the gore, and hot tea. Plus, John Donne’s love poems are among the greatest in the English language, even as they’re famously...
Here’s a neologism used to describe someone possessed of effortless attractiveness or style: rizz. It’s a shortening of charisma, a word that goes back to ancient Greek. This is part of a complete episode.
You’ve seen this guy before: the older gent who strolls around at construction sites, asking questions, offering suggestions, and kibitizing about the activities there. The Italian dictionary Lo Zingarelli (Amazon) recently added the handy...
We take our voices for granted, but it’s truly miraculous that we communicate complex thoughts simply by moving our mouths while exhaling. A fascinating new book reveals the science, history, and linguistics involved in human speech. And...
Nanomoon is a neologism promoted by the wedding industry to mean “an especially short honeymoon” such as a quick trip to a nearby national park, that’s taken by a frugal couple in hopes of saving for a longer one later. This is...
The German neologism Coronafussgruss literally translates as “Corona foot greeting,” a term for the socially distanced alternative to handshakes. This is part of a complete episode.