History
Learn something new about the history of language from all around the world with these surprising articles and videos.
Speak of the Devil! 15 Infernal Names for The Evil One
A Brief History of Word Games
The Rosetta Stone: Unlocking Ancient Egypt
-
Slam Poetry Is Helping People Work Through Their Pain
-
Did One Man Write The First Great English Dictionary All By Himself?
-
What Is Whisky Tango Foxtrot And Other Army Lingo
-
The United States Of Diversity: Borders
-
What Is A Midwestern Accent Like That In Fargo Called?
-
Take A Ride Around The World On These Unusual Transports
-
The Original Memes (Before Memes)
-
The Mind-Bending Stroop Effect: Don’t Read These Words!
-
What Is Louisiana Creole And How Was It Created?
-
The Racist History of “Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe”
-
Taser: A Surprising Acronym With An Unsettling Story
-
Why Do We Call It A “Wife Beater” Shirt?
-
-
What Do “Numpire” and “Ewt” Have in Common?
-
Who’s to Blame for Weird English Spellings?
-
The Reasons to Swear. A Lot.
-
Does Boxing Day Have Anything To Do With Boxing?
-
What Is A Bastille?
-
Cankers, Caterpillars, and Malt-worms: 3 Shakespearean Insults
-
Normalcy and Squirmishes: Misunderestimating the Words of Politicians
-
You Didn’t Invent That: Charles Dickens and Boredom
-
The Problem With Awesome
-
Wearable or Personal Computer: Which Came First?
-
You Didn’t Invent That: Shakespeare’s Spurious Neologisms
-
You Didn’t Invent That: F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Jazz Age”
-
-
You Didn’t Invent That: Ian Fleming and “Ninja”
-
What Does “Sophomore” Mean?
-
Why Is Easter Island Named “Easter”?
-
Lexical Investigations: Motley
-
Lexical Investigations: Camouflage
-
Who Coined The Term “Fashionista”?
-
Lexical Investigations: Etymology
-
Lexical Investigations: Karma
-
Seventh Heaven: Decoding the days of the week
-
Lexical Investigations: Desiderata
-
Lexical Investigations: Awkward
-
Lexical Investigations: Labyrinth
-
-
Lexical Investigations: Balaclava
-
How Do You Say “Basketball” In Latin?
-
Lexical Investigations: Holistic
-
Lexical Investigations: Art
-
Why Is The Football Team Called The 49ers?
-
Lexical Investigations: Appendix
-
Where is the Middle East? The Near East? The Far East?
-
Why are zero and the letter “O” both circles? The answer involves both science and mysticism
-
Did You Know There Is A Law That Bans The Use Of Confusing Words And Sentences In Government Documents
-
A Baby Named “Like” And The History Of Names (Anthroponymy)
-
A lost, legendary dictionary is rediscovered. Where was it found, and what language is it for?
-
Typewriters Were Originally Created To Help The Blind
