“Baby needa burpie?! Yeees?? [burp] Oh! WHOOOZa good baby? YOU are! Yeeesssssyouare!” Whether you find this adorable or aggravating, gaggles of parents around the world speak to their infants in singsong “goos” and “gahs.” The style has diverse names, from baby talk and motherese (but what about Dad?) to the neutral and more official-sounding child- or infant- directed speech. Whatever you choose to call it, …
While all of your options are out in the open, it might still be tough to score a perfect 7/7 on this week’s quiz. Good luck to the polyhistors out there, and don’t forget to vote on your favorite word of the week (in the poll beneath the quiz). After you challenge your friends to a quiz off, check in with your results on Facebook or …
We hope you get a mickle of right answers this week! Check in on Facebook or Twitter to let us know how you do on the Word of the Day Quiz. And don’t forget to vote for your favorite word in the poll below. If the quiz doesn’t display, please try opening in the Chrome browser.
Get your brain ready for this serotinal WOTD quiz. We know you’re ready to fossick answers—and no gramarye should be required. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite word in the poll below! And when you have your results, tell us how you did on Facebook or Twitter. If the quiz doesn’t display, please try opening in the Chrome browser.
To those in the United States, happy Labor Day! We hope you’ll find Elysium in a moment of rest (and potentially, a good BBQ). Check in on Facebook or Twitter to let us know how you do on the Word of the Day Quiz. And don’t forget to vote for your favorite word in the poll below. If the quiz doesn’t display, please try opening in …
As we get deeper into this new millennium, one that we like to think might free us from things like racial and gender inequities and stereotypes, some interesting “man-” words have found their way into English. What’s going on? Are we widening the gender chasm, at least linguistically? Manly, Mean, or Meh? The proliferation of male “gender marked” nouns, like man bun, man purse, or …
Batman lurks like a bat in the shadows. Spider-Man slings webs like a radioactive spider. Superman is a literal translation of Friedrich Nietszche’s term ubermensch. And Wonder Woman is … well, what does Wonder Woman’s name tell us about her? A lot, it turns out. When William Moulton Marston created Wonder Woman in the early 1940s, he envisioned her not only as Diana, an Amazon …
English is a vast, glorious language, yet even with its incredible number of words, it feels like it’s still missing some absolute basics. The lack of these words leads to either lengthy clarifications or awkward situations—like getting stuck taking your friend’s llama to the flea market (more on that below). Of course, we can’t just go adding words to the dictionary all willy-nilly, but if …
Differentiating two words that go the distance… Do you use farther and further interchangeably? You’re not alone. The terms have very similar meanings, and English speakers have been using them as synonyms for centuries. But if you’re ready to get picky, there is one major difference that can guide your usage of these words! The widely accepted rule is to use farther when being literal and …
The continued box office success of the Fast and the Furious franchise gives moviegoers and word-lovers something to cheer about. Beyond the stunning action sequences, though, audiences, including us, actually really enjoy the title itself. That probably has something to do with its alliteration, “a figure of speech in which a consonant sound at the beginning of a word is repeated” (in this case the sound of the letter …
We’ve reached the era of the self-driving car! Congratulations, us. Ford, General Motors, and Volkswagen are all in the autonomous driving game, along with many up-and-comers. Waymo (a division of Alphabet, Google’s holding company) describes theirs as “a safer car for everyone.” In a way, it’s shaky ground we’re standing on. One, because we’re standing on a foundation of dated perceptions of the future, and …
Let’s start with the two that have scientific names. Hares and rabbits are both in the family Leporidae, but they’re separate species. Both animals have long ears, powerful back legs, and a divided upper lip. But, hares are larger than rabbits. And, instead of creating burrows, hares make nests in the grass. The exposed nesting sites of hares hint at another big difference—when they’re born. Hares are precocial, …