All Verbal Energy
Yeoman service far afield, even at seaA look at a go-to metaphor for headline writers: Who are yeomen, anyway?
Spring cleaning for the odd-words drawerWe take a look at some fossils 鈥� words that live on in just a single idiom.
A new crash program on safetyActivists are reframing the terms of public debate by refusing to call road deaths 鈥榓ccidents鈥� 鈥� and they鈥檝e gotten the attention of The Associated Press.
Rebranding the Czech Republic: CzechiaSimplification of European place names continues as Prague government adopts a one-word name for the country.
The Panama Papers: losing our inflectionsWhile others sort out the legal and political implications, the Monitor鈥檚 language columnist has her eye on what the megaleak means for adjectives.
Crowdsourcing the language of well-beingA psychologist seeks to enrich the emotional landscape of English speakers by introducing them to 216 鈥渦ntranslatable鈥� foreign words
Spikes in the price of other kinds of oilA look at oil metaphors in the lexicon of political put-downs 鈥� and food.
Goodbye, SAT words; hello, Tier Two wordsA look at the College Board鈥檚 new approach to testing vocabulary.
Can you have engineering with no engine?Engineering is all around us, but let鈥檚 not forget its warlike roots.
Adieu to the grammar nerd in the black robeIn language as in law, Antonin Scalia showed a welcome capacity for collaboration and friendship across ideological divides.
Democracy, the people, and their thingsA look at the metaphors behind the names of parliaments
Have we all turned into 鈥榚ditors鈥� now?When British scientists get approval to 鈥榚dit鈥� human genes, it鈥檚 clear the verb has slipped its moorings in the world of publishing.
Many lanes on the road to the White HouseRemember the old days, when political parties had 鈥榳ings鈥�?
Charged up by what I know about batteriesWhen Benjamin Franklin needed a name for his device for storing electricity, he borrowed a military term.
The 800 phonemes of the tiniest linguistsNew research helps explain how infants acquire language skills 鈥� by losing their ability to discriminate sounds they don鈥檛 need.
Forever Anbar, or is that maybe ambergris?A friend鈥檚 question about possible connections between a couple of sound-alike words serves as a reminder that with words, just as with people, some that appear closely related, aren鈥檛, and others that don鈥檛, are.
Of hockey sticks and other graphic termsA chart may be worth a thousand words, but graphics give rise to some useful idioms.
What we might have done insteadA revisiting of history on the presidential campaign trail provides an occasion for reviewing may and might.
Word treasures going at fire-sale prices!The Monitor鈥檚 language columnist is loath to argue against usefulness as a criterion for the vocabulary high-schoolers should acquire; but 鈥榦bscure鈥� words may be the spices in our verbal stew.
'Peaking' into the future of climate changeA phrase coming out of the Paris conference acknowledges subtly a sense of responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions.
