English language

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'Brat' Has Had Quite a Year. It Just Got Better

It's Collins Dictionary's word of the year

(Newser) - "Characterized by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude." That's one of the definitions of "brat" in the Collins Dictionary—a word that serves as both the title of UK singer Charli XCX's sixth studio album and, now, as Collins' word of the year, reports the...

Germans Not Happy With New Rules on 'Idiot's Apostrophe'

Or would that be 'idiots apostrophe' in German?

(Newser) - Worldly punctuation pros know that Germans typically don't use an apostrophe to indicate the possessive—meaning it's correct to write "Newsers readers," not "Newser's readers." According to the Council for German Orthography, however, which dictates grammar for schools and other public institutions in...

Scrabble Dictionary Gets a Radical Update

First update since 2018 contains abbreviations and—gasp!—some proper nouns

(Newser) - Hey "bae," want to turn this "convo" into a Scrabble game over "margs"? If so, you'll want to seek "inspo" from the seventh edition of the official Scrabble dictionary, which includes 500 new playable words, some of which break with the typical Scrabble...

Feel Like Shouting 'Speak English'? Not Smart in NYC

City issues ban on discriminatory rhetoric like 'illegal alien,' threatening to call ICE to harass

(Newser) - New York City is cracking down on xenophobia, with new guidelines that ban calling people "illegal aliens" in an attempt to "demean, humiliate, or harass" them; threatening to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement in an attempt to discriminate; or telling anyone to "speak English" or "go...

Author Tweets About Marie Kondo, Twitter Erupts

Barbara Ehrenreich's post about Kondo not speaking English called racist, xenophobic

(Newser) - Japanese organizing doyenne Marie Kondo has been at the front of everyone's mind since her Netflix series Tidying Up With Marie Kondo debuted, placing the question "Does it spark joy?" into the American conversation and teaching everyone how to fold their clothes like origami. Author Barbara Ehrenreich, however—...

She Woke Up From Bike Crash And Couldn't Speak English
She Woke Up
From Bike Crash
and Couldn't
Speak English
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Oct 21, 2018 3:00 PM CDT

She Woke Up From Bike Crash and Couldn't Speak English

British woman reverts to the German she grew up with

(Newser) - Britain's Hannah Jenkins got knocked unconscious when she collided with another bicyclist, and when she woke up in the hospital, she couldn't figure out why the doctors and nurses weren't speaking English. Except, as the BBC explains, they were. Jenkins, however, couldn't understand a thing: The...

Word Invented by Simpsons Now in Dictionary

D'oh, it's 'embiggen'

(Newser) - Merriam-Webster's dictionary just got heavier, with 850 new words added to its pages for 2018. "Self-care," "life hack," "dark chocolate," and "tzatziki" finally got the nod, in addition to "glamping" (glamorous camping with plumbing), "mansplain," "hmm," "...

Judge Orders Lawyer to Have English Teacher Review Work

Legal complaint filed in Florida was incomprehensible

(Newser) - Judges reject legal filings for all kinds of reasons, but one spotted by the Above the Law blog is downright embarrassing. Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga of the Southern District of Florida agreed with opposing attorneys that a complaint filed on behalf of a housekeeping employee suing a hospital was just...

Oxford Dictionary Boasts a New Final Word

'Zyzzyva' has been added, as have 'post-truth,' 'unclick,' and a word describing sperm

(Newser) - And you thought "covfefe" was hard to pronounce. The Oxford English Dictionary has added more than 1,200 new "words, phrases, and senses" to its tome, per a blog post , and among them is an entry that nabs the spot as the last word in the book. "...

Canadian PM Rapped for Speaking French

He should've responded to questions in English, critics say

(Newser) - How do you say "he stepped in it" in French? Though he leads an officially bilingual country, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was rapped for slipping into the language of Moliere instead of sticking to Shakespeare. No fewer than three official complaints were lodged with Canada's Commissioner of...

Oxford English Dictionary Quietly Adds Tamil Slang 'Aiyo'

'The OED has admitted a rare word of power into its pages'

(Newser) - In the latest quarterly update of the Oxford English Dictionary, there was great rejoicing when, in honor of the 100th anniversary of Roald Dahl's birth, words such as "splendiferous" and "human bean" joined the great heap of our language's modern lexicon. More quietly, the Tamil slang...

Enjoy Your 'Th' Sounds Now, They'll Be Gone by 2066

According to a new report from British linguistic experts

(Newser) - The Queen's English as spoken in the UK is under attack by immigrants, computers, American television, and youths. Or should we say yoofs? In a report published Thursday, linguistic experts at the University of York predict major changes in Brits' pronunciation of the English language by 2066, the Sun...

Here Are the Latest Additions to Oxford English Dictionary

'Yolo' made the cut

(Newser) - The latest slang to be added to the Oxford English Dictionary: "yolo," which, as all the youngsters know, stands for "you only live once." The new crop of more than 1,000 words and terms added to the OED also includes "gender-fluid," "yogalates"...

You Don't Know as Many Words as You Think You Do
You Don't Know as Many
Words as You Think You Do
STUDY SAYS
Aug 20, 2016 2:40 PM CDT

You Don't Know as Many Words as You Think You Do

Maybe about 42K if you're a 20-year-old, slightly more if you're older—but definitely not 200K

(Newser) - You don't have to be a lexicographer to have a pretty ample lexicon—but your word knowledge still may not be as ample as you think. At least, that's according to a Ghent University study published in the Frontiers in Psychology , said to be the largest ever of...

Teacher Can't Speak Spanish, Doesn't Get Spanish Gig, Sues

Florida teacher says she's 'otherwise fully qualified' for the job

(Newser) - A Florida schoolteacher has filed a workplace discrimination lawsuit against her employer for turning her down for a job teaching Spanish—even though she doesn't speak Spanish, the News & Observer reports. Tracy Rosner, who teaches third grade at Coral Reef Elementary in Palmetto Bay, alleges in her federal...

Frozen Custard Stand Dinged Over Uncool English-Only Policy

The owner is willing to fight anyone who says he's racist

(Newser) - A frozen-treat shop is in hot water over an English-only policy for its employees. Joey Sanchez, a customer at Leon's Frozen Custard in Milwaukee, tells WISN he heard an employee tell a Spanish-speaking customer she had to order in English. The employee then told Sanchez she wasn't allowed...

French Students Protest 'Impossible' English Test

Some 12K students not 'coping' well, have signed a petition

(Newser) - When teens in France recently sat down to take an English language test, they were asked a pair of questions about Ian McEwan's novel Atonement: "What are three of his concerns about the situation?" and "How is Turner coping with the situation?" That latter question was apparently...

Why It's Hard to Learn Math in English

Words like "eleven" mess us up

(Newser) - When it comes to learning math, English speakers face a disadvantage that has nothing to do with the classroom environment. Research suggests that the English language simply makes it hard to talk about numbers, the Wall Street Journal reports. A key reason comes when kids reach the number 11: A...

Twitter Account About to Finish Tweeting Every Word

@everyword will send out its last tweet Saturday

(Newser) - After seven years spent tweeting every word in the English language one at a time, what was @everyword ’s most popular tweet? “Sex.” The popular Twitter feed will finally complete its task early Saturday, but until then, creator Adam Parrish is keeping the last word that will...

Texas Principal Who Banned Spanish Loses Job

Amy Lacey told students they could not speak it at school

(Newser) - A middle school principal near Houston who banned the speaking of Spanish on school grounds is out of a job, reports KHOU . The Hempstead School Board on Monday chose not to renew the contract of Amy Lacey, who set off a local firestorm on Nov. 12 when she announced, over...

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