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The Birth of “Blizzards”
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...
Read & DiscussThe Decade in Words
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...
Read & DiscussGift Horses and Push Presents
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...
Read & DiscussThe Genius of the Fake AP Stylebook
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...
Read & DiscussA Happy Writer Is a Lousy Writer?
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....
Read & DiscussWhat Words Reveal
A new tool for computer language analysis can evaluate your mind based on your Tweets (and might help psychologists, too) Unless you've been...
Read & DiscussThesaurus Rex
Forty-four years in the making: the world's first historical thesaurus. Ever wonder how people really talked in the 1800s, or 1500s, or...
Read & DiscussAre You Raising a Furkid?
Confusing parenthood and pet ownership: The words of the dog world. Kids chase fewer squirrels and postal workers than dogs, but the way we...
Read & DiscussThe Language of 30 Rock
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...
Read & DiscussConfusion Caused by Crash Blossoms
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...
Read & DiscussLike an Octopus in a Garage
Jag Bhalla collects the world's odd idioms and out-dated metaphors. When describing you to prospective dates and employers, do friends say you...
Read & DiscussOn William Safire
Saying goodbye to the consummate language columnist. If you enjoy this language column-or any language column at all, anywhere-then you should...
Read & DiscussIf "Mark Twain Said It," He Probably Didn't
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,...
Read & DiscussThe World's Biggest Word Book Grows Again
Anyhoo... The latest additions to the Oxford English Dictionary are a mixed bag. Many of us welcome autumn for bringing gorgeous weather,...
Read & DiscussWord-istan: A Powerful Suffix Making Stops in Bailout-istan and Trash-can-istan
Though language is my beat, I couldn't help making some geographical observations: "Vietnam-istan" is one name and opinion of...
Read & DiscussZombies! A Word That’s Always Lurching Around
Vampires get a lot of press these days, but you can't keep their undead brethren-the zombies-down. Despite lacking an air force and navy,...
Read & DiscussAge of the Aughts?
The emerging consensus on what to call this decade. Going into this column, I assumed this decade was still nameless, like a stray dog or...
Read & DiscussDawn of the Death Panel
The power of the euphemism's evil twin You can say a lot of things about Sarah Palin, but she deserves some kind of medal of honor from the...
Read & Discuss“Let’s not Rumsfeld Afghanistan”
The birth of another political eponym As we know, There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know There are known...
Read & DiscussThe Words We Love, and Why
“Kumquat,” “rutabaga,” and other objects of word attraction In last week’s column on word aversion, I felt a little like the only Green Bay...
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