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+18 +4
Internet-Speak is Improving English Because Empathy
We hear so much about how English is going to the dogs. But I'm having a hard time seeing those dogs of late. In the way young people are texting, tweeting and just plain talking, I see, of all things, warmth. American English is getting sweeter all the time.
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+5 +2
South Korea to China: Change the Word You Use for Kimchi
The South Korean government has apparently decided that kimchi should no longer be referred to as pàocài 泡菜 ("pickled vegetables") in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, but should have its own name to distinguish it from other types of pickled vegetables. To be sure, the Koreans are justifiably very proud of kimchi. In fact, kimjang, the winter tradition of making and sharing kimchi, has recently been added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list.
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+18 +8
The f-word is everywhere
Not long ago I received a complaint from a co-worker that I had used the f-word in a tweet. I was quoting a lyric from the band Vampire Weekend: "Who gives a f--- about an Oxford comma?" My answer was, of course, "I do." The full quote, without the fig leaf, appears in my book "The Glamour of Grammar."
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+12 +4
Will We Use Commas in the Future?
There’s no denying that commas are helpful little flecks of punctuation. They allow us to separate written clauses and do good work when especially numerous or complicated groups of things exist in a single sentence. But do we really need them? That’s a trickier question.
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+13 +2
15 Words That Don't Mean What They Used To
Want to make conversations more fun? Consider the former meaning of these everyday words.
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+19 +7
Fix Your Grammar
You learned this in the third grade. Unless you're in the second grade.
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+1 +1
Language Creation Society
The 2014 LCS Members Meeting is over.
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+23 +6
Everybody in Almost Every Language Says “Huh”? HUH?!
New research by Mark Dingemanse and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, has uncovered a surprisingly important role for an interjection long dismissed as one of language’s second-class citizens: the humble huh?, a sort of voiced question mark slipped in when you don’t understand something. In fact, they’ve found, huh? is a “universal word,” the first studied by modern linguists.
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+18 +6
The Curious Case of the American Accent
Hey youz! Whah do ‘Mericans have all different aks-ay-ents? It’s, like, totally confusing and somewhat bizzah, dontcha know.
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+12 +3
Amazing tongue twister rapping
I bet you can't say this
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+22 +5
The Many Origins of the English Language
In Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, I examine how words borrowed from different languages have influenced English throughout its history. The above feature summarizes some of the main data from the book, focusing on the 14 sources that have given the most words to English, as reflected...
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+12 +1
8 pronunciation errors that made the English language what it is today
David Shariatmadari: Think hyperbole rhymes with Super Bowl? Don't worry, it could be the start of something beautiful
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+27 +6
This Scrabble-Playing Robot is a Sore Loser. Best Move: Hurling Insults at Opponents
Like many Scrabble players, Victor tends to blame bad luck when he loses. "Sometimes, I hate this game," says Victor, a Scrabble-playing robot created by students under the supervision of Reid Simmons, a robotics professor at Carnegie Mellon University here. Victor's secret is that he talks a better game than he plays. He is a champion trash talker. A typical put-down: "Since you're human, I guess you think that's a pretty good move."
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+17 +6
The Internet, where languages go to die?
Forget the triumphant universalism of the Web; 95 percent of languages have almost no presence online
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+16 +7
English Is Crazy!
Seriously...the English language is insane.
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+8 +1
Yelp Reviews Are Like Psychological Selfies
Online restaurant reviews have weaved their way into the modern dining experience, so much so that when you’re trying to find a place to eat nowadays, you can’t avoid being swayed by the rows of yellow stars, excitable exclamation marks, or angry all caps of aspiring foodies. Everyone’s a critic.
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+1 +1
25 Positive Words
In communicating, we always have an impact on the person we're interacting with. What are some of the positive words we could use in a conversation?
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+27 +7
36 Unexpected Origins Of Everyday British Phrases
Etymology, my dear Watson.
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+5 +1
'Like Little Language Vacuum Cleaners,' Kids Suck Up Swear Words
Linguist and curse-word expert Dr. Timothy Jay says by the time children head to school, they have a well-developed palate of bad words.
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+19 +4
Multilinguals Have Multiple Personalities
In an essay published on Monday, New Republic Senior Editor Noam Scheiber—who grew up speaking both Hebrew and English—explains why he stopped speaking only Hebrew to his three-year-old daughter. “My Hebrew self turns out to be much colder, more earnest, and, let’s face it, less articulate," he writes. "In English, my natural sensibility is patient and understated. My style in Hebrew was hectoring and prosecutorial.”
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