10 tips for saving on plane tickets, even when prices are bonkers

A little creativity and flexibility can save you buckets of money on airfares.

Nov 24, 2024

Airfares have skyrocketed, but there are deals to be had if you know how to search for them. – Photo credit: Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

If you’ve looked into booking flights the past few months, you’ve probably experienced some serious sticker shock. As a travel junkie, I peruse plane tickets regularly for fun, and I’ve seen some absolutely nutso prices, especially during peak summer dates. You can always expect to pay more during popular travel times, but it’s not usually this bad.

According to CNBC, bonkers prices are not just a figment of our imagination. Plane ticket prices have risen 25% in the past year, far outpacing the rising inflation we’re feeling elsewhere. Part of the reason is fuel costs are up—by a whopping 150%. Another reason is that airlines are trying to recover some of their losses that occurred during the pandemic. Finally, people are desperate to travel, so demand is high and people are apparently willing to shell out gobs of dough to get out of Dodge.

However, just because ticket prices have climbed doesn’t mean there aren’t deals to be had. You just have to know where, when and how to find them.

Finding deals does take a little work. To really get the best prices, you have to be willing to play around with your travel variables (dates/times/airlines/airports/destinations), so it’s not like there’s some magical, one-size-fits-all money-saving solution. But these guidelines and tips will help give you a place to start to save money on airfare, even when prices go up.

1. When you travel matters far more than when you book your plane tickets.

People often ask, “When’s the best time to buy plane tickets?” I’ve heard everything from certain days of the week to certain time frames before your planned departure being the best time to buy. There is a general guideline for when to book that’s frequently shared by travel experts:

Domestic flights: 1 to 3 months in advance

International flights: 2 to 8 months in advance

However, plane ticket prices change constantly, every airline prices their flights differently and the volatility of fuel prices makes a lot of this unpredictable.

What matters more than when you book is when you actually travel. Demand is fairly predictable and peak times will almost always be more expensive. Summer, three-day weekends, the spring break period (mid-March through mid-April), Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks are bound to set you back unless you are really flexible in the dates you can travel.

(One caveat on holidays: Because Thanksgiving is a solely American holiday and most people spend it with their families here, it can be a great time to travel internationally, as demand to leave the country is low that week.)

Off-peak is where it’s at. Not everyone can swing it with work and school schedules, but if you can, late September through October, late January through early March, and most of May tend to be the cheapest times to fly.

2. Check airfares frequently, as prices change constantly—and sometimes drastically.

Airfares are always changing. In fact, prices can change several times a day. One reason I like to peruse plane tickets frequently, even if I’m not actively making travel plans, is so that I can actually recognize when a ticket is a good deal.

Google Flights is your best friend for this. If you have someplace you think you might want to go someday, start doing some daily or weekly searches on the Google Flights calendar (which I’ll explain below). If you have a specific destination and dates already locked down, the same rule stands. Check frequently so that 1) You know the range of prices and 2) Can tell when a good price comes along.

3. Get to know Google Flights and its various filters.

Google Flights is easily the most versatile and user-friendly flight search tool, and the great news is, it’s free! The only real bummer is there’s no app, so you have to work from a browser. That’s a small price to pay for being able to search almost every airline at once and see entire months’ calendars of the lowest-priced tickets, though.

airfare, plane tickets, google flights — 7-day, round-trip airfares from Seattle to Chicago range from $140 to $472 in August and September. Screenshot via <a href="https://www.google.com/travel/flights?tfs=CBwQARooagwIAxIIL20vMGQ5anISCjIwMjItMDYtMjRyDAgDEggvbS8wMV9kNBooagwIAxIIL20vMDFfZDQSCjIwMjItMDYtMjhyDAgDEggvbS8wZDlqcnABggELCP___________wFAAUgBmAEBhttps://www.google.com/travel/flights/search?tfs=CBwQAhooagwIAxIIL20vMGQ5anISCjIwMjItMDgtMTNyDAgDEggvbS8wMV9kNBooagwIAxIIL20vMDFfZDQSCjIwMjItMDgtMjByDAgDEggvbS8wZDlqcnABggELCP___________wFAAUgBmAEB">Google Flights</a>

Google Flights shows you the same prices you’ll see on the airlines’ websites, and it can be much easier to use than any individual airline website. (I don’t know why so many airline website fare calendars are so cumbersome to navigate, but they are.) You can use Google Flights to find the best price, then go to the airline website to find that flight to book. (Thrifty Traveler has a nice, detailed tutorial for utilizing the various Google Flights filters.)

5. But don’t book a flight until you check Southwest Airlines first.

Southwest Airlines is not in Google Flights, so you have to search its website separately. A bit of a pain, but worth it. Southwest is frequently (though not always) cheaper than other airlines—and it lets you check two bags per person for free. Often that checked bag fee savings alone is worth booking on Southwest. Some of its planes don’t have the bells and whistles of other airlines—the last two Southwest flights I took didn’t even have electrical outlets to plug in my phone or computer—but I’ve always found the crew to be friendly and service to be quite good.

(One note: You don’t get to choose your seat ahead of time on Southwest, so if you’re traveling with a group and want to sit together it can get dicey. Checking in right at the 24-hour mark puts you closer to the front of the queue to board, but there’s still no guarantee to get the seat you want. For some, that’s a dealbreaker, but for others, it’s worth the savings.)

6. Search for one-way tickets in addition to round-trip fares.

This piece of advice may come as a surprise, as many of us were taught that booking one-way tickets was way more expensive than booking round-trip. That’s no longer the case. I always search for both round-trip and one-way tickets, and I frequently find two one-ways—often on two different airlines—to be cheaper than a round-trip ticket. Who knew?

7. Watch out for hidden fees and exclusions on discount carriers.

That Frontier or Spirit or Allegiant Airlines flight might look dirt cheap, but when you find out it doesn’t even include a carry-on bag in that price, you may find that it’s not worth it. Southwest is unique in that it is a lower-cost airline that doesn’t charge extra fees and actually includes more free baggage than most standard airlines. Most discount airlines tack on fees for everything from bags to snacks, so it’s good to know what’s included and what’s not in your airfare. Discount carriers will get you where you’re going, but if you want to take anything with you, you might end up actually paying more in the end.

8. Search alternative airports near your departure and destination locations.

If you’re flying to or from a large city, there are usually multiple airports you can choose from. And if you’re flying to or from a small town, there are often airports within an hour’s drive that may (or may not) be significantly cheaper to fly in and out of. You may be surprised by how much you can save using alternative airports that you didn’t even know existed, so do a quick Google Maps search for airports nearby and search those in Google Flights as well. (Depending on where you’re going, some smaller airports in large metro areas might actually get you closer to where you need to be on your vacation anyway. I know this can be the case in Southern California, at the very least.)

9. The more flexible you can be with travel dates and times, the better.

This is probably the biggest key factor in saving money on flights. I mentioned the off-peak times savings earlier, but even changing travel plans by just a day can save you a ton. People often don’t realize how much prices can vary for the same route within the same week or month. For instance, looking right now at Seattle to Chicago one-way tickets, prices in November range from $70 to $249. You can see it in the Google Flights screenshot above as well. Even just a one-day difference can mean paying double the price, so the more flexible your dates, the better your chances of snagging a reasonably priced ticket.

10. Learn about the credit card/airline/hotel points and miles travel game.

Most of this airfare savings advice is applicable to the short term, but by far the best way to save on plane tickets is to basically get them for free. That’s a long game. Sometimes called “travel hacking,” the points/miles game is a fairly complicated but incredibly valuable hobby to take up if you want to save loads of money on travel.

I started playing the game far later than I should have and wish someone had impressed upon me how mind-blowing the savings were going to be when you know what you’re doing. If you use a credit card that gives you points for cash back or to use for other things, you will get much more out of it if you learn how to maximize those points to make travel much, much more affordable. (I promise I’m not selling anything here. It’s genuinely something I recommend to everyone, simply because it’s amazing what people can do when they learn how the points/miles game works. You can learn more about it here.)

Even when plane ticket prices skyrocket, there are always some deals to be had with a little creativity and flexibility. Hopefully, these tips can help you save on airfare as you make travel plans during this weird, wonky, unpredictable time.

This article originally appeared two years ago.

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Youth-led party for community engagement, MEDEA, Tanzania Captured by James Roh for Pura

Culture, Education, Empowered Women, Equality, Family, Identity, Modern Families

The next generation of female leaders has arrived. Here’s how they’re making sure they (and every girl) get a chance to learn.

Malala Fund and their local partners, with support from Pura, help girls find their voice. The result: greater access to education and a better world.

Sarah Watts

3/8/2026

Music, community and joy drive real change

In a small village in Pwani, a district on Tanzania’s coast, a massive dance party is coming to a close. For the past two hours, locals have paraded through the village streets, singing and beating ngombe drums; now, in a large clearing, a woman named Sheilla motions for everyone to sit facing a large projector screen. A film premiere is about to begin.

It’s an unusual way to kick off a film about gender bias, inequality, early marriage, and other barriers that prevent girls from accessing education in Tanzania. But in Pwani and beyond, local organizations supported by Malala Fund and funded by Pura are finding creative, culturally relevant ways like this one to capture people’s interest.

The film ends and Sheilla, the Communications and Partnership Lead for Media for Development and Advocacy (MEDEA), stands in front of the crowd once again, asking the audience to reflect: What did you think about the film? How did it relate to your own experience? What can we learn?

Sheilla explains that, once the community sees the film, “It brings out conversations within themselves, reflective conversations.” The resonance and immediate action create a ripple effect of change.

MEDEA Screening Audience in Tanzania. Captured by James Roh for Pura

Across Tanzania, gender-based violence often forces adolescent girls out of the classroom. This and other barriers — including child marriage, poverty, conflict, and discrimination — prevent girls from completing their education around the world.

Sheilla and her team are using film and radio programs to address the challenges girls face in their communities. MEDEA’s ultimate goal is to affirm education as a fundamental right for everyone, and to ensure that every member of a community understands how girls’ education contributes to a stronger whole and how to be an ally for their sisters, daughters, granddaughters, friends, nieces, and girlfriends.

Sheilla’s story is one of many that inspired Heart on Fire, a new fragrance from the Pura x Malala Fund Collection that blends the warm, earthy spices of Tanzania with a playful, joyful twist. Here’s how Pura is using scent as a tool to connect the world and inspire action.

A partnership focused on local impact, on a global mission

Pura, a fragrance company that recognizes education as both freedom and a human right, has partnered with Malala Fund since 2022. In order to defend every girl’s right to access and complete 12 years of education, Malala Fund partners with local organizations in countries where the educational barriers are the greatest. They invest in locally-led solutions because they know that those who are closest to the problems are best equipped to solve and build durable solutions, like MEDEA, which works with communities to challenge discrimination against girls and change beliefs about their education.

But local initiatives can thrive and scale more powerfully with global support, which is why Pura is using their own superpower, the power of scent, to connect people around the world with the women and girls in these local communities.

The Pura x Malala Fund Collection incorporates ingredients naturally found in Tanzania, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Brazil: countries where Malala Fund operates to address systemic education barriers. Eight percent of net revenue from the Pura x Malala Fund Collection will be donated to Malala Fund directly, but beyond financial support, the Collection is also a love letter to each unique community, blending notes like lemon, jasmine, cedarwood, and clove to transport people, ignite their senses, and help them draw inspiration and hope from the global movement for girls’ education. Through scent, people can connect to the courage, joy, and tenacity of girls and local leaders, all while uniting in a shared commitment to education: the belief that supporting girls’ rights in one community benefits all of us, everywhere.

You’ve already met Sheilla. Now see how Naiara and Mama Habiba are building unique solutions to ensure every girl can learn freely and dare to dream.

Naiara Leite is reimagining what’s possible in Brazil

Julia with Odara in Brazil. Captured by Luisa Dorr for Pura

In Brazil, where pear trees and coconut plantations cover the Northeastern Coast, girls like ten-year-old Julia experience a different kind of educational barrier than girls in Tanzania. Too often, racial discrimination contributes to high dropout rates among Black, quilombola and Indigenous girls in the country.

“In the logic of Brazilian society, Black people don’t need to study,” says Naiara Leite, Executive Coordinator of Odara, a women-led organization and Malala Fund partner. Bahia, the state where Odara is based, was once one of the largest slave-receiving territories in the Americas, and because of that history, deeply-ingrained, anti-Black prejudice is still widespread. “Our role and the image constructed around us is one of manual labor,” Naiara says.

But education can change that. In 2020, with assistance from a Malala Fund grant, Odara launched its first initiative for improving school completion rates among Black, quilombola, and Indigenous girls: “Ayomidê Odara”. The young girls mentored under the program, including Julia, are known as the Ayomidês. And like the Pura x Malala Fund Collection’s Brazil: Breath of Courage scent, the Ayomidês are fierce, determined, and bursting with energy.

Ayomidês with Odara in Brazil. Captured by Luisa Dorr for Pura

Ayomidês take part in weekly educational sessions where they explore subjects like education and ethnic-racial relations. The girls are encouraged to find their own voices by producing Instagram lives, social media videos, and by participating in public panels. Already, the Ayomidês are rewriting the narrative on what’s possible for Afro-Brazilian girls to achieve. One of the earliest Ayomidês, a young woman named Debora, is now a communications intern. Another former Ayomidê, Francine, works at UNICEF, helping train the next generation of adolescent leaders. And Julia has already set her sights on becoming a math teacher or a model.

“These are generations of Black women who did not have access to a school,” Naiara says. “These are generations of Black women robbed daily of their dreams. And we’re telling them that they could be the generation in their family to write a new story.”

Mama Habiba is reframing the conversation in Nigeria

Centre for Girls' Education, Nigeria. Captured by James Roh for Pura

In Mama Habiba’s home country of Nigeria, the scents of starfruit, ylang ylang and pineapple, all incorporated into the Pura x Malala Collection’s “Nigeria: Hope for Tomorrow,” can be found throughout the vibrant markets. Like these native scents, Mama Habiba says that the Nigerian girls are also bright and passionate, but too often they are forced to leave school long before their potential fully blooms.

“Some of these schools are very far, and there is an issue of quality, too,” Mama Habiba says. “Most parents find out when their children are in school, the girls are not learning. So why allow them to continue?”

When girls drop out of secondary school, marriage is often the alternative. In Nigeria, one in three girls is married before the age of 18. When this happens, girls are unable to fulfill their potential, and their families and communities lose out on the social, health and economic benefits.

Completing secondary school delays marriage, and according to UNESCO, educated girls become women who raise healthier children, lift their families out of poverty and contribute to more peaceful, resilient communities.

Centre for Girls’ Education, Nigeria. Captured by James Roh for Pura

To encourage young girls to stay in school, the Centre for Girls’ Education, a nonprofit in Nigeria founded by Mama Habiba and supported by Malala Fund and Pura, has pioneered an initiative that’s similar to the Ayomidê workshops in Brazil: safe spaces. Here, girls meet regularly to learn literacy, numeracy, and other issues like reproductive health. These safe spaces also provide an opportunity for the girls to role-play and learn to advocate for themselves, develop their self-image, and practice conversations with others about their values, education being one of them. In safe spaces, Mama Habiba says, girls start to understand “who she is, and that she is a girl who has value. She has the right to negotiate with her parents on what she really feels or wants.”

“When girls are educated, they can unlock so many opportunities,” Mama Habiba says. “It will help the economy of the country. It will boost so many opportunities for the country. If they are given the opportunity, I think the sky is not the limit. It is the starting point for every girl.”

From parades, film screenings to safe spaces and educational programs, girls and local leaders are working hard to strengthen the quality, safety and accessibility of education and overcome systemic challenges. They are encouraging courageous behavior and reminding us all that education is freedom.

Experience the Pura x Malala Fund Collection here, and connect with the stories of real girls leading change across the globe.

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A woman looks out a window. – Photo credit: Canva

Education, Skills

10 uncommon words that perfectly capture feelings that feel impossible to explain

When we have words for a feeling, it becomes easier to understand.

Emily Shiffer

3/27/2026

Sometimes, explaining exactly how you feel can be hard. Sure, basic emotions like happy, sad, or angry are easy to name. But pinpointing the exact word for certain complex human emotions can be difficult. (And often, there isn’t an English word to convey those feelings.)

But those with an expanded vocabulary (or access to a dictionary) can often procure uncommon words for these emotions, helping them feel more emotionally intelligent.

On Reddit, people shared 10 of their favorite rare words that describe hard-to-explain feelings.

Sonder

“‘Sonder’ meaning the sudden realization that every random stranger you pass has a life as complex and messy as your own.” – ownaword

Merriam-Webster defines sonder as “the realization and understanding that all other people have lives as complex as one’s own.”

Sonder also has an interesting origin story. “The word was introduced by American author John Koenig in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, a collection of words coined to describe feelings, emotional states, etc., for which the English language seems to lack a current word,” Merriam-Webster notes. “The dictionary was initiated as a website in 2009 and became a printed book in 2021.”

Ennui

“Ennui’s pretty well known, but not to everyone I guess. Ennui (pronounced ahn-WEE) is a noun defining a deep feeling of weariness, dissatisfaction, or listlessness caused by boredom or a lack of interest. It is more profound than simple boredom, often carrying an existential, ‘world-weary’ tone. Common synonyms include tedium, languor, apathy, and melancholy.” – nworbleinad

Merriam-Webster defines ennui as a “feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction; boredom.”

Eudaimonia

“Eudaimonia – much deeper than the usually given surface definition of happiness or well-being, philosophically speaking it means the deep and persistent feeling of flourishing because you are living in accord with the true nature of your being, or that you are in alignment with your true purpose.” – TurangaLeela80

Merriam-Webster defines eudaimonia as “well-being; happiness. Aristotelianism: a life of activity governed by reason.”

Encyclopaedia Britannica expands on eudaimonia in reference to philosopher Aristotle, who wrote two ethical treatises (Nicomachean Ethics and Eudemian Ethics) that explore the concept: “For Aristotle, eudaimonia is the highest human good, the only human good that is desirable for its own sake (as an end in itself) rather than for the sake of something else (as a means toward some other end).”

Frisson

“I wasn’t aware of the term ‘frisson’ until very recently, but now it comes to mind all the time when I have the experience. It refers to the aesthetic chills one can get from some external stimuli that’s deeply stirring and pleasurable. I most often experience it during masterful solo musical performances.” – common_grounder

Merriam-Webster defines frisson as “a sudden strong feeling or emotion.”

Piquancy

“Piquancy – the quality of being pleasantly stimulating or exciting.” – Putrid_Rock5526

Merriam-Webster defines piquancy (the quality or state of being piquant) as “agreeably stimulating to the taste, especially: having a pleasantly pungent, sharp, or spicy taste; engagingly provocative or stimulating, having a lively and often mischievous charm.”

Weltschmerz

“Weltschmerz (Welt = world + Schmerz = pain) — the sadness and discouragement you feel when you look at the state of the world and it falls painfully short of how you wish it was.” – canarialdisease

Merriam-Webster defines weltschmerz as “mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state; a mood of sentimental sadness.”

Weltschmerz first appeared in 1827. “The word weltschmerz initially came into being as a by-product of the European Romanticism movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries,” Merriam-Webster explains. “A combining of the German words for ‘world’ (Welt) and ‘pain’ (Schmerz), weltschmerz aptly captures the melancholy and pessimism that often characterized the artistic expressions of the era.”

@donhuely
The Daily Word: Weltschmerz Definition: (noun) A weary or pessimistic feeling about life; an apathetic or vaguely yearning attitude. Sorrow that one feels and accepts as one’s necessary portion in life; sentimental pessimism. Performed by: Don Huely Written by: Don Huely with ChatGPT Edited by: Dougie McFallendar Physical and psychological therapist to Don Huely: Fergus O’Shaughnessy Music: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff & Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland #huely #wordoftheday #thedailyword #Dougie69mf #fergusOshay #Rachmaninoff #Weltschmerz #Copland @fergusoshay @dougie69mf
♬ original sound – Don Huely – Don Huely

Anhedonia

“Anhedonia: The inability to experience pleasure or a loss of interest or satisfaction in previously enjoyable activities.” – adulting4kids

Merriam-Webster defines anhedonia as “a psychological condition characterized by inability to experience pleasure in normally pleasurable acts.”

Numinous

“Numinous: Describing an experience that is both awe-inspiring and spiritual.” – adulting4kids

Merriam-Webster defines numinous as “supernatural, mysterious; filled with a sense of the presence of divinity; appealing to the higher emotions or to the aesthetic sense.”

Torpor

“Torpor: A state of physical or mental inactivity, lethargy, or apathy.” – adulting4kids

Merriam-Webster defines torpor as “a state of mental and motor inactivity with partial or total insensibility; a state of lowered physiological activity typically characterized by reduced metabolism, heart rate, respiration, and body temperature that occurs in varying degrees especially in hibernating and estivating animals. Apathy, dullness.”

Lachrymose

“Lachrymose: Inclined to weep or cry easily, often describing a melancholic or tearful mood.” – adulting4kids

Merriam-Webster defines lachrymose as “given to tears or weeping, tearful; tending to cause tears, mournful.”

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Education, Skills

One simple word makes children 30% more likely to cooperate. It works on adults, too.

Human psychology really isn’t that complicated, if you think about it.

Tod Perry

Upworthy Staff

3/17/2026

Human psychology really isn’t that complicated, if you think about it. Everybody wants to see themselves in a positive light. That’s the key to understanding Jonah Berger’s simple tactic that makes people 30% more likely to do what you ask. Berger is a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the bestselling author of “Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way.”

Berger explained the technique using a Stanford University study involving preschoolers. The researchers messed up a classroom and made two similar requests to groups of 5-year-olds to help clean up.

One group was asked, “Can you help clean?” The other was asked, “Can you be a helper and clean up?” The kids who were asked if they wanted to be a “helper” were 30% more likely to want to clean the classroom. The children weren’t interested in cleaning but wanted to be known as “helpers.”

Berger calls the reframing of the question as turning actions into identities.

“It comes down to the difference between actions and identities. We all want to see ourselves as smart and competent and intelligent in a variety of different things,” Berger told Big Think. “But rather than describing someone as hardworking, describing them as a hard worker will make that trait seem more persistent and more likely to last. Rather than asking people to lead more, tell them, ‘Can you be a leader?’ Rather than asking them to innovate, can you ask them to ‘Be an innovator’? By turning actions into identities, you can make people a lot more likely to engage in those desired actions.”

Berger says that learning to reframe requests to appeal to people’s identities will make you more persuasive.

“Framing actions as opportunities to claim desired identities will make people more likely to do them,” Berger tells CNBC Make It. “If voting becomes an opportunity to show myself and others that I am a voter, I’m more likely to do it.”

This technique doesn’t just work because people want to see themselves in a positive light. It also works for the opposite. People also want to avoid seeing themselves being portrayed negatively.

“Cheating is bad, but being a cheater is worse. Losing is bad, being a loser is worse,” Berger says.

The same tactic can also be used to persuade ourselves to change our self-concept. Saying you like to cook is one thing, but calling yourself a chef is an identity. “I’m a runner. I’m a straight-A student. We tell little kids, ‘You don’t just read, you’re a reader,’” Berger says. “You do these things because that’s the identity you hold.”

Berger’s work shows how important it is to hone our communication skills. By simply changing one word, we can get people to comply with our requests more effectively. But, as Berger says, words are magic and we have to use them skillfully. “We think individual words don’t really matter that much. That’s a mistake,” says Berger. “You could have excellent ideas, but excellent ideas aren’t necessarily going to get people to listen to you.”

This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.

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A woman looks embarrassed in her classroom. – Photo credit: Canva

Education, Skills

Mortified teacher accidentally called a student ‘sweetie,’ and folks swooped in to fix the damage

They called a teen boy “sweetie,” and the class fell silent.

Tod Perry

3/17/2026

Sometimes when we interact with people, we can fall into autopilot mode and say something we don’t mean. Case in point: when someone accidentally ends a professional call with “I love you,” as if they were talking to a spouse, instead of a formal goodbye—or when a student accidentally refers to their teacher as “mom.”

The reason we sometimes feel like we’ve “zoned out” or acted without conscious effort is a psychological phenomenon known as automaticity. Automaticity can be very helpful when we’re doing complex tasks like catching a football or when we’re doing things that shouldn’t require much mental energy, such as brushing our teeth. However, when we’re on autopilot, we sometimes say silly things, and this teacher is a perfect example.

A woman slapping her forehead. Photo credit: Canva

A teacher’s incredibly embarrassing moment

“I’m a high school teacher (44, been doing this for like 15 years) and today during 6th period, I was helping this kid, let’s call him Marcus, with a geometry proof,” the teacher explained in a now-deleted Reddit post. “He was really trying, you know? Had his pencil behind his ear, kept erasing, the whole thing. And when he finally got it, I just… I said, ‘There you go, sweetie!’”

“The room went *silent*. Like that record-scratch moment you see in movies, except it was real and happening to my actual life,” the teacher explained. “Marcus just stared at me. I tried to recover with ‘I mean… good job, Marcus,’ but the damage was done. By the time the bell rang, I could hear them already talking about it in the hallway.”

Students laughing. Photo credit: Canva

Why did the teacher call the student “sweetie”?

The teacher has a 12-year-old daughter they call “sweetie” approximately 600 times a day, so, of course, it was bound to slip out at some point. This time, it just happened to be to Marcus in geometry class. After the school day, the teacher was fraught with questions: “Do these things just blow over? Will Marcus ever make eye contact with me again?”

The post received some funny responses and genuine encouragement.

“It’s good to see there’s a teacher version of calling the teacher mom,” a commenter wrote.

“I once called my English teacher Dad in an otherwise silent classroom. He was only 24, a strawberry blond, and he blushed,” another added.

One commenter thought the teacher should take the Curb Your Enthusiasm approach:

“Double down. Call more kids ‘sweetie.’ Now it’s normalized, and you haven’t humiliated just Marcus (or yourself). There’s a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode about this! Richard Lewis hits his new gf with a premature ‘honey’ and then predictably spirals when she’s weirded out and tries to overcompensate by calling everyone he sees ‘honey’ in front of her.”

Finally, a lot of folks told the teacher everything would blow over

“It will blow over,” a commenter wrote. “I don’t know where you’re from, but calling people little things like that is common everywhere, as far as I know. If a cashier said ‘thanks sweetie’ to me or something I would think literally nothing of it. Seems an overreaction from them. If one of them accidentally called you mum, they would get some banter for it, and then it would be forgotten about. Happens to us all!”

The teacher’s story is a great reminder that we all go on autopilot sometimes and slip up, and there’s no need to feel too bad about it. But just be careful what you call your loved ones at home. It may be the next thing you call a coworker.

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A cassette tape from the '80s. – Photo credit: via Canva/Photos

Culture, Education, Generations, Popular, Teachers

Millennial history teacher explains the 3 phases of Gen X and why they were ‘forgotten’

“They just want to be left alone.”

Tod Perry

Upworthy Staff

3/16/2026

Generation X occupies an interesting time in history, for those who care to recognize that they actually exist. They were born between 1965 and 1980 and came into this world at an interesting inflection point: women were becoming a larger part of the workplace and divorce was at the highest point in history. This left Gen X to be the least parented generation in recent history.

Gen X was overlooked in their domestic lives and culturally were overshadowed by Baby Boomers with their overpowering nostalgia for Woodstock, The Beatles, and every cultural moment celebrated in Forest Gump. Once Boomer navel-gazing nostalgia began to wane, a much larger and over-parented generation, the Millennials, came on the scene.

“Whereas Boomers were the ‘me generation’ and millennials were the ‘me me me generation,’ Gen X has become the ‘meh’ generation,” Emily Stewart writes at Business Insider. But even if Gen X is a little aloof, that doesn’t mean they aren’t totally rad, awesome, trippindicular, and that it’d be bogus to define them any other way. To explain the unique history of Gen X and why they’re often overlooked, history teacher Lauren Cella created a timeline on TikTok to explain them to her Gen Z students.

@laurencella92
A love letter to Gen X from your millennial cousin? Gen X didn’t start the fire, so after this I will just leave them alone because they do not care ? But seriously for a generation that sometimes gets “forgotten” and stuck between the larger boomer or millennial cohorts, the genres they created paved the way for pop culture as we know it. I’m still not sure who let kids watch “The Day After” on TV or play on those hot metal playgrounds, but Gen X survived to tell the tale. Today, the so called “latchkey” kids, born 1965-1980 are actually super involved as parents, aunts, uncles, teachers (or maybe even grandparents)?. Kids today want to say they are “built different” but I think Gen X is the one holding down that title because they grew up tough, they saw too much, they made it out, and they know exactly who they are and wouldn’t have it any other way.✌️ g#genx
♬ original sound – laurencella

In Cella’s video, she divides Gen X into three distinct phases.

Phase 1: 1970s stagflation and changing families

“Gas shortages meant stagflation. So parents either both had to work or maybe they were divorced. So that meant microwave TV dinners and kids that sort of raised themselves,” Cella explains. “There was no parenting blogs, there was no after-school travel sports, emailing. Like, none of that existed. Bored? Go outside.”

Phase 2: The neon ‘80s

“But then came the 1980s, where everything was big and loud. The hair, the bangs, the Reaganomics, mass consumerism (because now we can trade with China). The whole media just exploded,” Cella says. “But now we have TV, we have movies, we have TV, movies, home movies, TV movies, favorite TV movies, music, music, Videos, music, video, television. All these different genres and all these different cliques and all these different ways that you can express yourself.”

Phase 3: 1990s post-Cold War Skepticism

“Gen X sort of comes into the 1990s more sarcastic and skeptical,” Cella continues. “The Cold War ending meant that they rejected the excess of the eighties. And there’s the shift. Grunge, indie, alternative, flannels, Docs [Doc Martins]. At this point, the technology is also exploding, but not like fun home media, but like corporate media. So there’s this resistance to sell-out culture.”

Cella has a theory on why Gen X seems forgotten, and it’s not just because CBS News famously denied its existence. She believes that it comes down to Gen X’s inability to call attention to itself. “So Gen X is a bridge between these two larger, more storied generations. So it’s not necessarily that they get forgotten. They don’t really want the attention. They’re kind of fine to just like, fly under the radar like they always have, because honestly, it’s whatever.”

This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.

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A teacher laughing with her students (left). A pile of clothing (right). – Photo credit: Canva

Education, Skills

Teachers strut down ‘runway’ with lost-and-found items, and parents are cackling

Every school has hundreds of kids pass through its doors on a daily basis. Things are bound to get left behind. But what’s really wild (and the bane of many parents’ existence) is that many of those jackets, hats, or—God forbid—a single shoe sit in the school’s lost-and-found bin, doomed to never see the light…

Heather Wake

3/12/2026

Every school has hundreds of kids pass through its doors on a daily basis. Things are bound to get left behind. But what’s really wild (and the bane of many parents’ existence) is that many of those jackets, hats, or—God forbid—a single shoe sit in the school’s lost-and-found bin, doomed to never see the light of day again.

One group of teachers decided to offer their students a kind—and creative—reminder to grab their forgotten treasures: a good old-fashioned fashion show.

In a now-viral video shared by retired kindergarten teacher Leslie Johnson, we see teachers strut down a makeshift outdoor runway, faces fierce, each sporting at least five or six clothing items on hangers as *NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” plays in the background. Holy moly, the number of clothing items is truly insane. Is this a year’s worth, or a week?!

Watch:

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The gag is not only hilarious but clearly effective, as we also see quite a few kids running up to reclaim their items. So there’s that.

The video has since been viewed a whopping 3.6 million times, garnering a ton of praise from parents whose kids never bother to look for their missing stuff in a spot specifically for that kind of thing:

“This is the MOST genius thing I have ever seen!! You would think it wouldn’t be that difficult for kids to find their belongings in a lost and found bin, but nope they don’t and then the clothes get shipped down to the nurses office whether wanted or not!!”

“I can relate to this so well.My son within the 4 days of school starting, lost four jackets during winter time.”

“I’ve seen 3 hoodies that look like my son’s and he doesn’t even go to that school! 🥴”

“My son lost two jackets in two days. I love this.”

“I know at least $300 of my hard earned dollars would be on this catwalk.”

On that note, many even suggested that parents—who are the ones earning early gray hairs actually looking for these items—should have attended.

“This needs to be a parent day too cause these kids don’t know their own dang clothes 😂😂😂”

“They need to do this at parent teacher conferences 😂😂”

Tips to help prevent kids from losing stuff…without losing your mind

Listen, kids will be kids, but the tips below might help at least lessen the frequency of things going missing. The key is to actively involve kids in any of these strategies so that they are learning responsibility.

Label everything

This is a tedious one, but very helpful. It might not keep a student from forgetting something, but if another student or teacher can see who the item belongs to, it certainly increases the chance of that item getting back to its proper owner.

Create packing routines

Establish a “pack and check” routine for both morning and afternoon to ensure all items are accounted for before leaving home and school.

Reduce clutter

Limiting the number of items carried to school makes it that much easier to manage.

Color-code subjects

Assign specific colors to subjects to help children quickly identify whether they have the correct notebooks or folders, such as red for science or yellow for math.

Use checklists

Have children write a list of their key belongings that need to leave the house in the morning and return home at the end of the day. This helps them visualize and verify that they have all the necessary items. Ideally, kids will eventually remember what to keep track of and not need the list. But even if they don’t, they’ll at least have tangible tools to keep things organized.

A student with her backpack. Photo credit: Canva

That said, don’t be surprised if you still find your child’s sweater at the next lost-and-found fashion show.

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A woman waiting for a job interview. – Photo credit: Canva

Education, Skills

Recruiter notices that recent job postings reveal a big shift in American work culture

The pendulum has swung.

Tod Perry

3/11/2026

There has been a big shift in the delicate interplay between employers and employees since the COVID-19 pandemic. In pandemic-era America, job seekers had the advantage due to labor shortages caused by early retirements, long COVID, caregiving needs, and generous government relief programs.

There has been an economic shift over the past two years, with unemployment rising due to disruptions in global trade, declines in manufacturing, and the rise of artificial intelligence. That means the pendulum has swung in the other direction, and employers now hold the stronger hand.

How has America’s job market changed?

Popular TikToker Melissa Marcus, a career coach and recruiter, explained in a recent post that the shift between employees and employers means corporations now expect new hires to be ready to work.

“All over my LinkedIn feed, there are job postings now that are like, ‘if you’re looking for a 9-to-5 and you don’t want to be challenged, then this job is not for you,’” Marcus told her followers.

@missy23232
If you are in an active job search, this video is for you. Corporate America is starting to shift in the way they are showcasing job descriptions to potential candidates. #creatorsearchinsights #jobsearchtips #jobsearch #corporatelife #careeradvice
♬ original sound – Missy | Job Search Coach

“Corporate America has always done an ebb and flow around this. The minute the job market becomes such that they are in control, the corporate culture starts to fall apart,” Marcus said, noting that this particular trend is “certainly true” in the tech space. “They have moved into this place of ‘We don’t care anymore. If you wanna come work for us, we’re gonna work you harder, we’re gonna pay you less, and you’re gonna love it.’”

This temporary shift toward an unhealthy work environment may prompt some people to rethink their options when considering a career change and focus on workplaces where culture comes first.

A woman in a job interview. Photo credit: Canva

How to find a job with a good culture

If you’re looking for a job and want to be sure the company supports a healthy work-life balance, there are a few ways to approach your search.

You can check out websites that host company reviews, such as Glassdoor and Indeed, where current and former employees give you an inside look at companies. You should take some of these reviews with a grain of salt, because current employees aren’t likely to write negative reviews about where they work. These sites are good for reading the tea leaves of a workplace, or noticing patterns that give you a good idea of what it’s like to work there.

When it comes to the industries where people are happiest, companies with mission-driven work tend to score among the highest in employee satisfaction. A recent survey found that people who work in science and pharmaceuticals report an overall job happiness score of nearly 92%, higher than creative arts and design (84%) and environment and agriculture (81%).

A woman holding her resume. Photo credit: Canva

At a time when it’s becoming harder to land a new job, finding a position at a company with a great culture may feel like a luxury. But by looking into the right industries and asking the right questions, you can give yourself the best chance of finding a job that offers satisfying work and treats you with dignity.

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A man succinctly explains the difference between a road, street, avenue, and more. – Photo credit: @cincy_mfc/Instagram

Education, Skills

Man clearly explains the difference between a road, street, avenue, and more in just 2 minutes

All roads might lead to Rome, but what about avenues? Boulevards? Drives? Do all these words essentially mean the same thing? And while we’re on the subject, why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway? Why is English so complicated?! In a decidedly uncomplicated two-minute-long Instagram video, a man named Karim,…

Heather Wake

3/10/2026

All roads might lead to Rome, but what about avenues? Boulevards? Drives? Do all these words essentially mean the same thing? And while we’re on the subject, why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway? Why is English so complicated?!

In a decidedly uncomplicated two-minute-long Instagram video, a man named Karim, who frequently posts “fun fact” content, explains, “I know we tend to use roads, streets, boulevard, avenue, all of these things kind of interchangeably, but there are some differences between these things.”

Breaking it down

Mercifully, he breaks down those differences so we don’t have to.

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A “road” is a broad, generic term for any pathway that connects two points, found in both rural and suburban areas. Roads are designed to move traffic between locations.

Meanwhile, “streets” are found exclusively in towns or cities and feature buildings and/or sidewalks on both sides. They often accommodate both vehicle traffic and pedestrian activity.

In other words, “roads” connect any two places, while “streets” are part of a city’s infrastructure. For example, you might take a road to travel between cities but drive down a street to find a shop.

Moving on, Karim explained that “avenues” are wider than streets and are typically separated by a median. They often feature trees and landscaping on either side, in addition to buildings. According to Southern Living, avenues also run perpendicular to streets.

“Boulevards” are even wider than avenues and also feature a median, along with more extensive landscaping and formal lighting. While both avenues and boulevards are designed for heavy traffic flow, boulevards often feel more park-like or grand in scale.

A tree-lined road. Photo credit: Canva

Unlike a street, which is grid-like and structured for city life, a “drive” is shaped by the natural topography—such as hills or lakes—and is more commonly found in scenic or residential areas.

Speaking of residential areas…

A “lane” is typically a narrow road that acts as a small residential street, generally lacking shoulders or a median. A “way,” on the other hand, is usually a small side street or a path that connects other streets within neighborhoods.

Both “courts” and “places” refer to roads that lead to a dead end. However, a court typically ends in a round cul-de-sac, whereas a place is straight.

A cul-de-sac. Photo credit: Canva

Karim admitted that there were still other terms he could have covered—such as terraces, parkways, and groves—but he did a great job explaining the basics.

And for anyone curious: “terraces” refer to streets situated on elevated ground or along the top of a slope, “parkways” involve multiple lanes and are designed for passenger vehicles and some heavy trucks, and “groves” appear to be courts surrounded by trees.

Viewers react

If you were surprised by just how unexpectedly engrossing all this was, you’re not alone. Here are some of the comments on his video:

“I never knew!!!😃”

“Showing this to my students! Interesting and educational! Keep them coming!”

“Fascinating. I thought they just chose what sounded nice!”

“I wonder how many folks in charge of naming roads these days follow these guidelines.”

And that is certainly something worth noting. Part of our collective confusion almost certainly comes from the fact that many of these terms are used interchangeably—as many viewers have apparently experienced firsthand:

“My residential street, officially, according to the postal service, is a Boulevard, but in reality is not. We don’t like to call it one. When there’s a parked car, you can barely pass if there’s an oncoming car. Definitely not what you described, which I what I think of when the word boulevard is supposed to used.”

“In my town there’s a blvd that is actually only a cut-through road that at one point was [an unnamed] gravel road. Not much of a boulevard 🤣”

Okay, so maybe a little too much poetic license is taken (especially with “boulevard”), but at least we all know something we likely didn’t know before!

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Can you draw a square with three lines? – Photo credit: Canva

Education, Skills

A teacher asked students to draw a square with 3 lines. How the kids approached it was fascinating.

It’s like the opposite of “thinking outside the box.”

Annie Reneau

3/6/2026

Logic puzzles and brain teasers have long been used to challenge our minds and encourage critical thinking. Sometimes the most intriguing puzzles are the ones that seem the simplest. For instance, a teacher in India, Raviraj Master, posted a seemingly simple yet seemingly impossible problem for his students: “Draw a square with three lines.” That’s it. Could they do it?

Student after student came up to the board to make an attempt. One by one, they drew three lines, which of course did not add up to a square. One student cleverly drew three sides of a square with lines and the fourth side with a dotted line. That move demonstrated creative thinking, but it was not the solution.

Finally, a student walked up to the board, drew a square with all four sides, and then drew three lines inside it. That was it. She had drawn a square with three lines. Problem solved.

Thinking critically about wording

The solution is so straightforward that most people miss it. It’s not that it’s hard; it’s that our brains interpret the prompt a certain way and go full speed ahead with that interpretation. It’s an excellent lesson in thinking critically about how something is worded and what is being asked.

For instance, “Draw a square using three lines” would be a totally different ask than “Draw a square with three lines.” Just that one-word difference changes the possible meaning of the prompt. What if the teacher had asked, “Is there another way these words can be interpreted?” Proactively looking at each word to see if it could have a different meaning makes puzzles like this one a little easier.

However, the lesson extends far beyond silly brain teasers. Advertisers, politicians, and others who exploit the power of persuasion sometimes use words in ways that confuse or mislead.

The logical fallacy of equivocation or ambiguity

For instance, let’s look at the logical fallacy of equivocation, also known as the fallacy of ambiguity. Using words that have more than one meaning makes it easy to be vague and leave statements open to interpretation.

In our brain teaser, the word “with” could mean “using,” which is the way most students interpreted it. But “with” can also mean “accompanying,” which is how it’s used in the actual solution.

Politicians use ambiguity a lot. Philosopher Justin D’Ambrosio called it “manipulative under-specification.” Using terms that are open to multiple interpretations gives politicians plausible deniability if you disagree with them. They can simply say they meant something different. Even important concepts like justice, fairness, and democracy are underspecified terms, making it easy for politicians to use them in slogans or soundbites without detailing what they mean.

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Ambiguity can be used to manipulate people via the media as well. Sharon Haigler and C. Anneke Snyder’s “Propaganda Techniques in Media” handout at Texas A&M University lists 12 media propaganda techniques. Check out number 10:

“Obfuscation: Intentionally confusing the issue with vague, non-specific language. By avoiding clarity, propagandists create uncertainty and prevent critical analysis. Complex legal jargon or ambiguous statements serve this purpose.”

Understanding ambiguity may help us understand each other

It’s wise to think critically when it comes to wording, whether we’re trying to solve a silly logic puzzle or serious social and political problems. Pay attention to words that are vague. Ask what various definitions or interpretations there might be for ambiguous terms.

On the positive side, staying aware of words with multiple meanings can sometimes help us see where others are coming from. Sometimes disagreements are due to defining a word differently, rather than an actual issue. So many words in our social and political discourse require definitions before we engage. Otherwise, we risk talking past one another rather than meaningfully discussing things with one another.

Amazing what we can learn from a simple brain teaser, isn’t it?

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