Language
Short articles about language, one idea in each.
- How a napron became an apronSome everyday English words exist because people heard the boundary between two words in the wrong place. Apron, adder, umpire and nickname all got their shape this way.
- Nice used to mean foolishOver seven centuries, nice went from ignorant to fussy to precise to pleasant. It isn't alone: silly, awful, knight and deer have all wandered far from where they started.
- Why English vowels don't sound like their lettersBetween about 1400 and 1700, the long vowels of English moved. Spelling was settling at the same time, and it stayed where the sounds used to be.
- How OK began as a joke in a Boston newspaperThe most widely used word on Earth began as a misspelling, on purpose. A fad, an election and the telegraph did the rest.