Sarah from Los Angeles, California, asks whether ogle should sound like oh-gle, oggle, or oogle. The standard pronunciation is oh-gle, rhyming with “mogul,” while some dictionaries recognize a much rarer variant closer to oggle. The form oogle is...
What’s the difference between agreeance and agreement? While agreeance is a word, it hasn’t often been used since the 19th century, whereas agreement is both correct and common. Best to go with agreement. This is part of a complete...
Does your vocabulary mark you as old or outdated? Certain words really indicate generational gaps, like chronological shibboleths. For example, are thongs panties or flip-flops? And what do women carry around — a pocketbook, a purse, or a bag? Your...
What event in life introduced you to a whole new vocabulary? Going away to college, having a child, renovating a home, or even getting diagnosed with a medical condition often exposes us to huge bundles of new words. If you’re renovating a...
Is it cool for parents to use their children’s slang? What’s wrong with the term illegal alien? Grant and Martha discuss possible alternatives. Yehudi refers to the mysterious character who holds up strapless dresses, turns the light on...
Angela, from Dallas, grew up in northwest Louisiana and calls the wheeled basket at the grocery store a buggy. Her husband, Eric, prefers shopping cart. Dialect surveys show buggy is particularly widespread in the South, including East Texas...