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A Yaghan woman outside her hut, Chile.
language

How the Internet Changed the Meaning of 'Mamihlapinatapai'

An untranslatable word used among the few members of the Yaghan tribe has attained an odd sort of online fame.
Zoe Baillargeon August 11, 2017
Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate.
York, England

Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate

One of the shortest streets in York has an especially odd name.
Caspar Milquetoast, a weak man for every season.
art

Remembering Caspar Milquetoast, the Original Snowflake

He spoke softly and got hit with a big stick.
Eric Grundhauser July 27, 2017
A knit hat.
hats

What Do You Call This Hat?

The strange case of the knit cap and its many, many regional names.
Michael Waters July 24, 2017
The opening pages of an 1869 copy of <em>The Book of Mormon</em>, printed in Deseret.
language

The Deseret Alphabet, a 38-Letter Writing System Developed by Mormons

It was intended to spell English words in a more phonetically accurate way.
Beau Stucki June 21, 2017
Not all of these have been translated into Latin, but more than you'd think!
books

The Highbrow Struggles of Translating Modern Children's Books Into Latin

What's the best way to translate Dr. Seuss to a dead language?
Eric Grundhauser June 15, 2017
An 1855 portrait of the Brothers Grimm.
collections

The Grimm Brothers' Other Great Project Was Writing a Giant German Dictionary

They got up to F, and then it took another century to complete.
Sarah Laskow June 15, 2017
Tyler G. Tyler, right, pulls crab pots at the start of blue crab season.
video

Maryland's Smith Island, Home to a Vanishing Dialect and Rising Sea Levels

Despite climate scientists' predictions, the laid-back inhabitants aren't too concerned.
Rob Kunzig June 8, 2017
Anthony Burgess had a thing for words.
literature

Found: A Lost Dictionary of Slang Written by 'Clockwork Orange' Author Anthony Burgess

Abyssinia!
Sarah Laskow June 5, 2017
The Afrikaans Language Monument overlooking Paarl Valley.
Paarl, South Africa

Afrikaans Language Monument

The South African dialect's complex history is immortalized in stone, in one of the world's only monuments dedicated to a language.
Heart eyes.
Amersfoort, Netherlands

Plein Rond de Eik

The gargoyles and grotesques of the 21st century are here—22 emoji built into a new building in the Netherlands.
Welcome to Miami Beach.
language

'Miami English' and the Linguistic Oddness of South Florida

South Beach speech is like no other.
Dan Nosowitz April 4, 2017
Willard facade
Washington, D.C.

Willard Hotel

Legend has it that President Grant’s frequent drinking in the lobby gave rise to the term “lobbyist.”
A sculpture of the Tower of Babel, by Alan Baughman, from the Introductory Room of the Museum of the Alphabet
Waxhaw, North Carolina

The Museum of the Alphabet

Trace the history of writing at this unusual North Carolina destination.
All hail the Oxford comma.
news

Why This Court Decision Hinged on the Oxford Comma

"For want of a comma, we have this case," a federal judge wrote.
Erik Shilling March 15, 2017
Boontling word of the week in the tap room of the Anderson Valley Brewing Company.
Boonville, California

Boontling Language of Boonville

A local dialect born in the late 19th century is only spoken in this isolated California valley.
Nüshu, a script written only by women in a small region of Jiangyong County in China, has mysterious origins that continue to stump historians.
culture

Remembering Nüshu, the 19th-Century Chinese Script Only Women Could Write

This gender-specific practice continues to fade with time.
Lauren Young February 16, 2017
Westbrook Pegler with Eleanor Roosevelt.
politics

The True Origins of the Phrase 'Bleeding-Heart Liberal'

Thank Westbrook Pegler, Joe McCarthy, and Ronald Reagan.
Sarah Laskow February 15, 2017