etymology

How We Got Stuck in the Ongoing Nightmare of Calling Pizza ’Za

We failed to stop COVID from spreading, but perhaps there’s still time to contain ’za before it truly gets out of control

The Curious Origins of ‘High as Balls’

As a literal comparison, ‘high as balls’ makes no sense. But it reveals a ton about why slang works and why we love to use it

The Problem With Calling HIV-Negative People ‘Clean’

How a metaphor for living without HIV/AIDS hurts the poz community

America Lost Its Way When We Switched From ‘Porno’ to ‘Porn’

What we lost when we dropped that little ‘o’