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Texting doesn't actually hurt kids' grammar or spelling skills
Texting has become the dominant form of communication among teens, with the average American teen sending and receiving thousands of texts each month. This has led to widespread concerns that the informal spelling and grammar used in texts (termed "textisms" by researchers) would erode these kids' ability to use proper language.
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The Fasinatng … Frustrating … Fascinating History of Autocorrect
Invoke the word autocorrect and most people will think immediately of its hiccups—the sort of hysterical, impossible errors one finds collected on sites like Damn You Autocorrect. But despite the inadvertent hilarity, the real marvel of our mobile text-correction systems is how astoundingly good they are. It's not too much of an exaggeration to call autocorrect the overlooked underwriter of our era of mobile prolixity.
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Now You Can Use The Word 'Selfie' in Scrabble
The day has come when Scrabble players everywhere can now lay down tiles spelling Q-I-G-O-N-G or S-E-L-F-I-E without worrying about coming to F-I-S-T-I-C-U-F-F-S with their fellow spellers. Those words, among more than 5,000 others, are included in the Fifth Edition of The Official SCRABBLE Player’s Dictionary, put out by American dictionary behemoth Merriam-Webster.
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Yolo and binge-watch added to online dictionary
Yolo, an acronym for 'you only live once', is among the latest new words added to the Oxford online dictionary. The phrase, along with 'adorbs' - meaning cute or adorable, and 'binge-watch' - which means to avidly watch something - has been added to oxforddictionaries.com. The website is a catalogue of current definitions of English words as they are used today.
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Steven Pinker: 10 'grammar rules' it's OK to break (sometimes)
You shudder at a split infinitive, know when to use 'that' or 'which' and would never confuse 'less' with 'fewer' – but are these rules always right, elegant or sensible, asks linguist Steven Pinker
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How languages evolve - Alex Gendler
Over the course of human history, thousands of languages have developed from what was once a much smaller number. How did we end up with so many? And how do we keep track of them all? Alex Gendler explains how linguists group languages into language families, demonstrating how these linguistic trees give us crucial insights into the past.
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Our Use Of Little Words Can, Uh, Reveal Hidden Interests
When we talk, we focus on the "content" words — the ones that convey information. But the tiny words that tie our sentences together have a lot to say about power and relationships.
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69 Different Ways to Say Fuck, With Definitions
Here are 69 different ways to say fuck, excerpted from F**k: An Irreverent History of the F-Word, by Rufus Lodge, a successful and critically acclaimed author who lives in London under another name. Published today by HarperCollins. You can buy it here. It's funny.
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The Incredible Shrinking Planet
What happens when we bridge the geographic and linguistic gaps that have separated us for centuries?
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You Have a Signature Word. Here’s How You Got It.
Not too long ago, I was forced to come to grips with something terrible about myself. I use the word iteration a lot. More than any human being should. If I had to ballpark it, I’d set the over/under on daily utterances at five. I’m not proud of this...
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20 Most Embarrassing Grammatical Errors
Some examples of real signs and instructions that include embarrassing grammatical mistakes.
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Why Do Pirates Talk Like That?
Break out the "Arrrrr, me hearties!" because today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day! But where does our idea of pirate speech come from?
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A linguist’s history of the foods you love
"What we think of as our culture's foods — ketchup, or fish and chips — usually developed over long periods of time across many cultures," says Dan Jurafsky. Jurafsky is a Stanford linguist and author of the fascinating new book, "The Language of Food." When I reached him to talk about it, he began by telling me about fish and chips — "the most surprising" of the stories he unearthed.
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American Polyglot Practicing 20 Languages
A sampling of the languages I've been studying recently. I'm clearly better at some than others, so any critiques or advice would be great! FB: https://www.facebook.com/polyglotpal Languages used (chronologically): English, French, Hausa, Wolof, Russian, German, Yiddish, Hebrew, Arabic, Pashto, Farsi, Chinese, Italian, Turkish, Indonesian, Dutch, Xhosa, Swahili, Hindi, Ojibwe
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What's Wrong With "America's Ugliest Accent"
Gawker is running a competition, tournament style, to see which accent will be crowned "America's Ugliest." In the running are 16 cities in the US, and readers get to vote. As a linguist, I'm not so thrilled about it.
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Language and the Interconnectedness of Things
The Internet of Things has spawned more than just an increased infiltration of web technology into our day-to-day lives. It has introduced a much more connected experience among users of web technology every day — let’s call it the “Interconnectedness of Things.” That, in turn, has made it more important than ever that we appreciate…
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How English became language of science
Two Norwegian scientists have won the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine - for work published in the English language. Historian of science Michael Gordin explains why they wrote in the language of Dickens and Twain rather than Ibsen and Hamsun.
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The Most Expensive Typo in Legislative History
In the middle of a 1969 interview, writer E.B. White paused, smiled, and declared what he loved most about the publication he wrote for: “Commas in The New Yorker fall with the precision of knives in a circus act, outlining the victim.” An avid grammarian, the Charlotte’s Web author thoroughly enjoyed this routine.
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Gender-neutral pronouns: When ‘they’ doesn’t identify as either male or female
When people call themselves “genderqueer,” does identity trump grammar?
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The Man Who Writes His Dissenting Opinion in ALL CAPS
Terence Faulkner wrote 1/3 of the opposing arguments in this year's SF voter guide. And large chunks of them read like he's yelling at you.
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