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"There are some old words," explains Arika Okrent on Mental Floss, "that are nearly obsolete but we still recognize because they were lucky enough to get stuck in set phrases that have lasted across the centuries." Okrent lists a dozen "lucky words that survived by getting fossilized in idioms." Continue reading...

We recently spoke to education experts Amy Benjamin and John T. Crow about their new book, Vocabulary at the Center. Amy and John explain the most effective methods for extending the use of new words, so that vocabulary instruction can move beyond rote memorization. Continue reading...

One of the most persistent myths about word acquisition is that students don't need to be taught words; they just need to read more and their vocabularies will magically expand. This theory — which I like to call "learning words by osmosis" — doesn't hold much promise for your average or struggling reader. While it may hold true for a select group of students who are strong, avid readers possessing a curiosity about words, most students don't learn words by simply encountering them in reading. Continue reading...

The lingo of our National Pastime may not strike you as particularly fascinating at first, but dig a little deeper and you'll appreciate how many baseball terms also apply to life in general. Continue reading...

If "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" saved you in learning the order of operations in mathematics, then you should check out what Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher have to say in Learning Words Inside and Out about using keyword mnemonics to help commit words to memory. Continue reading...

Beyoncé's Lemonade was introduced to the nation as a "visual album," a series of videos for the songs connected by images backed by Beyoncé speaking phrases which echo the concerns of the lyrics. Beyoncé's choice of words in these spoken passages is just as interesting as those she chooses for her lyrics, and they tell us a great deal about what Lemonade is about. Continue reading...

January 20 is Penguin Awareness Day. While these penguin-related words are perhaps not as adorable as the waddling aquatic creatures they describe, they're just as interesting, and you're much more likely to come across them in your daily life. Unless you live in Antarctica, of course. Continue reading...

See which schools topped the Vocab Bowl leaderboards in our annual March Madness One-Day Challenges. Continue reading...

Here are few of the words often seen and heard in the days before and after a graduation ceremony, hidden under mortarboards and robes. Continue reading...