Ben Zimmer

Ben Zimmer is the language columnist for the Wall Street Journal.

Recently by Ben Zimmer

Showing 21–40 of 53
Did Bob Dylan Pioneer the Phrase “Can’t Even” Back in 1966?

Ben Zimmer

Dec 29, 2015 4:08 PM
So You Just Got Eighty-Sixed From a Bar. Why That Number?

Bob Garfield, Mike Vuolo, and Ben Zimmer

Dec 14, 2015 9:23 AM
Woody Guthrie’s Folk Etymology. It’s a Hootenanny!

Ben Zimmer, Mike Vuolo, and Bob Garfield

Nov 16, 2015 12:05 PM
A Drone, a Bell, and a Suffix. It’s a Real Humdinger!

Ben Zimmer, Mike Vuolo, and Bob Garfield

Oct 19, 2015 10:47 AM
Yogi Berra Turned Linguistic Vice Into Virtue With His Cockeyed Tautologies

Ben Zimmer

Sept 23, 2015 6:17 PM
An Ambitious Enterprise, Quixotic and Unavailing

Ben Zimmer, Mike Vuolo, and Bob Garfield

Sept 21, 2015 9:46 AM
Assessing Jeb Bush’s Bilingualism

Ben Zimmer

Aug 05, 2015 2:46 PM
A Non-French Speaker Won the French Language Scrabble Championship. How Is That Possible?

Ben Zimmer

Aug 05, 2015 10:35 AM
Don't Be a Clown! Guess This Word With Vaudevillian Roots.

Ben Zimmer, Mike Vuolo, and Bob Garfield

June 29, 2015 2:52 PM
Did Bill Simmons Get Fired for “Testicular Fortitude”?

Ben Zimmer

May 11, 2015 10:16 AM
How Stuart Scott Made Booyah His Own

Ben Zimmer

Jan 05, 2015 12:41 PM
Can John Leguizamo Put a Pretty Face on Fugly?

Ben Zimmer

Nov 07, 2014 1:58 PM
Pangrammatic Tweets!

Ben Zimmer

June 06, 2014 11:46 AM
Don’t Print Stupid S%#t: Should Newspapers Censor The “Obama Doctrine”?

Ben Zimmer

June 04, 2014 12:45 PM
How the Letter “K” Landed a Turkish Columnist in Jail

Ben Zimmer

May 02, 2014 3:41 PM
Sorry, That’s Not an Emoticon in a 1648 Poem :(

Ben Zimmer

April 15, 2014 4:07 PM
How Sid Caesar Learned Double-Talk

Ben Zimmer

Feb 14, 2014 9:47 AM
An Olympic Snowboarder Said “Huck It,’ and the BBC Freaked Out

Ben Zimmer

Feb 09, 2014 2:17 PM
A Reporter Said “Screw the Pooch” on Face the Nation. Where Does That Phrase Come From?

Ben Zimmer

Jan 14, 2014 1:33 PM
Nancy Pelosi Told House Democrats to “Embrace the Suck.’ Where Did That Phrase Come From?

Ben Zimmer

Dec 13, 2013 10:51 AM