In his engaging new book, Righting the Mother Tongue, journalist David Wolman sets out to discover how the English language ended up with such an infuriatingly unpredictable spelling system. His journey takes him from the birthplace of Old English all the way to the spelling reformers who picket the national spelling bee. In the first installment of our two-part interview with Wolman, he tells us how -- as a self-professed poor speller -- he might have felt more comfortable a millennium ago, and how orthographic correctness became so important to speakers of English. Continue reading...

Once upon a time, my husband and I went to Vienna on a vacation and fell in love. Not with each other -- we'd already done that -- but with the city. Continue reading...

We recently interviewed Orin Hargraves about his new book, Slang Rules!: A Practical Guide for English Learners. Orin consulted a wide range of sources to build his guide to American slang, including works of fiction. We asked Orin to recommend books by writers with a keen ear for the American vernacular. Continue reading...

Tonight (Thursday, October 23rd), the New York Public Library is hosting an event of particular interest to the Visual Thesaurus community. The always entertaining writer Roy Blount Jr. will be speaking about "Words: Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts," which is the subject of his new book, Alphabet Juice. Tickets for the event are still available, and the NYPL is offering free complimentary admission to all Visual Thesaurus subscribers! Full details below. Continue reading...

The "backstory" of the English language is endlessly fascinating. Here are some of our favorite tellings of the tale.

The Adventure of English

Inventing English

The Story of English

The Secret History of the English Language

Our old friend Orin Hargraves, who contributes our monthly Language Lounge feature, has a new book out called Slang Rules!: A Practical Guide for English Learners. We recently caught up with Orin to hear about how his book, a companion to Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's English Dictionary, illuminates the richness of American slang for a global audience of language learners. Continue reading...