Although turkeys were domesticated by Native Americans, turkey itself is not a Native American word. In this excerpt from a new book The Language of Food, linguist and Stanford University professor Dan Jurafsky charts the complicated path the word turkey followed into English, then serves up a slice of etymological pecan pie. Continue reading...
Anyone seeking out a rich and unusual vocabulary need search no further than the pages of an old book. It doesn't have to be dusty volume shedding its leather binding into your coffee like so much unwanted nutmeg. Vocabulary-rich literary classics are rife with words that used to be part of everyday speech and now we encounter much less often. Continue reading...
It's not just how many words you know, it's how well you know them. Learn how Vocabulary.com works with you to achieve word mastery. Continue reading...
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. So many of us learned that outrageous mouthful of a word at an early age, when it was truly a verbal milestone to be able to pronounce it without getting tongue-tied. And just saying the word is an invitation to start singing the song from the classic 1964 Disney movie Mary Poppins. But how did the word come to be? When I heard the news that one of the Mary Poppins songwriters passed away last month, I set about to answer that question, taking me down many unexpected alleyways of 20th-century popular culture. Continue reading...
Wow! What a response my last column received. Any time The Washington Post excerpts your work, you know you're on to something. My thoughts on teaching vocabulary out of literary context struck a chord with many readers, and I thought it would be beneficial for all if I answered a few questions and shared a few further thoughts this month. Continue reading...
Perpetual runners-up toppled recent winners in the last month of 2019. Where does your school stack up on the Vocab Bowl leaderboards? Check out the latest highlights and shoutouts. Continue reading...
In the wake of all the gleeful bashing of "phablet" (an ungainly blend of "phone" and "tablet"), we're opening up the floor. What words get your goat? "Moist"? "Slacks"? How about "nostril"? Continue reading...
For many, Labor Day and its three-day holiday weekend signals the end of summer and the beginning of the school year. But Labor Day is also a time to recognize those who toil and slog through their jobs. Here are some vocabulary words inspired by hard work. Continue reading...