The languages we speak and the words we use not only dictate who can understand us but also how we are perceived. Particular word and dialect choices can offer the listener insights into the class, ...

The American Dialect Society has named “because” its word of the year for 2013. What makes because special is its evolving usage. Where once “because” needed to be followed by “of” or a full clause, ...

I’m guessing that I’m not such as old a dog as I think — I’ve been learning some new tricks! But … they’re the same old tricks, only different. Language, for example. Lately, I’ve had cause to look ...

From the East Coast to the Midwest and beyond, these 10 regional slang terms reveal how language changes across the United ...

In 1990, the American Dialect Society named its first "word of the year" — a word (or phrase) chosen by a group of linguists and professors that encapsulates how Americans have been speaking for the ...

This month, Slate is republishing some of our favorite stories. Here’s today’s selection: Matthew J.X. Malady’s Good Word columns were a delight for dedicated linguists and word dabblers alike. This ...

Language is an ever-evolving and living thing; a social construct plucked from the minds of millions, with each hand that touches it shaping it in some small but ineffable way. And like all living ...

I'm a parent and teach writing. Watching my kids adopt new slang gives me a window into how expressions go viral, burn out, ...

Anywhere you go in the United States, you’re likely to encounter a word you’ve never heard before or never used regularly, as ...

The American Dialect Society—the same august, century-old body that brought us “-ussy” as its 2022 Word Of The Year—has gone ahead and once again decided to choose chaos, naming “rawdog” its WOTY for ...