Сайт

grotesque

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 28, 2026 is: grotesque • \groh-TESK\ • adjective Grotesque describes something that is very strange or ugly in a way that is not normal or natural. It can also describe something that is extremely different from what is expected or usual. // She opted for a scary Halloween costume, complete with a grotesque monster mask. // Their claim is a grotesque distortion of the facts. See the entry > Examples: "At the heart of Mary Shelley's 1818 classic Frankenstein and its many pop culture adaptations is the scene in the mad scientist’s lab where Victor Fr

Merriam-Webster Word of the Day · EN

shindig

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 29, 2026 is: shindig • \SHIN-dig\ • noun Shindig is an informal word for a big party. // Our friends are in town this weekend, so we’re hosting a shindig at our place on Saturday night. See the entry > Examples: “It’s the night before Halloween, and a couple of hundred young people dressed up as witches or Labubu toys are dancing at a warehouse-style bar beside a subway station in Brooklyn. But this is no ordinary Halloween shindig .” — Michael Koziol, The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 3 Nov. 2025 Did you know? At a glance, shindig appears to combine

Merriam-Webster Word of the Day · EN

reticent

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 30, 2026 is: reticent • \RET-uh-sunt\ • adjective Someone may be described as reticent if they are feeling or showing reluctance, that is, hesitation or unwillingness to do something. Reticent can also describe someone who is reserved, inclined to be silent or uncommunicative about things. // The team was reticent to spend such a large amount of money, even for an all-star free agent. // He’s always been reticent about discussing personal matters at work. See the entry > Examples: “It can be dangerous and difficult for journalists to report in war

Merriam-Webster Word of the Day · EN

wraith

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 31, 2026 is: wraith • \RAYTH\ • noun Wraith refers to the spirit of a dead person, or in other words, a ghost. // The most frightening scene from the movie featured a vengeful wraith creeping slowly up behind the main characters. See the entry > Examples: "Nearly every storyteller knew the legend of the ghostly woman dressed in white, forever searching for her husband. ... Like all good desert legends, the facts shifted with the wind, but the ending was always the same: if you wandered too far into the dunes, you just might hear the wraith calling

Merriam-Webster Word of the Day · EN

Pyrrhic

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 1, 2026 is: Pyrrhic • \PEER-ik\ • adjective The adjective Pyrrhic describes something that is achieved at an excessive cost. It is usually used to describe a victory, a Pyrrhic victory being one that is not worth winning because so much is lost to achieve it. // The basketball team’s comeback in the final minutes turned out to be a Pyrrhic victory as the star center injured her ankle. See the entry > Examples: “… where I work, some of my colleagues have suggested that … universities ought to wean themselves off federal grants and become fully fisc

Merriam-Webster Word of the Day · EN

satiate

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 2, 2026 is: satiate • \SAY-shee-ayt\ • verb To satiate a need, desire, etc., is to satisfy it fully. // The new restaurant’s menu promises to satiate diners’ cravings for comfort food, offering fresh spins on classic, time-honored fare. See the entry > Examples: “Powell was one of scores of Taylor Swift fans and inquisitive passersby who braved the New York City heat Thursday to satiate their curiosity about what many are calling the wedding of the century and the American equivalent of royal nuptials.” — Kaitlyn Huamani and Jake Offenhartz, The A

Merriam-Webster Word of the Day · EN

Skit hits back at AI job interviews

"AI is doing job interviews now—but candidates say they’d rather risk staying unemployed than talk to another robot", Fortune 8/2/2025: AI is replacing human hiring managers in job interviews—and candidates are pushing back. Despite being unemployed, professionals told Fortune they’re refusing to take calls with bots, calling it an “added indignity” and a red flag […]

Language Log · EN

Singularities: von Neumann, Good, Vinge, …

The OED gives citations for singularity going back to the 14th century, e.g. this example from 1398 in the sense "The fact or condition of being alone or apart from others; solitariness": Men vsyd to ete togyders in open place, leest syngularite schuld brede lechery. A mathematical singularity, as Wikipedia tells us,"is a point at […]

Language Log · EN

More caricatured AI reactions

Following up on yesterday's "Singularities" post, today's SMBC: Mouseover title: "Meanwhile the Engineers are just lighting themselves on fire to see what happens." The aftercomic: In fact, there's a wide range of reactions from each group — and likewise from Linguists, although some possibilities are oddly missing… See also "Intellectual Automation" (3/7/2011); "AI Panics" (11/27/2016); […]

Language Log · EN

AI doom as message overload

Norbert Wiener's 1950 book The Human Use of Human Beings makes some uncannily accurate predictions, e.g. It is the thesis of this book that society can only be understood through a study of the messages and the communication facilities which belong to it; and that in the future development of these messages and communication facilities, […]

Language Log · EN

Gendering duct tape again

The Weather Channel recently published a story about the value of duct tape in keeping out flood water: "Duct tape kept out more flood water than sandbags in laboratory tests". Its newletter advertised that story as "A victory for dads everywhere": The Wikipedia article on duct tape tells us about the history, in which the […]

Language Log · EN

Number line vulnerability?

Today's xkcd: Mouseover title: "Other numbers are largely unaffected, but anyone using '4' for their certificate key is urged to upgrade to '5'." This obviously echoes the recent panic about vulnerabilities in PHP. The joke works because PHP was just about as much of the assumed ontological background as the number line, even for the […]

Language Log · EN

Ask LLOG: Covenant?

From L.J.: Could you explain the real pronunciation of "covenant"? In American English, the first vowel is not like that in British English as shown in the Oxford English Dictionary. Please see the attachment. However, theoretically, a word cannot have three schwas because the stress cannot be assigned. Could the first vowel be actually a […]

Language Log · EN

"Pronunciation respelling"

In a comment on yesterday's post ktschwarz informed us that "Pronunciation respelling" is Wikipedia's name for things like "KUV-uh-nuhnt"; I don't know if it's used more widely. I've somehow managed to fail to learn that term, though of course I was familiar with the practice, which is why I invented lah-lah-lah as a placeholder. The […]

Language Log · EN

Is It Really Possible for a Nuke to Ignite the Atmosphere?

At exactly 5:30 AM on July 16, 1945, the world’s first atomic bomb, codenamed Trinity, detonated over the desert in New Mexico, unleashing in an instant the power of 18,000 tons of TNT. The atomic age had begun. As night turned to day and a fireball 200 metres across rose into the sky, the scientists of the Manhattan Project who [...] The post Is It Really Possible for a Nuke to Ignite the Atmosphere? appeared first on Today I Found Out .

Today I Found Out · EN

The Dark Origins of the Treadmill and Why Oscar Wilde was the Worst

“We sewed the sacks, we broke the stones, We turned the dusty drill: We banged the tins, and bawled the hymns, And sweated on the mill: But in the heart of every man Terror was lying still.” These are the words of famed master of the pen, Oscar Wilde, in his Ballad of Reading Gaol, referencing his time spent at [...] The post The Dark Origins of the Treadmill and Why Oscar Wilde was the Worst appeared first on Today I Found Out .

Today I Found Out · EN

What Was Being a Ninja Really Like?

A relatively common trope today is that of the noble and honorable Samurai warrior opposed by their shadowy brother from another mother, the mystical and morally corrupt, black garbed assassin warrior known as the ninja. These fabled shadow warriors of Japanese history have been a staple of modern pop culture since around the 1960s when super-spy James Bond encountered them [...] The post What Was Being a Ninja Really Like? appeared first on Today I Found Out .

Today I Found Out · EN

Look, Ma: no Wings! The Strange World of Lifting Body Aircraft

Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man, better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster. So goes the iconic opening of the classic 1970s television series The Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors [...] The post Look, Ma: no Wings! The Strange World of Lifting Body Aircraft appeared first on Today I Found Out .

Today I Found Out · EN

Was Keel-Hauling Actually a Thing?

Running the gauntlet. Starting. Flogging with the cat ‘o 9 nine tails. Gagging. Clapping in irons. Hanging from the yardarm. While this all might sound like a super fun Saturday night with the misses when the grandparents are watching your kiddos for you, it turns out these are actually just a few of the dizzying array of corporal and capital [...] The post Was Keel-Hauling Actually a Thing? appeared first on Today I Found Out .

Today I Found Out · EN

Defeating the Nazis- The Twisting, Turning Road That Gave Us the Microwave Oven

Ahhh the microwave oven: perhaps the most con of mod cons. Whether you’re zapping a mug of lukewarm coffee back to life, rewarming some leftovers, or heating up a frozen burrito for the fourth time this week, this handy little device will get the job done quickly and efficiently without the muss and fuss of a regular stove or oven. [...] The post Defeating the Nazis- The Twisting, Turning Road That Gave Us the Microwave Oven appeared first on Today I Found Out .

Today I Found Out · EN

The Dare That Led to the First Hurricane Hunter

On the morning of July 27, 1943, U.S. Army Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Duckworth sat down to breakfast at Bryan Field near Galveston, Texas. Outside the wind howled as a category 2 hurricane bore down upon the coast. The storm had come as a complete surprise; as a precaution against U-boat attacks a radio blackout had been ordered for [...] The post The Dare That Led to the First Hurricane Hunter appeared first on Today I Found Out .

Today I Found Out · EN

The Incredible Soviet Probe Space Heist

Just before we get into today’s topic on America’s attempt to steal a Soviet spacecraft, wanted to shout out the author of this script, Gilles Messier, also made a phenomenal shirt related to this topic. For those interested, you can check it out here. Now let’s get into it. On October 4, 1957 at 7:28 PM Greenwich Mean Time, a [...] The post The Incredible Soviet Probe Space Heist appeared first on Today I Found Out .

Today I Found Out · EN

Zoology

Description of the Lyon in Edward Topsell’s 1607 bestiary The History of Four-Footed Beasts: Lyons bones have no marrow in them and are so hard that they will strike fire. Their neck is made of one stiffe bone, without any vertebras. They have five claws on the hinder feet and the balls of their eyes are black. Lyons eat but once in two days, and drink in like manner. Formerly in England a Lyon could tell noble blood from base. There is a variety of Lyon with human faces. As for the rest, the taile of a Lyon is very...

Futility Closet · EN

Turnabout

An “enigma in praise of women,” from an 1820 miscellany: Happy that man may pass his life, Who’s free from matrimonial chains; Who is directed by a wife, Is sure to suffer for his pains. What tongue is able to unfold The falsehood which in women dwell? The worth in women you behold Is almost imperceptible. Adam could find no solid peace When Eve was given him for a mate; Till he beheld a woman’s face, Adam was in a happy state. See, in the female race appear Hypocrisy, deceit, and pride; Truth, darling of a heart sincere, In women...

Futility Closet · EN