In his letter to the editor, Jack Elder talked about the definition of the word “Dixie” (“‘Dixie’ isn’t racist,” July 26). We must remember the English language is a living, constantly changing thing.

Yes it does have a negative connotation especially when used with slave. Many people will roll their eyes and make it appear that the case of someone using the negative connotation of master/slave in ...

Thanks to the evolution of language, technology, and lots of hyperbole, these words used to convey a lot more merit, emotion, or simply seriousness than they do nowadays. Ah, “genius.” Once reserved ...

Use 'semantic gradients' to turn vocabulary study into a shared thinking activity that explores the subtle differences ...

The University of Southern California's School of Social Work will no longer use the word "field" because it "may have connotations for descendants of slavery and immigrant workers that are not benign ...

Much has been said about the remarkable ability humans have to extract meaning from language. That ability is remarkable indeed. In a split second, we perceive a spoken or written word and immediately ...

Everyday objects and people have an emotional meaning. A wool sock might have an emotional value if it was the last thing grandmother knitted before her death. The same applies to words. A stranger's ...

I'm working on a project for which we need to keep a running list of items. Someone suggested that we call it the "Master Tracking List", and I instantly found that a little off-putting. For me, it ...