Why should you never interrupt a cruciverbalist? Because you might hear cross words. — Dad joke With the continuing popularity of crossword puzzles among word lovers everywhere, it might be hard to believe that the first one didn’t appear regularly until early in the last century, in the New York World newspaper. Sure, other word […]

Last week we looked at attempts people have made over the years to simplify the spelling of words we use every day. We’ll wrap up the subject beginning with some changes that took place during the Civil War. Well-known lexicographer Noah Webster probably had as many fails as he had wins when it came to […]