The bloody history of one of football's greatest words.
As a fan of the Buffalo Bills—the only team to go to four Super Bowls in a row, and the only team to lose four in a row—Super Bowl weekend is always a little bittersweet. Did I say “bittersweet”? I meant “as pleasant as a fork in my brain.” The fact that the team hasn’t even made the... Read & Discuss 
The weird world of invented languages—from Esperanto to Avatar.
I haven’t seen the mega-hit Avatar yet, and I don’t plan to: The whole thing seems a little phony for my tastes, from the mountains of hype to the 3D gimmickry all the way down to what one writer called “Cats with Human Boobs.” Thanks, but I’ll pass.
Still,... Read & Discuss 
How tweeting, googling, and McJobs have changed the way we use branded words.
When the American Dialect Society met in Baltimore in early January, many words were recognized. “Hiking the Appalachian trail” (the Mark Sanfordism) was voted Most Euphemistic, “sea kitten” (PETA’s silly reinvention of fish) earned Most Unnecessary, and “Dracula... Read & Discuss 
A useful word for the proliferation of useless stories.
I'm mystified by the harsh treatment of Washington Wizard Gilbert Arenas, whose only crimes appear to be bringing unloaded guns to work and having an overactive sense of humor. With all the athletes who have actually assaulted people, I don't see why this guy needs to be... Read & Discuss 
How our latest criminal nickname caught on so quickly.
Nicknaming criminals is a long tradition that encompasses Jack the Ripper, Billy the Kid, The Birdman of Alcatraz, The Boston Strangler, Machine Gun Kelly, Scarface, and Public Enemy #1—a nickname given to many criminals, including Al Capone and John Dillinger, long... Read & Discuss 
How one hard winter created a true Americanism.
When you’re from Buffalo, New York, you get to know snow. I was there when six feet fell in five days. I was there when one foot fell in one hour—rush hour, conveniently—paralyzing the city and creating instant icy hell. As a wee lad, I lived through the ferocious Blizzard of... Read & Discuss 
Ten years of technology, terrorism, and truthiness.
I don’t know how blood tests work, and I don’t want to: they ick me out. Still, I can imagine that the red stuff flowing through our veins gives doctors important clues about the rest of the body. Looking at prominent words has the same function. It’s one way of pinpointing... Read & Discuss 
The language of our stressful holiday exchanges.
‘Tis the season of giving! With luck, we will also get. My gift to you is a look at gift-centric phrases—some common, some under-the-radar. I hope these words will help you as you navigate the treacherous holiday waters, which are so often soaked in booze, gravy, and reindeer... Read & Discuss 
A Twitter sensation skewers the media (and grammar Nazis too).
If you’ve ever been tortured by the APA, MLA, AP, or Chicago Manual of Style guidebooks, you’re probably already gleefully enjoying the comedy of Twitter’s Fake AP Stylebook, which offers memorable nuggets of writing advice, such as:
"Stupider" and "Stupidest" are not words,... Read & Discuss 
How bad moods make us careful.
Like so many writing teachers, I’ve been told I sometimes drive my students to depression or binge-drinking. Once, an online student who was about to meet me in person told a colleague that she needed to “face her fear”—that face of fear being yours truly. Yes, I can be that... Read & Discuss 
A new tool for computer language analysis can evaluate your mind based on your Tweets (and might help psychologists, too)
Unless you’ve been living under a rock or among the molemen, you’ve probably enjoyed the humor of @s--tmydadsays, the popular Twitter account of Justin, who describes himself like so: “I'm 29. I live with my 73-year-old... Read & Discuss 
Forty-four years in the making: the world's first historical thesaurus.
Ever wonder how people really talked in the 1800s, or 1500s, or earlier?
You can stop building the time machine. Such questions are now easier to answer than ever before, with the publication—after 44 years of work—of the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English... Read & Discuss 
Confusing parenthood and pet ownership: The words of the dog world.
Kids chase fewer squirrels and postal workers than dogs, but the way we pamper our poodles and great danes and mutts has a lot in common with how we treat our toddlers and teens.
Though I try not to over-kid-ify my canine, the bounds of sane dog owner behavior are blurry.... Read & Discuss 
How Liz Lemon and company have enriched our lexicon.
Since its debut in 2006, there hasn't been a more quotable comedy than 30 Rock. Memorable lines include the quacky pronouncements of Dr. Spaceman (“Medicine’s not a science”), Jack Donaghy’s non-compliments (“Lemon, don’t ever say you’re just you, because you’re better... Read & Discuss 
Linguists give a name to an old headline hazard.
If brevity is the soul of wit, it is also the trapdoor of ridiculousness—at least in the world of headlines, which have long been prone to unintentional comedy along the lines of “Woman Better after Being Thrown from High-rise” and “Scientists Are at Loss Due to Brain-eating Amoeba.”
Now... Read & Discuss 
Jag Bhalla collects the world’s odd idioms and out-dated metaphors.
When describing you to prospective dates and employers, do friends say you “Have one on the waffle” or “The roof has slid off”?
If they have (and I hate to tell you this), your friends think you have bats in the belfry—they’re just using idioms from other... Read & Discuss 
Saying goodbye to the consummate language columnist.
If you enjoy this language column—or any language column at all, anywhere—then you should take a minute to remember William Safire, who died Sunday of pancreatic cancer at 79. The Nixon speechwriter was a prolific and Pulitzer-winning conservative columnist, the author of... Read & Discuss 
How words drift toward the famous, regardless of the facts.
That Mark Twain was something else, wasn’t he? He said so many memorable things, like “If you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes” and “Golf is a good walk spoiled.” What a writer, what a guy.
Unfortunately—even though Twain is the great American... Read & Discuss 
Anyhoo... The latest additions to the Oxford English Dictionary are a mixed bag.
Many of us welcome autumn for bringing gorgeous weather, Octoberfest beers, and the merciful resumption of football.
But for a small number of your fellow citizens, fall brings another blessed event, one that is no less heaven-sent because it... Read & Discuss 
Though language is my beat, I couldn’t help making some geographical observations:
“Vietnam-istan” is one name and opinion of Afghanistan.
Other writers call the troubled country “Half gone’istan,” “Warlord-istan,” “I-give-up-istan,” and “Mastercard-istan.”
A TV recapper quips about women from Average-Looking-Brunette-istan, while... Read & Discuss 
