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The room where Luther translated the New Testament into German.
Eisenach, Germany

Wartburg Castle

The castle where Martin Luther secretly translated the New Testament from Greek to German while in hiding.
Paris is just one city that's often described with inherently feminine language.
literature

Why Do We Love to Think of Places as People?

"Paris, I am in you" is just the latest manifestation of a long tradition.
Natasha Frost August 23, 2017
Hoosier Hill, Indiana.
linguistics

The Unsolvable Mystery of the Word 'Hoosier'

No one seems to know how we got this nickname for people from Indiana.
Dan Nosowitz August 22, 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.
Read and learn.
animals

Lessons From a Victorian-Era Cat Dictionary

"Purrieu," "ptlee-bl," and other vital feline vocabulary words.
Cara Giaimo August 8, 2017
An individualist named George Carlin.
literature

Why Americans Are Cursing More Than Ever

Swear more to express yourself as an individual. Everybody's $#*%! doing it!
Natasha Frost August 4, 2017
Lincoln's secretary, John Hay, in 1862.
news

A Famous Letter Thought to Be Written by Lincoln Was Penned by His Secretary

N-gram tracing was used to reveal the author.
Kelsey Kennedy July 20, 2017
Manchester Town Hall.
linguistics

Why People From Manchester Are Mancunians, Not Manchesterians

Demonyms are vital to our conceptions of ourselves, but the rules behind them can be pretty messy.
Dan Nosowitz July 6, 2017
An engraving showing the Thieve's Kitchen in Charles Dickens' <em>Oliver Twist</em>.
crime

How a Secret Criminal Language Emerged From the Underworld

Dictionaries made Thieves' Cant accessible for the masses in the 16th through 19th centuries.
Natalie Zarrelli June 28, 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
Vintage photo of the Tigris River, flowing through Iraq. The cradle of civilization and of <em>shaku maku</em>.
linguistics

The Iraqi Version of 'What's Up?' Is an Existential Riddle

The phrase "shaku maku" offers a question, a playful paradox, and an invitation to share.
Rob Kunzig April 14, 2017
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
1829 map of former Indochina, Vietnam along the east coast of the peninsula. Inset is the 1821 seal of the Nguyen Dynasty.
linguistics

Why 40% of Vietnamese People Have the Same Last Name

Everyone knows a Nguyen, but how did that come to be?
Dan Nosowitz March 28, 2017
Valts Ernštreits, a professor at Tartu University in Estonia, writes poetry in Livonian.
linguistics

These Passionate Latvian Linguists Refuse to Lose Their Language

Livonian may be extinct as a native tongue, but it's still being used to write poetry.
Rob Kunzig March 28, 2017
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.
Da kine travels across Hawaiian culture.
linguistics

'Da Kine,' Hawaii's Fantastically Flexible All-Purpose Noun

It means everything and nothing at the same time.
Dan Nosowitz March 2, 2017
Tokyo at night.
language

The Mystery and Occasional Poetry of, Uh, Filled Pauses

They are especially unusual in Japanese.
Dan Nosowitz January 27, 2017
Canada Day items on sale in Nova Scotia.
language

Why Do Canadians Say 'Eh'?

The story behind Canada’s most distinctive verbal tic.
Dan Nosowitz January 10, 2017