This winter I added a new verb to my vocabulary … "penguin". I might say, “When the sidewalk is icy, I penguin over the slippery parts.” Walking like a penguin makes me feel safer when traversing icy ...

As a linguist, I’ve lost count of how many times I have been asked what I think of the various language-learning apps. The truth is that I don’t use them. But of late I have been watching my daughter, ...

English is a confusing language for many reasons. But the irregular verbs might be the most confusing part. Why is “told” the past tense of “tell” but “smold” isn’t the past tense of “smell”? It turns ...