Say cheese! There are a ton of different cheeses out there, and many of them have unique toponyms, or names that are derived from the name of a place. In fact, many cheeses are officially designated by international cheese organizations—yes, that’s a thing—as so-called “protected cheeses,” meaning only a specific place can legally make a certain kind of cheese. How many of these cheese names will …
’Tis the time of colorful foliage, crisp air, the first frost, and pumpkin spice. It’s many people’s favorite season—and it’s the only one with more than one commonly used name. But what to call it—autumn or fall? And what came first? Prepare for the dawn of sweater weather with some insights into the origins of fall and autumn—and another, even older name for the season. The …
Girl dinner. Girl math. Lazy girl job. Viral phrases and trends focused around the word girl are everywhere lately, blowing up on TikTok and spreading online and IRL. What’s behind the power of girl? To help you keep up with all the trends and their origins, we’ve gathered up all the latest girl terms into a single girl gallery. We’ll take a closer look at …
German can be daunting to English speakers, with its mile-long mouthfuls like Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaft (“a legal protection insurance company”). But it’s easy to forget that English is a Germanic language. Historically, the two languages are closely related in core vocabulary (compare English arm and German der Arm), sound system, and structure (if we look at Old English grammar). What’s more, many familiar English words, from angst …
by Alyssa Pereira From boxes on census forms to drop-down menus on job applications, we often see Hispanic and Latino positioned side by side, seemingly as interchangeable terms to describe the race and heritage of a population that makes up nearly 20% of the United States. It’s easy to see why these two words are so often conflated and frequently confused. But Hispanic and Latino …
There are many different ways to learn new words. You can simply wander through our dictionary or thesaurus until you stumble across a cool new word. Or keep an eye on our Word of the Day and Synonym of the Day for a daily dose of cool words. But what if you want to check out a whole bunch of words at once? Or perhaps …
Both English and German are Germanic languages. Maybe that explains why we find the German language to be so wunderbar! English has borrowed quite a few words from the choice land of Deutschland, and there is a good reason for it. In German, a speaker can put two unrelated words next to each other and create a novel compound word, so you don’t have to …
The contributions of Latino Americans and the influence of Hispanic American culture extends far beyond the history and borders of the US. Fittingly, the celebration and exploration of these heritages and histories must extend beyond Hispanic Heritage Month. In this article, we’ll focus on eight key terms crucial to understanding and exploring both the richness and joys of these cultures and identities as well as …
“See Spot. See Spot run. Run, Spot, run!” It’s easy to think children’s book authors always minimize the difficulty of vocabulary words to suit their young audiences. That’s certainly the case for easy-reader board books, like the classic See Spot Run, a go-to for youngest readers. But, some authors of classic children’s literature refuse to dumb down their language for their readers, no matter the …
Despite your best efforts, you may not be able to figure out any difference between despite and in spite of. Is that because there really aren’t any differences? In this article, we will define despite and in spite of, explain how they are typically used, and provide examples of their typical usage in sentences. The word despite and the phrase in spite of are used …
The adjectives effective and affective look and sound similar, but one of these words is much more commonly used than the other. In this article, we will break down the different meanings of effective and affective, explain which word is more commonly used, and give examples of how we typically use effective and affective in sentences. Of the two words, effective is far more commonly …
Few things are more stressful than studying for a big, important test. There is so much information to review for an exam, and unfortunately, study skills aren’t something they actually teach in many schools. For a lot of us, studying is an exhausting process of trial and error, and it can be all too tempting to just skip it entirely and try to cram the …