What makes certain accents sound sexy and others harsh? “The RINE in SPINE fawls MINELY on tha PLINE!” In the song “The Rain in Spain” from the musical My Fair Lady, phonetics professor Henry Higgins (“’enry ’iggins”) pleads with Eliza Doolittle to say “Ay not I, O not Ow.” By the end of the song, Eliza’s “AY-ing” and “O-ing” and pronouncing all her H’s. The …
The English language is famously full of confusing and often contradictory spelling conventions. You know it’s bad when misspell itself is one of the most common misspellings! To identify the words that consistently give people trouble, we analyzed Dictionary.com search data to compile this list of the most commonly misspelled words. For each word, we prepared tips to help you remember how to spell it …
Beginning in early 2021 and continuing through 2023, there has been a massive upheaval in the labor market. Hundreds of thousands of workers have voluntarily left workplaces they feel are unsafe, do not pay well enough, or to pursue careers more in line with their interests. This phenomenon was termed the Great Resignation by psychologist Anthony Klotz in 2021. Resignation in this context means to …
Catty It seems horribly unfair to adorable cats that catty is a human descriptor meaning “devious or spiteful” (and usually in reference to female behavior). What gives? The word cat has been around since the year 700. But then, in the Middle Ages, cat became one of the many offensive terms against women and was slang for “prostitute.” The association might have been made because …
The world of movies delivers a lot of memorable words in the form of classic quotes and witty one-liners. Sometimes, though, the big screen also debuts entirely new words or casts an existing word in an entirely new role. Some words, of course, were created with certain movies in mind. For this article, we put out a casting call for words that got their big …
You’ve probably noticed a lot of talk about inflation in the news. But what exactly is inflation, and why is it bad? And what about deflation? Inflation and deflation sound like opposites, so why do they both have negative connotations? Both terms have to do with spending power—how far your money goes. And both are considered indicators of the direction that an economy is going. …
Every year as the weather heats up, grills are dusted off and meats and vegetables are thrown on the fire. To those in the West and many northern cities, this is barbecuing. Just don’t call it that in the South or parts of the Midwest like Kansas City, Mo., because in certain regions, not everything cooked on a grill is called barbecue. The word barbecue means different …
Take a minute to think back to the beginning of the pandemic. Do you remember the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020 that signaled the end of the Before Times? It has been one heck of a long year and a lot has changed since then, including our bathrooms. Fearing the unthinkable, a number of people installed bidets in their bathrooms to avoid a disaster. …
The 2021 Olympics closed August 8 and the Summer Paralympics ended Sept. 5, and while we did enjoy the athletic feats on display, it eventually came time to say sayonara. Do you know why? Well, both the Summer Olympic Games and Paralympics, a multi-sport event that draws athletes with disabilities from more than 100 countries, took place in the island nation of Japan. Sayonara is one way …
The holiday season is a time to give thanks, connect with loved ones, and think ahead to the future. For those who celebrate Kwanzaa, this festive season ends and the new year begins with a celebration of pan-African culture and history. Observers light candles, commemorate key principles and ideals, and spend time with friends and family from December 26 until January 1. Look no further …
At Dictionary.com we aim to pick a Word of the Year that embodies a major theme resonating deeply in the cultural consciousness over the prior 12 months. This 2016, some of the most prominent news stories have centered around fear of the “other.” Fear is an adaptive part of human evolutionary history and often influences behaviors and perceptions on a subconscious level. However, this particular …
Some of the traditional ways of talking about adoption may seem neutral or harmless, but many once widely used terms are now avoided due to carrying negative implications or associations. Taking time to understand and consider these implications is especially important at a time when many discussions and depictions of adoption are criticized for minimizing the perspectives and experiences of children awaiting adoption and people …
