#language
Miscellaneous | This is stuff I like
Where Did the Ampersand Symbol Come From?
This little symbol has a fascinating history.
Politics | Politics
Conservatives Won The Word ‘Woke.’ Now It’s Time To Reclaim Accurate Language Everywhere
There is nothing to be gained by good-naturedly going along with linguistic charades. There is the entire discourse to be lost.
Miscellaneous | This is stuff I like
Why Do We Say We 'Heard It Through the Grapevine'?
No, it's not because of Marvin Gaye.
News | Interesting Stories
Wordle editor Tracy Bennett reveals what words get the most complaints
Wordle editor Tracy Bennett opens up about the most popular starter words, and the social media reaction to themed words.
Miscellaneous | Interesting & Helpful Information
Six Verbs That Make You Sound Weak (No Matter Your Job Title)
Sometimes it’s the smallest words and phrases that shape how you’re perceived around the office. Here are a few to watch out for at every level.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Stuff
What Came First: The Color Orange or the Fruit?
The story behind which orange came first involves Arab trade routes and a bunch of old phrases that mean 'orange apple.'
Miscellaneous | Random
13 Cool Slang Terms From the 1950s
From 'beatnik' to 'backseat bingo,' here are some notable pieces of lingo popularized in the 1950s.
Miscellaneous | Interesting & Helpful Information
The World’s Most Efficient Languages
How much do you really need to say to put a sentence together?
News | News
Shelly Schreter – How Hebrew Interacts with Other Languages
Shelly Schreter – How Hebrew Interacts with Other Languages Like every other living language, Hebrew contains many foreign words and expressions. My purpose here is to collate some of these “imports”, for our amusement and interest, and to refle
Miscellaneous | I Like This
15 of the Funkiest '70s Slang Terms
If you’re up to speed on the tubular ‘80s slang and the wicked vernacular of the ‘90s, check out some terms and phrases that made the ‘70s groovy.
Politics | Leftist Lies
Control of the Language: The Battle Is On!
The Left has seized control of the English language and is using it as a club to pummel non-conformers.
Politics | Woke Insanity
She's No 'Showgirl': Microsoft Pummels the Problematic by Correcting Your Unwoke Words
Whatever you're involved in, you don't have a 'mistress.'
Miscellaneous | Interesting & Helpful Information
How Brains Seamlessly Switch between Languages - Scientific American
Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives.
Politics | Woke Insanity
CDC Appoints Itself Language Police With Science-Defying Lingo List
In its latest lurch to the left, the CDC is instructing its healthcare partners to adopt anti-science language manipulation to satisfy woke demands.
Miscellaneous | Opinion
WORDS MATTER
The origins of our words give us great insight into our culture. Our children pick up on these subliminal messages.Native Strength is the Native American ce...
Miscellaneous | Interesting & Helpful Information
Advice on Learning a New Language From People Who Speak Up to 16
Anyone can learn a new language, no matter their age. Simply follow this expert advice down the sweet-talking path to success.
News | News
France Bans Woke Language in Schools: ‘A Danger to Our Country’
As the United States steamrolls toward Marxism, the French government is taking a stand against the influence of woke-ism banning schools...
News | Israel & The Jewish Community
Associated Press Changes Spelling of ‘Anti-Semitism’ to ‘Antisemitism,’ Joining Leading Experts
Part of an exhibit on the Holocaust supported by the International Holocaust Remembrance Association. Photo: courtesy of IHRA. The Associated …
Politics | The Hall of Idiots
And they said Trump was dumbing down America — Dictionary.com now is approving incorrect words for entry into its lexicon
You people and all your fancy book-learnin' were just wasting your time!
Psychology | Personality
The Unusual Language That Linguists Thought Couldn’t Exist
A new sign language is developing in the Negev desert and it’s catching linguists off-guard.
Miscellaneous | Miscellaneous
10 ways to fight back against woke culture
I realize the faddish thing to say these days is that we live in the worst, most broken and backward country in the world and maybe in the history of civilization. It’s utter nonsense. I have a few…
Psychology | Personality
This is How Tiny Changes in the Words You Hear Impact Your Thinking
In a fascinating look at language, a professor lays out how political parties can sway supporters with tiny tweaks in word choice.
Science & Technology | Science & Technology
The Amazing Ways Duolingo Is Using Artificial Intelligence To Deliver Free Language Learning
When it's time to learn a new language, Duolingo offers a fun, interactive learning experience through its cross-platform app that's powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
Politics | Leftists Are Insane
The Associated Press Says It Will Capitalize ‘Black’ But Not ‘White’
The Associated Press often sets the way people use language. For instance, the international wire service recently decided that the word “internet” would no longer be uppercase. The news agency, which puts out an annual “style book”
Miscellaneous | This is stuff I like
Slang words from the 1950s that we should bring back - Insider
Slang is an ever-changing thing — but here are 10 slang terms from the 1950s that we think deserve a comeback in 2020.
Miscellaneous | Interesting & Helpful Information
How Much Does Our Language Determine Behavior? - David Shariatmadari - Behavioral Scientist
In his latest book, Don't Believe a Word, David Shariatmadari explores how the language we speak impacts the way we see the world, and our behavior in it.
Advice & Self-Help | Meditation and Other Practices
Here are 5 Great Tips to Learn a New Language (Based on Science!)
By Emma Young. Getting better at a new language doesn’t have to mean hard hours on lists of vocab and the rules of grammar.
Travel | Israeli Culture
How do you say fake news in Hebrew? - Israel News
Academy of the Hebrew Language also gives officials translations for driverless cars and chocolate truffles.
Advice & Self-Help | Meditation and Other Practices
The Danish word 'pyt' as an antidote to anxiety.and stress - The Washington Post
Like “stuff happens” or “oh, well,” the Danish word cultivates healthy thoughts to deal with daily irritating troubles.
Politics | Gender Insanity
Why Eliminating The Word ‘Mother’ Eliminates Motherhood Itself
If the word for ‘mother’ falls out of fashion or is pushed out of language entirely, will we still be able to form the idea of mother without the word?
Advice & Self-Help | Advice & Self-Help
Ben Dreyer, Author of Dreyer’s English, Talks About Language
Ben Dreyer, the author of Dreyer’s English, a modern style guide, is also the copy chief and managing editor of Random House. He talks about Twitter language, the words he hates now, including “onboarding,” and his own editors on the book.
Psychology | Personality
Your native language affects what you can and can’t see – Research Digest
By Emma Young. This is the first demonstration that language affects whether we consciously perceive a stimulus or not.
Advice & Self-Help | advice and self help
These midterm elections, vote 'yes' on laughter | Fox News
My mind is on healing right now for a simple reason. As midterm elections approach, too much charged political speech is ricocheting about our homeland. We seem to relish growing more distant from, as President Lincoln put it, the better angels of our nat
Health & Fitness | Health & Fitness
Why Do We Call a Leg Cramp a Charley Horse? | Mental Floss
Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
This bizarre-looking font helps you remember what you read
The half-finished letters are designed to make us more engaged with what we’re reading, which increases memory retention.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Stuff
What Would English Sound Like If Its Rules Were Consistent? | Mental Floss
Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.
Psychology | Parenting and Kids
Baby Talk May Sound Silly, But It's Crucial For Building Language Skills - Study Finds
When Mommy and Daddy use baby talk, it is more than child's play. That repetitive, cute speech pattern that seems to come so naturally to most parents, grandparents and caregivers also speeds up vocabulary development and language skills, a recent study f
Advice & Self-Help | Advice & Self-Help
A Simple Trick for Eliminating 'Filler Words' Like 'Like' From Your Vocabulary | Mental Floss
Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.
Sports | Sports
Why Do Americans Call It ‘Soccer’ Instead of ‘Football’?
It may rankle purists, but American English isn’t the culprit.
Miscellaneous | Chicagoey Stuff
The disappearing Chicago accent is layered with local history | Reasons to love Chicago
Da dialect of da Daleys is becoming increasingly rare.
Advice & Self-Help | Education
5 Tricks for Learning a New Language as an Adult
Here are some tricks to help you learn a new language as an adult.
Miscellaneous | Other Stuff
Study: Two Spaces After a Period May Be Better Than One - The Atlantic
A new study proves that half of people are correct. The other is also correct.
Miscellaneous | Other Stuff
Quiz: Call the Grammar Police | Mental Floss
Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.
Pets & Animals | Other Kinds Of Animals
Why Can Parrots Talk? | Mental Floss
Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Stuff
To Brits with knickers in a twist over Americanisms: don't get your panties in a bunch | Science | The Guardian
Many ‘American’ phrases are actually British but a new book argues why we say what we say reveals a lot about our cultures
Science & Technology | Technology
Here Are the Origins of 10 Tech Terms You Use Every Day
Did you know that Thomas Edison used the term 'bug'?
Psychology | Personality
(Just)ification
Funny thing about this word… We use it to imply “merely” when what we really mean is just the opposite. “Can you just tweak this design?” “Can you just re-write this page?” “Can you just tell us wh…
News | Interesting Links
Commonly Misused Phrases That Will Make You Sound Unprofessional | Work Money
There’s a good chance you’ve said at least one of these phrases wrong to your boss – so it’s about time to learn how to get them right.
News | Interesting Links
Chimpanzees, bonobos, and even humans may share ancient body language | Science | AAAS
Numerous gestures that have the same meaning
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
27 fascinating maps that show how Americans speak English differently across the US
A survey of more than 30,000 people, turned into a series of maps, showcase the linguistic quirks that make American English such a fascinating dialect.
Psychology | Health & Wellbeing
Language patterns reveal body's hidden response to stress
Volunteers' use of certain words predicted stress-related changes in gene expression better than their self-reported feelings.
Advice & Self-Help | Empowering Tools for Growth
Common grammatical mistakes - Business Insider
Don't make these mistakes.
Science & Technology | Apps I Like
This app could be the key to speaking a second language
uTalk Language Education teaches you how native speakers actually talk, so you're not listening to a robot with strange intonation and inflection.
Business & Finance | Business
The Startup Teaching Languages That Have Almost No Teachers
After failing to find a Buryat instructor, Inky Gibbens launched Tribalingual to offer e-courses in endangered languages spoken only by thousands of people.
Pets & Animals | I Love Dogs
What a Border Collie Taught a Linguist About Language | WIRED
The whistles that a shepherd uses to command her dog sound a whole lot like human language.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Stuff
Hear the Interviews that Helped Build the Dictionary of American Regional English | Mental Floss
Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
10 Long-Forgotten Expressions To Drop Into Conversation | Mental Floss
Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.
News | News Items
The Language of Gender Violence
The use of terms like "battered woman" and "accuser" have absolved men from taking responsibility for their actions, says educator Jackson Katz.
Pets & Animals | Cat & Dog Resources
Dogs can talk to humans, study suggests
Dogs have a surprising ability to make humans understand what their barks and growls mean, a study has shown.
History | History
Here's How British and American Spelling Parted Ways | Mental Floss
Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.
Miscellaneous | OTHER STUFF
Book Publishers Are Printing More #@$% Than Ever - WSJ
Expletive-laden book titles, some with strategically placed asterisks, are proliferating in cookbooks, memoirs, self-help guides, even coloring books for grown-ups—presenting challenges for bookstores and reviewers.
Miscellaneous | Interesting & Helpful Information
Want Synesthesia? Try Learning a New Language
People who became bilingual later in life are more likely to experience the mysterious blurring of the senses.
Miscellaneous | Interesting & Helpful Information
It’s Actually Pretty Weird That We Think in Words
“When you talk to yourself, you step out of yourself for a moment and get some perspective on what you are doing.”
Advice & Self-Help | Couples and Relationship Support
Learn to Say No by Using 'Don’t' Instead of 'Can’t'
Whatever the temptation is, saying "I don't" can empower you to stay true to your goals.
Miscellaneous | Interesting & Helpful Information
Here’s the Most Effective Way to Say No to People
All it takes is a slight wording tweak.
Psychology | Psychology & Psychological Research
The Age At Which Learning a New Language Stops Strengthening The Brain
How learning a new language changes the brain.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
Learn a Foreign Language Quickly | The Art of Manliness
Learn how to learn a foreign language quickly and fluently from a man who knows how to speak 12 different languages.
Health & Fitness | Health News
The Human Brain as a Word Cloud, on a Shared Drive
In research reported Wednesday in Nature, neuroscientists at the University of California at Berkeley created a comprehensive atlas of neural patterns sparked by spoken language.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
Wait … is that a rule? Ten everyday grammar mistakes you might be making | Books | The Guardian
Before their workshop at the NGV Art Book Fair in Melbourne, writing studio the Good Copy shares some tips
Books | Books
45 Everyday Phrases Coined By Shakespeare | Anglophenia | BBC America
[caption id="attachment_118801" align="aligncenter" width="612"] William Shakespeare (Pic: AP Images)[/caption] April 23rd is generally considered to be a good day to celebrate the birth of...
Miscellaneous | Potpourri
6 Things We Owe to the Vikings - History Lists
Despite their barbaric reputation, Vikings left a legacy of achievements that forever changed the way we speak, travel, exercise—and even groom ourselves.
Miscellaneous | Judaism
What Does “Oy Vey” Mean? - Questions & Answers
Oy and vey are two very old Jewish interjections which both mean “woe.” Oy is found many times in the Bible (see Numbers 21:29, I Samuel 4:7 and Isaiah 3:11 for a few examples). Vey is newer than oy; it is oy’s Aramaic equivalent..
News | Interesting Links
How language can affect the way we think
A look at the ways that the construction of language can have implications for the way we think, act and parse the world around us.
News | Interesting Links
These Are All The Food Names You've Been Mispronouncing Your Whole Life (Photos)
Never look like a fool again.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
Why Does 'Terrible' Mean Bad and 'Terrific' Mean Good? | Mental Floss
Terrible and terrific both come from terror. And they both used to mean terror-inducing. So how did they end up meaning such different things? Here's the story of how terrific and terrible became terrific and terrible.
Psychology | Relationships
Beyond Words: A New Book About What Animals Think and Feel
Award-winning scientist Carl Safina's "Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel" is an excellent summary of recent research on the fascinating animals with whom we share our magnificent planet. I highly recommend "Beyond Words" and I
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
The Anatomy of a Grammar Nerd
Are you an Oxford comma enthusiast? Sure, you know the difference between between there, their, and they're, but would you consider yourself a true grammar nerd? While some people balk at the term, plenty of others embrace it.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
15 Common Expressions Younger Generations Won't Understand | Mental Floss
Here are 15 etymologies to answer the questions of future English speakers. Because the future is already here.
Pets & Animals | Cat & Dog Resources
How To Understand What Your Cat Is Trying To Say
Humans are lucky. We have complex verbal and physical languages that can get across pretty much any message that we feel we need to.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
Are Incomplete Sentences the New Thing Or...? | Mental Floss
How is language evolving on the internet? In this series on internet linguistics, Gretchen McCulloch breaks down the latest innovations in online communication.
Sometimes a sentence doesn't end where you'd expect, but. And yet somehow, you still know what the writer intended, so. This may be something you do all the time, or.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
The food words you are mispronouncing! Including sriracha, pho, tzatziki, and more!
How the hell do you pronounce "tzatziki," anyway?
Miscellaneous | Other Stuff
Top 10 Grammar Myths | Mental Floss
Before you argue with me, read the whole explanation about why each of these is a myth.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
Is It Possible To Think Without Language?
Language is so deeply embedded in almost every aspect of the way we interact with the world. What would our thoughts be like without it?
Miscellaneous | Interesting Stuff
The top 10 words invented by writers | Books | The Guardian
‘Authorisms’ – neologisms coined by authors which have entered the wider language – have been enriching English for centuries. From Shakespeare to Joseph Heller, Paul Dickson selects his favourites
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links!
Is There Such a Thing as Not Having an Accent? | Mental Floss
Even the staunchest dictionary-thumping pronunciation stickler has a regional inflection. Still, accents that are more common can sound neutral. In the U.S., that title belongs to the General American accent, which you probably know from the nightly news. There’s nothing neutral about it: General American resembles the accent spoken in a small swath of the Midwest, stretching from eastern Nebraska through Iowa and parts of western Illinois. It doesn’t sound funny to many of us simply because we’re so exposed to it.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
Why Isn't 'Arkansas' Pronounced Like 'Kansas'? | Mental Floss
Kansas and Arkansas aren’t so far from each other on the map, but their names seem to want nothing to do with each other.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
12 Horrible Gobbledygook Words We Reluctantly Accepted
Years ago these words were considered hideous jargon, but over time we grew to accept them.
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
How Many Languages is it Possible to Know?
There are millions of people, even in the mostly monolingual US, who speak more than one language at home. Competence in three languages is not unusual. But what about 10, 20, 30, 100 languages? What's the upper limit on the number of languages a per
