by Dictionary Scoop American English has influenced global vocabulary for more than a century through movies, advertisements, literature, music, businesses, and technology. Some words that began as distinctly American expressions eventually became common almost everywhere, even in places where English is not an official language. Here are 12 Americanisms have crossed oceans and …
Category Archives: language
All In A Day’s Work: Well-Crafted Slang
by Dictionary Scoop The repetitive actions of each craft have spawned terms, idioms, and phrases that make up their particular tech lingo. Many of these expressions have transcended their natural realm to become a part of the universal language. These once-practical expressions now live on as reminders of how deeply language is tied …
No Translation Needed For Ten Universal Terms
by Dictionary Scoop Learning languages can be hard. But fortunately some terms rooted in daily universal experiences don’t change much when crossing borders. Let’s explore the stories behind some of the most spoken words on the planet. The question being: Why did these words barely change over time and across different languages? 1-OK …
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A More Elevated Level Of Name Calling
by Dictionary Scoop In a world increasingly dominated by four-letter words and monosyllabic grunts of disapproval, the art of the sophisticated insult has become something of a lost relic. There is a profound difference between being rude and being cutting. A common insult is a blunt instrument, but it rarely leaves a lasting …
You Talk Funny, Sonny: 12 American Accents
by Dictionary Scoop The U.S. is a collection of regional accents, derived from waves of immigration, geography, and history. Let’s take a look at how some of the most recognizable American accents came to be. 1-California California accents may seem subtle, but they’re deeply rooted in the state’s layered history. Spanish was the dominant …
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You Are What You Eat? Taste These Idioms
by Dictionary Scoop Our language loves to borrow from the dinner table. Many everyday words that sound delicious once referred only to food but have since taken on entirely new meanings. Take a look at 12 of these idioms and see for yourself! 1-Butterfingers A term once used for describing the act …
Will You Use These Ten Weird Words?
by Kevin Burton The cautionary note from Dictionary Scoop regarding today’s content is “Warning: once you learn these strange words, you’ll start using them!” Well I don’t think so, other than one I already use and another I might use, sparingly. Thinking of words as tools, I would decline to jam most of …
Ten Surprising Foreign Language Enclaves
by Dictionary Scoop Migrations, trade, and other historical events have contributed to the spread of languages to regions far from their origins. But sometimes, we arrive at a new location expecting to hear a particular language, only to be surprised by the use of a language we wouldn’t expect. Here are ten places in …
What The British Mean When They Say ‘Sorry’
by Mike MacEacheran BBC In the UK, sorry is not simply an apology, it’s a cultural reflex – a five-letter pressure valve used to soften requests, smooth over awkwardness, fill conversational gaps and avoid the national horror of seeming rude. It is perhaps no coincidence that such famously polite characters as Paddington and …
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Ten Words That Came From Nordic To English
by Dictionary Scoop Romance languages, led by French, have had such a lasting influence on English that we sometimes forget that it is actually a Germanic language, and as such, a relative of the Nordic languages. However, Nordic languages had left their mark on English centuries before the French-Normans even attempted to conquer England, and they …
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