The 12 episodes of the Netflix show that you watched on Saturday. The full pint of Ben & Jerry’s you ate last Thursday night. The entire series of books you read in one week. When we enjoy things, it’s normal for us to indulge in them. There’s even a handy little word we pull out just for these instances of indulging in something we love: binge. …
Can you honestly say that you’ve never felt a slight pang of concern when waking up on the morning of Friday the 13th? You’re not alone. Maybe it’s triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number 13, that gets you down. But, if 13s don’t bother you unless it’s Friday, you might be susceptible to what’s sometimes known as paraskevidekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia, instead. Whether you plan on …
In 2015, Dictionary.com saw a number of themes emerge in the words that gained enough traction to be added to the dictionary along with words that trended in user lookups. The most prominent theme across both of these areas was in the expanding and increasingly fluid nature of conversations about gender and sexuality. Additionally, the theme of racial identity led to some of the most …
Are you mid? Is based a compliment? Do you have opps? TikTok, like all social media, is a place where slang, acronyms, and spicy memes live their best (and worst) lives, popping up in videos, in comments, and as hashtags. Even if all you’re doing is browsing TikTok for the most highbrow of cat videos (sure you are), it’s nearly impossible to avoid terms like …
Most people recognize Ancient Greek and Latin as the primary donors to the English language. However, some of the most ancient words in English actually trace back to Ancient Egypt. Distinct from the contemporary Egyptian Arabic spoken today, Ancient Egyptian is a unique Afro-Asiatic language that doesn’t really share similarities with other languages in the family (like Arabic, Hebrew, or Berber). Its 5,000 year-old …
Recently, journalists and social media users were fascinated by large hunks of metal referred to as monoliths suddenly appearing and just as suddenly disappearing around the world. Yet another monolith has appeared on a beach in England https://t.co/1kB7Pz5Bgq pic.twitter.com/huUwolhYCF — Mashable (@mashable) December 11, 2020 While it seems that these mysterious objects may just be part of some publicity stunt or marketing scheme, they’ve inspired …
It didn’t start with a pen, but a reed with a brush at the tip, and it didn’t start with ink, but a mixture of soot, water and vegetable gum. There definitely was a piece of papyrus. Around 2400 BC, Egyptian culture bestowed upon the world a great gift: the ability to write on paper. From the first Egyptian pictograph to the modern day sticky …
A few decades ago, if you told someone that people would soon be sending one another electronic messages full of cartoon smiley faces, they would have looked at you like, well, 🙃. But, the future is now, and we do indeed send each other emails, texts, and tweets all day long that contain hearts and sparkles, crying faces and laughing faces, and all sorts of creatures, …
Hipsters have become simultaneous objects of ridicule and desire, associated with the new and in vogue, and also with an absurd form of consumerism. Why do we call them hipsters, and how did this word, born of jazz music in the early 1930s, make the transition to describe young men in skinny pants and classes on how to properly sharpen a pencil?
