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Study groups and quizzes can help, but one studying technique stands out above the rest. Hill Street Studios / Getty Images

What it takes to become a spelling bee champ

The road to becoming a champion speller is made easier with support from family and friends, but ultimately it depends on an individual student’s commitment to learning, a scholar writes.
Warlpiri Dictionary contributors. Photo: Jeff Bruer, PAW Media, for Aboriginal Studies Press/AIATSIS

Six decades, 210 Warlpiri speakers and 11,000 words: how a groundbreaking First Nations dictionary was made

The Warlpiri Dictionary has been 60 years in the making – and it’s shortlisted for the 2023 Australian Book Industry Awards, a rarity for a dictionary.
The coronavirus forced the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary to break with tradition. Illustration by Anurag Papolu/The Conversation; dictionary photo by Spauln via Getty Images and model of COVID-19 by fpm/iStock via Getty Images

How COVID-19 is changing the English language

Updates to the Oxford English Dictionary provide a fascinating glimpse into how language changes in the face of rapid and unprecedented social and economic disruption.
It’s a simple word with a strange history. Andrii Oleksiienko/shutterstock.com

Why do we say ‘OK’?

The word ‘OK’ has only been around for 180 years, but it’s become the most spoken word on the planet.

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