In 2011, something shocking and mysterious happened: on New Year’s Day, residents of Beebe, Arkansas found thousands of dead blackbirds in the street. Days later, Louisiana residents discovered hundreds more deceased birds. Each event in isolation was disturbing enough, but with such proximity, it was hard not to draw conclusions. Within days, the dual avian tragedies planted a question in the popular imagination: could this be …
What does the number eleven mean? And what unusual words and expressions incorporate eleven? The word derives from the Old English endleofan, which means “one left,” as in “one left over ten.” This literal sense is found in the colloquial expression “the eleventh hour,” which is used to talk about doing something at the last possible moment. For example, “In the eleventh hour, Sophie switched the caterer …
If you had any doubt that 2010 was a complicated year, consider this: the five finalists for our People’s Choice Word of the Year were all fairly close contenders, and three of the words were multisyllabic mouthfuls. The top two entries were incredibly close – out of over 10,000 votes, the winner was only 40 votes ahead of the runner-up. The top five words, those …