What in the word?

In a guest essay in the Times (November 23, 2025), Brian Bannon, the chief librarian at the New York Public Library and its director of branch libraries and education, argues…

Five years ago, Planet Word opened its doors with a bold mission: to spark a love of words, language, and reading in people of all ages — at a time…

Taylor Swift is known for her chart-topping pop hits and glittering performances, but did you know she’s a master of literary references? With her 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl,…

Wasn’t it fortunate and timely, I thought, that just when words started to be the news — as opposed to simply being used to record and report the news —…

Baseball isn’t just America’s pastime — it’s also a linguistic MVP. Over the past 150 years, the sport has enriched our everyday conversations with phrases that most people use without…

Without intentionally searching for them, lines of poetry keep spinning around in my head, leading me to greater truths than I knew I was looking for. A few weeks ago,…