Language

Jump to: English-Specific | Slang

Aptronym	A name that suits its owner, such as Jeff Float (swimmer) and Bob Flowerdew (gardener)
Bouba/kiki effect	A picture test to study how sounds might be associated with shapes
Character amnesia	A phenomenon when people forget how to write Chinese characters
Cory Booker’s marathon speech, and List of speeches	Longest speech delivered in the US senate; made in protest against Donald Trump and Elon Musk
Dead metaphor	○ If you’ve ever wanted to know where the expression ‘balls out’ really came from
Eggcorn	Mishearing ‘Alzheimer’s Disease’ as ‘Old timers’ disease”
False friend	Ano and Ani might look like they’d get along, but they have opposite meanings in Czech and Korean
Father tongue hypothesis	An idea that you’re more likely to speak your father’s language
Filler (linguistics)	Something to make you paranoid about how many ‘ums’ and ‘uhs’ you use
Heteronym, and Homonym	Words with the same spelling but different meanings or pronunciation
List of countries and dependencies and their capitals in native languages	Want to know what countries call themselves?
List of ethnic slurs	❗ ● Not knowledge you want to put into practice
List of gestures	🐇 Sometimes I do the Merkel-Raute just to feel powerful
List of idioms attributed to Shakespeare	“What, you egg?”
List of idioms of improbability	Pigs are unlikely to fly
List of Latin legal terms	Who says Latin is a dead language?
List of last words	● 🐇 Richard A. Loeb: I think I’m going to make it. Narrator: He did not.
List of political catchphrases	● “Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn’t misuse it”
List of proposed etymologies of OK	We’re not sure where this affirmation comes from
List of Scripps National Spelling Bee champions	Would you be able to spell these winning words?
Longest words	● Where antidisestablishmentarianism is a lot easier to say than 999,499 in Slovak
Pleonasm, and List of tautological place names	● River river, tea tea, street road, the the angels angels
Pig Latin	Antway otay earnlay away anguagelay?
Riddle	🐇 Might make you sound smart but she just wants to know if you fries with that burger
Rule of three (writing)	Why everything comes in threes
Semantic change	Awful doesn’t mean ‘filled with awe’
Scunthorpe problem	Computer doesn’t like rude words
Tiffany Problem	○ That Tiffany is a common historically medieval name but would look inaccurate to modern audiences
Unpaired word	Why can you be overwhelmed, underwhelmed, but not whelmed?

English-Specific

English words without vowels	Hate vowels? You’re gonna love Welsh
Glossary of French words and expressions in English	● whispers Omelette du fromage
List of common false etymologies of English words	That word, it doesn’t come from where you think it comes from
List of English words without rhymes	🐇 Here’s one for the pub quiz
Lists of English words by country or language of origin	🐇 List of lists; take your pick

Slang

-core	○ 🐇 Internet slang for aesthetics
-ussy	❗ ○ -(p)ussification of words, popularised on social media
86	Slang for ‘get rid of’ commonly used when talking about food or people
Chav	Perjorative slang for anti-social lower-class British youths
Internet slang	Types of slang and variations across the world wide web
LGBTQ slang	❗🐇 Includes slurs
List of slang names for cannabis	Why ‘smoochy woochy poochy’?? How do people come up with these???
List of slang terms for federal agents	○ Slang names for government agents across the world
Slang terms for money	What is it with food words becoming slang for money?
White trash	● 🐇 Derogatory term for poor or working-class white people, particularly in the US