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PublishedNovember 26, 2023
In a word: German loanwords and cognates
"'Delicatessen' is a loanword, I think you call them," said my friend Claus. "You know, words you Americans basically stole from us and use as your own."
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PublishedNovember 19, 2023
In a word: ‘The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows’
'Onism' is 'the frustration of being stuck in just one body that inhabits only one place at a time, (and) the awareness of how little of the world you’ll experience.'
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PublishedNovember 12, 2023
In a word: Exploring the ‘Y’ of our alphabet
We answer the burning question bothering us — OK, me — since we were young schoolchildren: 'Is Y a consonant or a vowel?'
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PublishedOctober 29, 2023
In a word: With Z, the end is just the beginning
The last letter of the alphabet has some first-rate qualities. What's all the buzz? Read on.
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PublishedOctober 17, 2023
In a word: Today’s column deserves X rating
The popular and versatile letter can stand for almost anything, or nothing, and be pronounced a host of ways, or not at all.
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PublishedOctober 15, 2023
In a word: How meds get those odd names
The letters H, J and W are often avoided when creating brand names because they’re difficult to pronounce in some languages.
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PublishedOctober 8, 2023
In a word: Maine is just so misunderstood
The common Maine phrase “right out straight,” for example, was correctly identified as meaning “very busy” by only 5% of those asked nationally.
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PublishedOctober 1, 2023
In a word: If you love some pun, set them free
Always remember that you can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish.
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PublishedSeptember 24, 2023
In a word: Wish you could ‘unsee’ that ‘snite’?
A look at dictionary.com's efforts for more gender-neutral definitions and some new words for 2023.
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PublishedSeptember 17, 2023
In a word: ‘Nepo baby’ and other dictionary additions
It's not even 'Blursday' but you're already suffering 'decision fatigue'? Stay calm and read on . . . and don't worry about 'information pollution' here.
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