Back in grade school, words like "onomatopoeia" and "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" seemed insanely complicated and long. Surprisingly, neither of these is the ...

'Believe', 'separate' and 'surprise' are some of the most commonly used words in the English language yet they are commonly misspelt. Why is that? What's so difficult about spelling English words that ...

Even if you don't know the meaning of the Oxford University Press' word of the year for 2025, you've probably been a victim ...

Before a thought becomes fully formed — before a movement finds its shape or an idea gains its edges —it exists in a hazy, ...

English, whatever its merits as a language, is a bitch to spell. There are so many rules, and so many exceptions, and yet in the end you have to learn a lot of words on a case-by-case basis. If future ...

Henry is the author of Enough Is Enuf: Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell Detroit News, December 1906. Roosevelt sits stunned in a boxing ring after losing his match with the ...

This post is in partnership with History Today. The article below was originally published at HistoryToday.com. Note: Usually, History Today posts appear on TIME.com with American spellings. For this ...