It's time we took some advice from George Gershwin and stopped bickering over the right and wrong way to say words: Let's call the whole thing off on this GIF pronunciation battle.
The most powerful state of emptiness in the written word is the humble space. Let us pause and honor it for a moment, as this particular moment provides us with yet another reminder of why we need the space so.
Why do people insist on spelling certain words with more letters than is necessary on an inherently limited social media platform like Twitter? I turned to Tyler Schnoebelen, a recent PhD from Stanford who studies emotion in language, in hopes of gaining some clarityyy.
Which were the best—most amusing, most mortifying, funniest, most cringeworthy, and most interesting—mistakes of the year? Herewith, our favorites.
Today is the day a certain set of language and literature fans celebrate Mr. Geoffrey Chaucer, who died 612 years ago today. Not only was Old Chaucey a pretty compelling writer, but also, he was far better at coining words and phrases than the rest of us amateur portmanteau-chasers.
Misuses of words are fast and frequent and come in any number of varieties. They are not all the same. Here are a few of the most likely ways we confuse our words, with examples to learn from.
Britain's prime minister David Cameron has recently used the word butch in a sarcastic fashion to describe a Labour party leader as not good at his job, i.e., not masculine enough. What can we learn from this?
Slate's Lexicon Valley podcast is always a font of linguistic information, but today's is particularly fun, more rebellious, you might say, than usual. It's not like we get to dissect a vulgarity or semi-vulgarity in a linguistic way every day!
It has come to our attention that there is a new habit we have been speedily, decadently embracing with regard to our words. We'll call it portmanteauing.
Joe Biden said literally quite literally a lot last night, which was fodder for much semantic mockery around the Internet. If there's one thing moderately word-nerdy folks (folks, he said that, too) hate, it's the repeated and possibly improper use of one of those crutch words.
Americans of a certain age who grew up on the Muppets often adore the Swedish Chef, but many actual Swedes hate the dude, or, really, really dislike him. He may not even be Swedish. Who is this Muppet, anyway?
We got pretty excited about the new words added to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary recently, so it's only fair that we muster the same enthusiasm for the terms Oxford has unveiled in their quarterly update of new words and meanings.
Last week I wrote of a shift that's occurring in gendered pronouns: More she and her, less pronoun domination by he and him, as per a recent study from a professor at San Diego State. Today, we take on the I. And me. And you, too.
Of course you know autocorrect. You've probably found yourself a target of its accidentally rude, crude expressions at least once, possibly with unfortunate ends, sometimes with amusing ones.
Looking to solve the great soda versus pop debate, data scientist Edwin Chen went to Twitter for some data points and his results are pretty consistent with actual linguistic data on the topic.
There's an amusing screed from New Yorker copy editor Mary Norris on the magazine's website on the subject of swear words.
One word we can't seem to get enough of these days—hint: not slacks!—is diaeresis, meaning those two dots that sit on top of a second vowel when two come right next to each other in separate syllables, as seen almost exclusively in The New Yorker.
On Friday, The New Yorker's Ben Greenman kicked off a contest called Questioningly, asking "If you could eliminate a single word from the English language, what would it be?" We, in response, asked "If you could eliminate a single word from The New Yorker, what would it be?"
If you could eliminate a single word from The New Yorker, what would it be?
It turns out vocal fry, what the Internet is reporting as a new linguistic trend "creeping" into women's speech isn't much of a trend at all.
Contrary to all the LOLs, emoticons and hashtags happening in feeds across the Twittersphere, Twitter isn't destroying the English language.
Linguists say it's a natural effect of the syllables; but it might be racism
Have a story we missed? A link we have to click? A sharp opinion about the news? Instead of waiting for us to post it, tell us on the Open Wire.
Submit your news and ideas | See all reader postsThe Atlantic Wire is your authoritative guide to the news and ideas that matter most right now. Our team tracks newsmakers and opinions across the entire media spectrum: newspapers, web sites, television, radio and magazines.
But we do more than just collect information. By synthesizing, analyzing and summarizing what’s out there, and adding new information when we can, we are a news engine that gives you a quick and valuable account of the issues of the day.
Have a hot tip? A story we missed? Tell us on the Open Wire
How to send us editorial or technical feedback
Get Five Best Columns in your inbox each morning (preview)
