language

Vintage Clock-a-Word game toy-gigapixel-width-750px

1960s

Remember the old Clock-A-Word puzzle game from the ’60s?

Press the Clock-A-Word lever and new group of letters appears – the clock starts ticking and you try make the longest possible word fast.

Native American Indian sign language guide

1920s

Native American sign language: Illustrated guides to 400 gestures

The illustrations here show how to communicate using Native American/’Indian’ sign language, and come from two vintage sources: one in the ’50s, and the other from the ’20s.

1970s

Schoolhouse Rock: A Noun Is a Person, Place or Thing (1973)

Between Saturday morning cartoon shows, animated Schoolhouse Rock was on TV from 1973-1985. Here’s a Grammar Rock classic, A Noun Is a Person, Place or Thing!

1920s

Flapper slang dictionary: 120 words to help you talk like they did back in the ’20s

If you don’t know your dingledangler from your Kluck from your zoozer, you’ll want to know this Flapper slang from the 1920s!

1970s

Learn the lingo from the Watergate impeachment inquiry, like ‘surreptitious entries’ & ‘the game’ (1973)

The alert Watergate TV addict should have spotted it by now: a catchy word here, a switchable phrase there. Here’s a look at the linguistic splendors of Watergate.