You're Saying It Wrong

A Merriam-Webster poll sets off our conversation today as we make our picks for the most overrated word, the most underrated word, the most pleasant word to say, and a number of other mosts, bests, and worsts.

There are a whole lot of things you can say when someone thanks you for something... But what do they all really mean?

We continue our fascination with rules we don't know we know with a look at the importance of where we put the stress when we say words out loud.

Jump in your estate car and head to the chemist, this week we're looking at some British equivalents of American English words.

The letter of the day is "A"! We're getting you (or your kids) ready for the SATs with some tricky vocabulary from the beginning of the alphabet.

Must, could, should, shall, might, may... We dig into the weird, wiggly, weaselly world of modal verbs.

Grab your swimsuit! Or your bathing suit. That's up to you. We're heading to the beach for a look at the language of tides, waves, and other things beachy.

With Charli XCX sparking a summer phenomenon, we take a look at the nature of slang: who uses it, why we use it, and how we need to be very careful with it.

Today we look at words that came from other words even though we think the second word should have come first.

Today, we look at language rules that are rules sometimes, and rules that don't make sense. Well, they make some sense. Whatever. They're rules, anyway.