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Ben Zimmer
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‘Crook’: When Nixon Said He Wasn’t One, There Was Still a Twist to Come
A president’s infamous protestation 50 years ago during Watergate relied on an Old Norse term for things that take a turn.
by
Ben Zimmer
via
The Wall Street Journal
on
November 17, 2023
The Surprising History of the Slur Beyoncé and Lizzo Both Cut From Their New Albums
How did the controversial term go from middle-school slang to verboten? The answer lies on the other side of the Atlantic.
by
Ben Zimmer
via
Slate
on
August 3, 2022
The Evolution of 'Racism'
A look at how the word, a surprisingly recent addition to the English lexicon, made its way into the dictionary.
by
Ben Zimmer
via
The Atlantic
on
September 4, 2020
The Origins of the 'Globalist' Slur
The anti-Semitic seeds of its use were firmly planted 75 years ago.
by
Ben Zimmer
via
The Atlantic
on
March 14, 2018
A Productive-Ass Suffix
An early use of the spoonerism "bass-ackwards" turns up in an 1840s letter by a young Abraham Lincoln.
by
Ben Zimmer
via
Language Log
on
January 29, 2018
'I Want to Kick Ass' in 1862?
Evidence that the idiom could be 100 years older than was previously thought.
by
Ben Zimmer
via
Strong Language
on
October 5, 2017
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Combating the Myth of the Superpredator
In the 1990s, a handful of researchers inspired panic with a dire but flawed prediction: the imminent arrival of a new breed of “superpredators.”
via
Retro Report
on
October 30, 2019
This Is Where the Word 'History' Comes From
The word 'history' evolved from an ancient Greek verb, but its definition has changed over the years
by
Katy Steinmetz
via
Time
on
June 23, 2017
