Forvo is a new website where you can find a huge array of words pronounced in their original languages. Native speakers can upload their own pronunciations — it's "crowdsourcing" at its best.

The trans-Atlantic words of the year have been selected on the Separated by a Common Language blog. Best American-to-British import is meh, and the best British-to-American import is vet (the verb). Read all about it here (and read our own discussion of meh here and vet here).

Teachers sometimes feel like their students live in a different linguistic world. The varieties of English spoken by students these days may be jam-packed with slang and other colloquialisms largely impenetrable to their teachers, especially when there's a difference in cultural background. Though the teacher's job is to train students in the proper use of standard English, can that be balanced by an appreciation of the diversity of student slang? To answer that question, we're checking in with two teachers with experience in the New York City public school system. First up is Shannon Reed, who writes regularly for our Teachers At Work section. Continue reading...

How would you write the sound of a tadpole tap-dancing, or stiff spaghetti banging into a cook's face? MAD Magazine cartoonist Don Martin knew the answer. Read a compendium of Martin's onomatopoetic genius here.

Marvin Terban gets kids laughing (and learning) about language with these illustrated books of funny idioms.

Mad as a Wet Hen!

Punching the Clock

In a Pickle

For Shakespeare it was "And let us two devise to bring him thither," but for us it's likely to be "And let's figure out how to get him there." This month in the Lounge we tip our hat to some English adverbs now in their dotage but still available for duty when called upon. Continue reading...