My latest column has been published in the Malaysia Star . ... Folks from those parts of the world—or even the parts of the United States—that have only known warm climates have a hard time getting a handle on snow, even after a few winters where snow is common. So it occurs to me—...

My latest column in the Malaysia Star. ... A recent New York Times article about Pu’er teas reminded me that I’ve been meaning to talk a bit about the names of food. The article explained that the tea was thought to reduce cholesterol and cure hangovers, so the Pu’er name had become immensely ...

My latest column in the Malaysia Star is about the word “shit.” This paragraph is the key one: [Shit] is, I believe, ready to be heard unbleeped (uncensored) on the government-regulated airwaves in America. It is also ready to be printed in mainstream periodicals without fear of outrage,...

Read my latest column in the Malaysia Star , bitches. ... One of the measures of whether or not a word is considered safe, at least by Americans, is whether or not it’s OK to say it on television during prime time, when the whole family might be watching. “Bitch� is one of those words. In its ...

My lastest slang column in the Malaysia Star explores some new-found slang. ... Over the past few weeks in this space, I’ve shared old slang with you, but now it’s time to look at more recent slang, slang so new it has yet to prove that it will endure.  From The Independent in London comes ...

My latest column from the Malaysia Star. Slang is the language of young people. It is a fast-moving river and although its bends and flows seem the same, they are, they must be, composed of different cascades and crests. We learn the slang of our generation and it is always the slang we know best, b...

There’s room in any dictionary for all parts of speech, and if the amount of mail sent by interested word buffs is any indication, woot—an interjection or exclamation of celebration or revelry—is a favorite. It comes in a variety of spellings offline and on. The most common, woot, ...