language

From 17th-century England to modern-day gratuities, the evolution of "tip" is a story of linguistic twists and turns that ultimately lead to a surprising conclusion: it's not what you think it stands for.

Historically, bloodletting and bloodshed have been different things, but the line has blurred. Linguist Anne Curzan breaks down the evolution of words.

When you’re smack dab in the middle of something, you can’t be more in the middle of it.

It wouldn't be spooky season without ghosts. But they weren't always the evil spirits we see in books and movies today. For Word of the Week, we look back on the origins of "ghost."

English spelling can be a museum of earlier pronunciations, as we see in words like "night," "through," and "cough."

Given that tuna is a fish, it can seem unnecessary to call that out in the compound tuna fish.

When we eat up or fix up or heal up or hurry up, we’re not actually moving in an upward direction.

Pop has long been the accepted Midwesternism for a sweet carbonated beverage. But could that be changing? On Hand digs into the history of the pop vs. soda debate—and Michigan's linguistic preferences today.

Funnily enough, two listeners wrote to us this summer about the phrase funnily enough.

Working out with dumbbells may be a fitness craze now, but the fitness craze that started it all sounds even better.