birth control 8 June 2026 Birth control is a generic term for a variety of methods to promote family planning and prevent unwanted pregnancies. While various contraceptive practices have been in place for centuries (cf. condom), the term birth control in its current sense only dates to the opening decades of the
black hole 5 June 2026 In the world of astronomy, a black hole is a cosmological object formed by the gravitational collapse of a star that is larger than about twenty solar masses. (Other mechanisms for black hole formation may exist.) The star, or remnants of the star after a supernova explosion,
chips / crisps / Saratoga potatoes 3 June 2026 One of the differences between North American and British English is the use of chip and crisp. Thin slices of potato fried until hard and brittle are chips in North America and crisps in Britain and the rest of the Commonwealth. And French-fried potatoes are chips in
salient 1 June 2026 Salient is a word that has traveled rather far afield semantically. Its two primary senses in Present-Day English are as an adjective meaning prominent or most important and as a noun in military jargon referring to a bulge or extension in a line of offense or defense.
deepfake 29 May 2026 A deepfake is a piece of artificially generated or manipulated media, especially a video, that is convincing. Deepfakes were among the first products of artificial intelligence to come to the attention of the general public. They started appearing in late 2017 when pornographic videos where a celebrity’
desi 27 May 2026 Desi is an adjective that refers to things of South Asian origin, and in recent decades has also come into use as a noun referring to people of South Asian descent outside of the region. The word comes from the Hindi desi (deysi in Urdu), meaning local,
x-dimensional chess 25 May 2026 Chess is considered by some to be the ultimate test of human intelligence, and multi-dimensional chess—three-, four-, five-, and even higher-dimensional versions—is a metaphor for even more complex tasks and strategies. Three-dimensional chess started out as an actual variant on the game, or rather variants,
lavender 22 May 2026 Lavender is a flower, a shade of purple, and a slang term associated with gay men. The slang sense is commonly seen in lavender marriage, a companionate, and often celebrity, marriage of convenience where one or both partners are gay. There is also the Lavender Scare, the
on/off the hook 20 May 2026 The phrases on the hook and off the hook have had various meanings over the centuries. Of course, there are many literal uses of the phrases, but the figurative ones extend from on the hook metaphorically meaning to be ensnared or entrapped, like a fish on an
haggard 18 May 2026 The adjective haggard today is generally used to describe someone who presents an emaciated, worn, weary, or disheveled appearance. But the original sense of the word is quite different, coming from the sport of falconry. The word was borrowed into English in the mid sixteenth century from
stay in your lane 15 May 2026 The underlying metaphor under the clichéd piece of advice to stay in your lane is rather obvious, but the use of phrase appears to have moved from the literal to the metaphorical in US military in the closing decade of the twentieth century. That metaphor is one
