Webster’s Dictionary 1828: Annotated
Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language declared Americans free from the tyranny of British institutions and their vocabularies.
Who Made That Word and Why?
No matter how many words in a language, it seems that we always need just one more to explain ourselves.
The Tangled Language of Jargon
What our emotional reaction to jargon reveals about the evolution of the English language, and how the use of specialized terms can manipulate meaning.
Codifying What Counts as a Word in Scrabble
Alfred M. Butts first created a word game called Lexico (or Lexiko) for his family in 1931. His business partner renamed it Scrabble.
Can an Emoji Ever Be a Word?
You might be forgiven for thinking that the merry band of lexicographers at Oxford Dictionaries were trolling us ...
Migrants, Refugees, and Expats: How Humanity Comes in Waves
The language we use for people fleeing their home nations may define them as less than human.