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planetworddc.bsky.social

@planetworddc.bsky.social
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planetworddc.bsky.social @planetworddc.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Happy D.C. Natives Day! Enjoy the sounds, tastes, sights, and language of the city with quintessential D.C. words shared by visitors in our Words Matter gallery, like “jhi,” “Go-Go,” “mumbo,” and “metro.” And to all the D.C. natives out there — what words sound like home to you?
One word that reminds me where I’m from is: “Jhi”; Here’s Why: “Jhi is a word that means “really” in the DMV. Ex: I’m Jhi hungry (I’m really hungry)One word that reminds me where I’m from is: “Go-Go”; Here’s Why: “Go-Go” music reminds me of DC, this is the place to hear and enjoy it.One word that reminds me where I’m from is: “Mumbo”; Here’s why: “The sauce we love on French fries, chicken, everything!”One word that reminds me where I’m from is: “metro”; Here’s why: “Home is where the metro runs with late trains and elevators under construction”
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planetworddc.bsky.social @planetworddc.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Can you pick the lie out of this lineup? Forensic linguists have found that when people lie, they tend to use more verbs, especially modals or auxiliary verbs like “must” and “have.” That string of three verbs in “the dog must have eaten my homework” is the giveaway.
Can you spot the lie? 

1) The dog ate my homework. 
2) The dog must have eaten my homework.
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planetworddc.bsky.social @planetworddc.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Happy birthday to Sabrina Carpenter! In her hit “Manchild,” Carpenter uses songwriting techniques like alliteration, assonance, double entendre, and compound rhyme to make lyrics about a frustrating situationship an absolute joy to sing along to.
“MANCHILD” — Sabrina Carpenter 
You said your phone was broken, just forgot to charge it 
Whole outfit you’re wearing, God, I hope it’s ironic 
Did you just say you’re finished? Didn't know we started 
It’s all just so familiar, baby, what do you call it? 

Assonance: Repeating a vowel sound in different words 
Compound Rhyme: Rhyming words of more than one syllable 
Double Entendre: Two different interpretations 
Alliteration: Repeating a consonant sound at the beginning of words
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planetworddc.bsky.social @planetworddc.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
You know that feeling you get when you discover a perfect word you never knew existed? Meet “kuchisabishii” (Japanese 口寂しい). Literally “lonely mouth,” it describes those moments when “you’re not hungry but your mouth is lonely so you eat anyway.” We’ve all been there…and now you have a word for it!
One Word I Love From Another Language Is: "kuchisabishii" Here's Why: "when your (sic) not hungry but your mouth is lonely so you eat anyway"
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planetworddc.bsky.social @planetworddc.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Grateful to be a museum for polyglots, orators, music enthusiasts, bibliophiles, and everyone who loves words! #Hallelujah #MuseumLoversDay
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planetworddc.bsky.social @planetworddc.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day! It’s one of our favorite annual traditions at Planet Word, one that we’ve been observing since before the museum opened. If you’re in our neighborhood today, look out for Planet Word team members in Franklin Park around lunchtime, giving out pocket-sized poems!
Three Planet Word staff members holding colorful cards with poems, standing outside Franklin School's red brick building on a clear day.
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planetworddc.bsky.social @planetworddc.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
#OnThisDay in 1852, Peter Roget published the first edition of his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases — and gave writers everywhere a way to find the right (precise, correct, exact) word.
Infographic highlighting April 29, 1852, when Peter Roget published his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, surrounded by synonyms like Celebrate, Glorify, and Praise.
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planetworddc.bsky.social @planetworddc.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Every year, the internet rediscovers its favorite misheard lyric. Linguists have a word for that: a mondegreen. But the reason “me” sounds like “May” in that NSYNC line isn’t random — it’s a quirk of how English vowels behave in song. planetwordmuseum.org/whats-in-a-mem…
Definition of "mondegreen" (a misinterpreted or misunderstood word or phrase, especially resulting from a misheard lyric in a song) above the "It's Gonna Be May" meme with Justin Timberlake
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planetworddc.bsky.social @planetworddc.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Ever noticed how a tiny shift in stress can completely change a word’s meaning? In tonal languages, like Mandarin Chinese, words change meaning depending on pitch, but in English, syllable stress can determine a word’s meaning or even part of speech!
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planetworddc.bsky.social @planetworddc.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Happy Earth Day! Like rain, thoughtful language can nurture ideas, spark action, and help grow a better future for us and our planet. What words have helped you flourish?
“Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” — Rumi
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planetworddc.bsky.social @planetworddc.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Nowadays, people use “weird” — from Old English wyrd (“fate”) — to describe strange behavior. But in Shakespeare’s time, the word was tied to the Fates. 18th and 19th c. performances of Macbeth made the “weird sisters” eerie, shifting “weird” toward its modern meaning: strange and uncanny.
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