Arika Okrent
Mental Floss
Chicago, IL, United States
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Past articles by Arika:
15 Unique Illnesses You Can Only Come Down With in German
The German language is so perfectly suited for these syndromes, coming down with them in any other language just won’t do. → Read More
16 Words That Are Much Older Than They Seem
Every generation likes to think it invented slang anew, but often the latest words are actually very old. → Read More
16 Words That Are Much Older Than They Seem
Every generation likes to think it invented slang anew, but often the latest words are actually very old. → Read More
4 Fake Grammar Rules You Don't Need to Worry About
People wave these rules around all the time. Set them straight—especially on National Grammar Day! → Read More
14 Awesome 19th Century Street Gang Names
Here are 14 (mostly) New York street gangs you wouldn’t want to mess with, even if their names made you laugh. → Read More
11 Words You Might Not Realize Come From “Love”
Whether it's bacteria, a city name, or a day of the week, love can be found in unexpected places—including our vocabulary. → Read More
7 Words That Came About From People Getting Them Wrong
Whether it's pea, newt, or nickname, these words started out as other words entirely. Can you guess their original versions? → Read More
11 Totally Redundant Place Names
Pendle Hill is really Hill Hill Hill. Here are 11 others like that. → Read More
The Cupertino Effect: 11 Spell Check Errors That Made It to Press
Typos and other errors have always managed to find their way into print, even in the most august of publications. → Read More
The Cupertino Effect: 11 Spell Check Errors That Made It to Press
Typos and other errors have always managed to find their way into print, even in the most august of publications. → Read More
11 Suffixes That Gave Us New, Often Terrible Words
Here are some word endings that have become productive to varying degrees. → Read More
7 Common Words With Little-Known Relatives
When some words hit the big time, they left clunky related words behind. → Read More
6 Grammar Lessons Hidden in Christmas Songs
What exactly is going on with the word yon in "Silent Night," and the word troll in "Deck the Halls"? Drop these facts about the grammar in your favorite carols when you're out caroling this holiday season. → Read More
What’s the Difference Between a Gift and a Present?
Those brightly wrapped packages we exchange around the holidays and other special occasions: Sometimes we call them gifts, other times presents. Is there a difference? → Read More
26 of Noah Webster’s Spelling Changes That Didn’t Catch On
Some of Webster's suggested reforms caught on and still mark a difference between American and British writing. But you won't beleev how many of his reforms went nowhere. → Read More
6 Punctuation Marks Hated by Famous Authors
“Cut out all these exclamation points," F. Scott Fizgerald once said. "An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.” → Read More
9 Splendiferous Words from the Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary
The dictionary goes from aardvark to zozimus because "every dictionary has to start with aardvark; otherwise it would have to start with aback, which is just too boring." → Read More
What Is Vocal Fry?
You may have heard of the linguistic fad that’s creeping into U.S. speech and undermining your job chances. → Read More
The Curious Origins of 16 Common Phrases
Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com. → Read More
The Curious Origins of 16 Common Phrases
Chances are, you use some of these expressions in conversation frequently—maybe even every day. But where do they come from, anyway? → Read More