Nitsuh Abebe

Americans have been taken with scams for years. Now, the word is being used for any system that ends with somebody profiting at their expense.

The label applies to the country, but also two whole continents. Our claim over it is yet another way for us to annoy the entire hemisphere.

Eliminating whatever stands between you and a task sounds nice, but it probably has more to offer companies than users.

The word is toyed with at an amused and dismissive arm’s length, until it is miles from where it began.

The prefix has been used as a marketing tactic for decades. But when life feels extreme, it more often means something negative.

Gen Z might be using the abbreviation for “point of view” incorrectly. But linguists think it’s exciting.

25,000 people responded to our poll. Here are their top picks.

English’s hybrid history, silent letters and overcomplicated rules are what make the competition fierce.

How Wi-Fi-connecting, app-based tech led to a backlash in the name of simplicity.

How the marketing term turned seemingly everything into a battle-ready product.

Sometimes it’s just a put-down. Sometimes it’s darkly ideological. That’s true of a lot of slang these days.

We decided that filtering information was malicious. That didn’t mean we stopped doing it.

Today’s spin on the idea of personal agency is convenient for tech C.E.O.s, who boast that their models work just fine without us.

It’s blunt instead of vague, brash instead of evasive, bold instead of cautious. And yet the word obfuscates as much as old defense jargon.

A rallying cry for Democrats taps into frustration over the inaccessibility of a modestly nice American existence — even for those with a decent income.

Exclamation marks, ellipses and ‘haha’ can’t fix our growing inability to communicate.

From “Ayo Edebiri” to “this is fine,” puzzles reveal a portrait of the people who make and solve them.

There are new words for how we process bad news. They’re cynical, hopeful or maybe delusional.

From game theory to incels, how everything got ‘-maxxed.'

The debate about ChatGPT’s use of the em dash signifies a shift in not only how we write, but what writing is for.