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Culture
Whore, Prostitute, Hooker, or Sex Worker: What Should You Say?
The New York Post is being sued for calling DSK's accuser a "hooker." Should they have called her a "prostitute" instead?
Culture
Addicted to Addiction: A Word We’d Snort if We Could
The world has an obsession with "addiction", but what does that word even mean today?
Culture
Fascinating: The Definitive Explanation of Why Gaddafi's Name Is Spelled So Many Ways
Spelling the Libyan dictator's name is complicated by a "perfect storm" of linguistic issues.
Culture
Word Ma-Sheen: The Bi-Winner Gives the Lexicon Tiger Blood
On Charlie Sheen's linguistic acrobatics.
Culture
Screaming Yellow Zonkers! Green’s Dictionary is the Bible of Slang
Hilariously subversive (or subversively hilarious), a new slang dictionary challenges the sanctity of language by helping us laugh at life.
Culture
Snowpocalypse! Blizzaster! We’re Buried in Snow-perbole
The only thing more impressive than this winter's recent snowfall has been the hyperbolic language we've used to describe it.
Culture
The History of the Word Rape
The recently abandoned Republican efforts to distinguish between "rape" and "forcible rape" sheds light on the word's perceived shades of gray.
Culture
Chicago-Style: Backroom Deals, Deep-Dish Pizzas, and Assorted Slurs
Using "Chicago-style" as a signifier of corruption is nothing new, but does the phrase also insinuate something "un-American" about cities?
Culture
The Joy of Indefinite Words: Is a Spillion More than a Metric Buttload?
How many iotas are in a bazillion? Is a jot more than a whit? How does a gazillion compare to a kabillion?
Culture
Lions and Tigers and Vampire Squids, Oh My!
When Matt Taibbi described Goldman Sachs as a "vampire squid," he created a monster of a word for corporate bloodsuckers.
Culture
Job-Killing: Republicans' Blank-Blanking Pejorative Du Jour
A look at the history of budget-busting, job-killing, and other variants of mud-slinging malarkey.
Culture
Let's Bury the Not-a-Word Myth
Turns of phrase like "irregardless," "prolly," and "imma" can be cringeworthy, but that doesn't mean they aren't words.
Design
Print. It Ain't Dead Yet
Print is dead. Or is it just sleeping?
Culture
Legacy: Formerly Regal Word Turned Euphemism for Aged Leftovers
How "legacy" became our era's most over-the-top euphemism for a something between a bingo room and the grave (and landmines).
Lifestyle
Tofu vs. Hotdog: Charting the Evolution of the American Diet Over Time With Google's Latest Gadget
Google Labs has just released the Google Books N-Gram Viewer, and it is fun!
Culture
How “Geek” Became Chic
From The Social Network to The Walking Dead, geeks are everywhere in pop culture these days. But what are the roots of this suddenly hip pejorative?
Culture
Is It OK to Say "Gay"?
If "gay" can mean both "homosexual" and "lame," does it make us homophobic to use it for the latter? A discussion of a controversial word.
Culture
Re:Words: A Video Lexicon Explores the Beauty of Language Through Youtube
A new crowdsourced video by the directors of "Words" explores the complexity of our language.
