India, Nov. 1 -- The English language is full of unusual words that can express an idea in just a few letters, and some are ...

U.S. playwright Rita Mae Brown said: "Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going." That quote comes to mind looking at these fascinating ...

Word meanings can shift radically, just like pronunciation. Called semantic change, a shift in a word's meaning occurs when frequent misuse becomes standard, or when metaphoric use becomes literal.

What are the origins of words? Has you wondered about that? Here is an interesting web site that goes into that to see how different words came about. Below is an example of the origin of Orange. Do ...

IN one of my columns in an Urdu-language daily, I mentioned a book 'Sarguzasht-i-Alfaaz'. Written by Ahmed Din (1866-1929), the book, probably the first of its kind in Urdu, discussed the origins of ...

For some time now, we have known the basic outline of the story of “dude.” The word was first used in the late 1800s as a term of mockery for young men who were overly concerned with keeping up with ...

India, Nov. 3 -- Have you ever seen a cute cat figurine sitting near the entrance of a Japanese shop, raising one paw as if it is welcoming visitors? While it may look like a simple decorative object, ...