The now-familiar symbol "@" is nearly five centuries old: it shows up in a 1536 letter from an Italian merchant. (Back then it was used to indicate a unit of measure, the amphora.) The New York Times Bits blog has more.

Ever wonder how Internet slang mutates, like "LOL" becoming "lulz" and "OMG" becoming "ZOMG"? Grant Barrett has the answers.

Visual Thesaurus contributor Mark Peters explores the phrasal formula "X is the Y of Z" for the online music magazine JamsBio. Find out who earns the title the Ozzy Osbourne of the banking world, or the Barry White of the apocalypse.

Linguist Heidi Harley is back with her fifth annual roundup of language-related jokes on "The Simpsons." Click here for the latest cromulent crop.

How the word "wombat" entered the English language turns out to be a surprisingly complex story. Australian linguist David Nash tells the tale here.

John Updike, one of the greatest writers of his generation, died Tuesday at the age of 76. Some remembrances:

Guardian Books

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Newsweek

Slate

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