Bye bye, vocal fry. All the cool kids in 2013 are ending their sentences with invisible question marks.

This is pretty cool stuff to keep in mind the next time you're staggering all over the streets of Helsinki, trying to get some uptight cop to give you back your Vodka (that's what everyone's 'summer vacations' are like, right?)

Dude. DUDE. Dude, I love the word "dude" so much. It's so versatile. It's so casual yet punchy. It can convey, "I really mean business here!" and "I am a fun type of person who doesn't take life too seriously" in the same syllable. WHILE SKATEBOARDING. It is far superior to "guy," which implies a kind of distance, an…

The sonorous Irish comedian Ardal O’Hanlon once did a bit in which, and I’m paraphrasing (but I could have just as easily ripped this off because the internet is Thunderdome, so YOU’RE WELCOME), he explained very soberly that the words “fun” and run” should never be used next to each other in a sentence because…

When I search my Gmail inbox for the phrase "I feel like," infinity results come up. "I feel like this particular story's very up your alley," a professional acquaintance wrote. "I feel like this might be the transitional stage to Federici's utopia," a woman in my book group joked. "I feel like I look too meek in my…

I swear a lot. In writing, if not so much in speech (but, fuck it, also a lot of times in speech). Swearing is awesome, because it adds a little extra punch to your sentence that lets people know you mean business! Or, at least, I guess that's how most people characterize the function of swearing. Personally, I don't…

"Let's pair that look with a red shoe;" "This will work with a pant;" "I want to see her with a nude lip." What the fuck happened to plurals in fashion? When did everything suddenly turn into one singular sensation?

If you're looking for a way to turn someone from a reasonable adult into a whiny, squeamish baby within seconds, try dropping the word "moist" into your conversation. In fact, "moist" is so effective in derailing a whatever it is that you're talking about that I'm willing to bet cold hard cash that some of you are…

You know that feeling you get when you are reading a book and the language is so emotive and beautiful that it makes you want to break down and weep? Unless you're a fan of the classics, probably not. A new study out of the Universities of Bristol, Sheffield, and Durham shows that literature over the past 100 years…

Just like facts and flies, English words have life-spans. Some are thousands of years old, from before English officially existed, others change, or are replaced or get ditched entirely.

There's this word that's recently become more pervasive in the American lexicon and it's pretty gross and terrible. The word is "chucklefucker" and it refers to people — primarily women — who have sex with comedians. These chucklefuckers supposedly hang around stand-up clubs or bars that host comedy nights just…

Sooooo word lengthening is totally a thing now. It used to be that only young people did it in text messages and over IM, but now it's popping up in workplace emails and other more formal settings. This might be hard to deal with, especially if you're particularly attached to the integrity of the English language or…

Despite multiple attempts to reclaim the word over the past few decades, "cunt" is still widely considered the worst thing you can call a woman. Really?

Remember back in 2012 when we thought that the world might be ending at the end of the year? O! Such simpler and more optimistic times those were! Sadly, however, things didn't go the Mayans way and the human race continues to plod into 2013, living and breathing and fighting and loving and legitimizing stupid words…

Yo, France, don't you think it's time that we put aside our differences and got along? I know we failed to help you out with the French Revolution, but, then again, you made some pretty stupid alterations to the Big Mac. Then there was that whole freedom fries debacle, but you'd think, seeing as we also gave you Jerry…

Wait, speaking multiple languages keeps your brain young? Goddamnit. The closest I ever came to learning a second language is that my mom speaks passable Norwegian when she's drunk (I suppose I'm glad my childhood wasn't one long Drunkmomwegian immersion program), which means that I am impenetrably, painfully…

If you thought you only had to start watching what you say in front of your kids once they're around 1 or 2-years-old, think again. A new study shows that babies begin picking up language while they are still in the womb, maybe even as early 30 weeks' gestation, which is generally around the time that the fetus…

There's a reason that every generation is displeased with the speech patterns and patois of the generation that follows. Language is a living thing that's constantly morphing and evolving. If you get left behind or fail to learn popular slang and speech patterns of today, it becomes far easier for others to peg you as…

In the past few months, the AP has removed homophobia, Islamophobia, and ethnic cleansing from their Style Book, explaining that "'-phobia,' 'an irrational, uncontrollable fear, often a form of mental illness' should not be used 'in political or social contexts,' including 'homophobia' and 'Islamophobia.' It also…

Gals, have you ever woken up in the morning and thought, Gee, whiz. I sure do hope someone who I do not know personally gives me directions on how I should conduct myself during my daily life as though I'm a gurgling, guileless idiot today? (Every morning!) Then I'm about to make your dreams come true — some brave…