In a word: Mrs. Perkins and the art of getting prepositioned

I'm never sure anymore whether I'm standing 'in line' or 'on line.'

In a word: Trend in lowercasing names: A capital idea!

Companies such as amazon, bp, citibank, ebay and intel have gone full lowercase with their logos, which they feel makes them appear "casual and approachable."

In a word: Donald Duck, Usain Bolt and other good sounds

Between the 'babbling brook' and the 'whispering wind,' most examples of susurration make you feel like you're alone in a forest.

In a Word: The lengths we go to describe size and distance

Whether or not a yard was originally the length of King Henry I's arm, as we all know these days it consists of 36 inches, or three feet.

In a word: Unpresidented array of media miscues

If the president's wife is the First Lady, then wouldn't that make the veep's hubby the Second Gentleman?

In a word: That all sounds so foreign to me

In Italy I fancied myself one of the cognoscenti (people in the know), and was living la dolce vita (the sweet life).

In a word: ‘Grams’ — the Russian nesting dolls of language

In a word: Know your nyms — words that describe words

Back when Mr. Leon Leonwood Bean was building his business in Freeport, the lumber dealer in town was Mr. Woodman, making his name an aptronym, or a name that's appropriate for the type of work one does.

In a word: Ways for describing the passage of time

The Buick Century, a car model manufactured on and off since 1936, was so named because it could hit 100 miles per hour back in the day.

In a word: Computer culture gives common words a reboot