Old-school news, just in time
by Dictionary Scoop Have you listened to teenagers talk lately? Their vocabulary is full of words we don’t quite understand. But come on, we did it too: every decade has had its own set of slang words and expressions. Today, we look back at ten slang words and expressions that have defined each decade from …
Continue reading “American Slang Phrases Through The Decades”
by Kevin Burton My first reaction upon reading that Merriam-Webster plans to eliminate words from the dictionary was protective: “keep your hands off my words!” Then I read the list. Well all right then, go ahead and chop them. Except for mugwump. I need that one to stay. The Mugwumps was …
by Dictionary Scoop While many things bring Americans closer to the UK, some aspects of our language set us apart. English is spoken by more than 1.4 billion people worldwide; with so many people using this language, it is understandable that some differences have developed. Today we walk through 10 drastic vocabulary differences between American …
by Kevin Burton You may not have heard of some of the words on today’s list from Merriam-Webster, especially the first one. The dictionary is serving up words about insignificance. But the first offering is from my childhood days at the Ohio State School for the Blind. I may have heard this …
by interestingfacts.com From clandestine codes understood only by women to local argots developed in geographically isolated communities, the world is filled with enigmatic languages and jargons. Join us on a linguistic journey as we shed light on some of the cryptic methods people have used to converse throughout history: 1-Boontling (Boonville, California, USA) …
by Dictionary Scoop You are probably aware that the English language has Greek and Latin roots. But did you know some of the most used English words come from Ancient Egyptian? For example, the word pharaoh is a no-brainer. As you would imagine, it is an Ancient Egyptian word meaning “Great House,” the place destined for …
by Dictionary Scoop Whenever we think about vocabulary related to the animal kingdom, our mind usually goes to long, Latin scientific terms that seem extremely daunting to anyone not well-versed in biology. However, we sometimes fail to see how much our animal friends have also influenced the everyday words we regular joes use. We have …
by Kevin Burton In a rare misstep, the folks at Dictionary Scoop said we should try to impress people with the vocabulary words listed below. The kind of people who would be impressed by something like that are not, let’s say, among my closest companions. But let’s appreciate the words and use …
by Dictionary Scoop Words that do not repeat a single letter are called isograms. The longer they are, the less we use them but the more fascinating they are. Long, unusual isograms go against language economy. However, from time to time, using words like “adjunctively” or “beclamouring” is the only way to express our …
Continue reading ““Imponderably” And Other English Isograms”
by Dictionary Scoop Are you a cool cat? Or a groovy alligator? The Age of Jazz had a vast cultural influence on both American music and culture, but one of its most curious aspects was “jive talk”” the quirky jargon it birthed. Largely influenced by jazz singer Cab Calloway – who authored at least two dictionaries …
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