Dignity or Contempt? How One Simple Tool Could Transform America’s Dialogue
After two assassination attempts against former President Trump and unease in Springfield, Ohio, after false accusations that immigrants there were eating pets, it’s the right time to think about toning…
Choosing the 2023 Word of the Year: Q&A with Ben Zimmer and Kelly Wright
Since 1990, the American Dialect Society has annually unveiled a Word of the Year — a newly prominent word that reflects significant events, societal shifts, and prevailing themes over the…
Putting Aside Words as Weapons
This has been an incredibly hard few weeks for people who care about people, who work for peace, who strive to promote tolerance and understanding…and for people who care about…
Singular “They” and Language Beyond the Gender Binary: Q&A with Kirby Conrod
With nonbinary and trans identities becoming more mainstream, pronouns have increasingly become a hot topic — particularly singular “they,” which is favored by many nonbinary people. While singular “they” has…
A Manifesto for Planet Word 2.0
Back in 2013 when we started planning a museum of words and language, it was mainly intended to be a new way to bring disaffected readers back into the fold…
Linguistic Diversity in the District and the “D.C. Dialect”: Q&A with Natalie Schilling
Is the word “moe” in your vocabulary? How about “jhi”? If so, you’re likely a D.C. local! Like go-go and mambo sauce, these words are part of the lifeblood of…
