“If you say to any thinking person, ‘Let us form a society for the invention of new and subtler words’, he will first of all object that it is the idea of a crank, and then probably say that our ...

We all know that English spelling is rarely a good guide to pronunciation. One big reason for this is the prevalence of schwa in the spoken language. That's why dictionaries and other written guides ...

It's National Spelling Bee Day! Well, it's more than just today — the rounds started Wednesday — but as we type this (and carefully spell-check it), they've entered the finals that will conclude ...

Schwa is the name for the most common sound in English. It is a weak, unstressed sound and it occurs in many words. It is often the sound in grammar words such as articles and prepositions. Getting ...

Chicago’s restaurant landscape is packed with spots that serve up painstakingly refined food with a particular punk-rock insouciance. The origins of that now familiar mix can be traced, in part, to a ...

When I was in the eighth grade, I read Neal Shusterman's The Schwa Was Here for the first time, and it quickly became one of my favorite books. But little did I know that the lessons I learned from ...