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A "revanchist Moscow," "Potemkin village" armed forces, Vladimir Putin鈥檚 violent "irredentism." The war in Ukraine is also a war of words.
Unfamiliar grammar and writing systems throw curveballs to those of us used to the rules and contours of English, our language columnist writes.
Access is important. Are there materials online, or do you have to raft down the Maici River in Brazil hoping someone will teach you Pirah茫?
Awe-inspiring Black jazz musicians were "bad." Surfers throw out compliments like "sick" and "gnarly." This inversion is called amelioration.
The printing press not only transformed the business of the written word, but gave English new words altogether, our language columnist writes.
The word "clich茅" gets its origins from the cheap, repetitive processes of producing books brought about by the printing press.
They are often written out in almost mathematical form: 鈥淭o X, or not to X.鈥� 鈥淢ake X Y again.鈥� 鈥淜eep X and Y on.鈥�
Cottagecore鈥檚 mix of wooded solitude, homegrown veggies, and crafting was especially appealing early in the pandemic.
Hangman inspired "Wheel of Fortune." And now, our language columnist writes, we have Wordle, perfectly built for the Twitter age.
Since around 2000, and especially since the pandemic, people have increasingly been declaring themselves 鈥渄one鈥� or 鈥渟o done.鈥�
Pareidolia is an old phenomenon, but the word itself is fairly recent, coined in the 19th century from para- (鈥渂eyond鈥�) and eidolon (鈥渋mage鈥�).
Words of the year from various dictionaries included: "vax," "perseverance," "allyship," "non-fungible token."
Maple syrup bottles often have tiny, basically useless handles 鈥� holdovers from the days when syrup was stored in earthenware jugs.
"Macaronic" texts have been produced wherever cultures are bilingual or multilingual, and can combine any languages, not just English and Latin.
On one hand, to thwart something is to hinder or prevent it. But in 1609, building a bridge over a river was described as 鈥渢hwarting a bank.鈥�
"Cinderella story" has referred to a rags-to-riches arc since the mid-19th century. It's a made-up phrase 鈥� but we all know what it means.
In English, a metaphor is a figure of speech that asserts one thing 鈥渋s鈥� another. In Greek, metaphoreis are the people who move your furniture.
Red and black ink have been paired since ancient Egypt, where scribes carried writing palettes with styluses and two colors of ink.
鈥淧andemonium,鈥� 鈥渃ritical,鈥� 鈥渁ssassinate,鈥� and 鈥渆ventful鈥� all came from written literature before being widely adapted in spoken English.
In the U.S., labeling something a 'moot point' means it's no longer worth discussing. In England, however, that means it's open to further debate.
