Linguistics

The Origins Of 7 Popular Slang Words

Professor Julie Coleman | Posted 05.22.2012

Read More: Book News, Slang Vocabulary, Etymology, Linguistics, Language Book, Slang, Linguistic History, Word History, Slang Words, Slidepollajax, Books News

For me, slang is at the social interface of language. Slang words aren't linguistically different from other words, except that they keep on moving. It is my considered opinion that slang is a bag of snakes.

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When "No Problem" Is a Problem

Todd Lapidus | Posted 05.14.2012

Read More: Marketing, Linguistics, Todd Lapidus, Brand Leadership, Customer Experience, Customer Service, Business News

You should be alarmed by what is being said and by what passes as customer service. The ability to speak in a way that matters and inspires is at the core of brand leadership.

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11 Hilarious Regional American Words You Need To Know

Mark Peters | Posted 04.19.2012

Read More: Book News, Linguistics, Regional American English, Funny Words Dictionary, Regional English, Linguistics Humor, Funny Words, Dictionary of Regional American English, Dictionary, Language Humor, Slidepollajax, Dictionary Words, Books News

Here are a few more terms I find useful, amusing, or just flat-out wonderful. They are as American as apple pie and Richard Nixon, but better for your health. Use them in your tweets, toasts, and testimony as needed.

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Alaska Native Education: More Than Kidʼs Stuff

Lance A. Twitchell | Posted 05.16.2012

Read More: Alaska Colleges, Alaska Native Languages, Linguistics, Teaching Alaskan History, Native Languages, Elizabeth Roy Peratrovich, Alaskan Languages, Alaskan History, William Paul, College News

There is a trend in education to allow the existence of indigenous thought and narratives until more adult subjects take over the agenda after leaving elementary school.

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How do you read "-3"?

Dr. Keith Devlin | Posted 05.12.2012

Read More: Mathematics, Linguistics, Mathematical Language, Numbers, Negative, Minus, Mathematical Terminology, Science News

How do you say "-3": "negative three" or "minus three"? It sounds like a simple enough question. But a recent group discussion on LinkedIn generated over 60 contributions when I last checked. People seem to have very clear preferences as to what is "right."

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WATCH: Germans Can't Say 'Squirrel,' And Linguists Say Why

Posted 03.09.2012

Read More: Video, Language, Linguistics, Squirrel, Germany, Germans Can't Say Squirrel, Germans Can't Pronounce the Word Squirrel, Why Can't Germans Say Squirrel, Science News

By: Natalie Wolchover Published: 03/08/2012 12:38 PM EST on Lifes Little Mysteries "Squrrrrr … skraaaawl … squirruh … SQUOOW!" ...

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How 'Girl Talk' Like, Changes The Way We All Speak

The Huffington Post | Marissa Piazzola | Posted 03.08.2012

Read More: Language Change, Linguistic Research, Teen Girls, Slang, Linguistics, Teenage Girls, Girl Talk, Teen Slang, Video, Teen News

When Beyonce said that girls "run the world," she may not have been referring to the way young women influence language, but she would've been right i...

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Your Daughter's Annoying Habits Are Changing The World

Lisa Belkin | Posted 04.29.2012

Read More: Valley Girl Speech, Linguistics, Parents-Teens, Teenage Speech, Teen Language, Vocal Fry, Uptalking, Parentry, Parents News

I'm the parent who stopped with the baby talk when my boys were technically still babies, who counted the superfluous use of "like" in their sentences, and who made them repeat any statement they'd contorted into a question. Linguists say I was fighting evolution.

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Celebrating Language Warriors

K. David Harrison | Posted 04.22.2012

Read More: K. David Harrison, Linguistics, Living Tongues Institute, Endangered Languages, Anthropology, Rare Tongues, International Mother Language Day, Rare Languages, Extinct Languages, Video, Science News

Pressed by a tide of globalization, and a barrage of negative messages telling them their cultures and ways of thinking are outmoded, a global cohort of language warriors are pushing back.

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Native Americans Fight To Prevent Languages' 'Extinction'

Posted 02.18.2012

Read More: Language Extinction, Linguistics, Native American Languages, Language, Video, Linguist, Native American, Extinction, Science News

By: Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience Senior Writer Published: 02/17/2012 06:56 PM EST on LiveScience VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Many of the wor...

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Word Play: The Language Wars

Fern Siegel | Posted 02.14.2012

Read More: History, Henry Hitchings, English, Linguistics, Language, Books News

Arguing about proper English usage has been going on for centuries. According to Henry Hitchings in The Language Wars, verbal mistakes -- and disputes -- are legion, from Shakespeare's time to our own.

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Is There #Sh*tGuysSay?

The Huffington Post | Margaret Wheeler Johnson | Posted 12.14.2011

Read More: Shit Guys Say, Female Speech Patterns, Linguistics, Video, Shitgirlssay Twitter, Shitgirlssay, #Shitguyssay, Male Speech Patters, Shitgirlssay Video, Shit Girls Say, Memes, Women News

Thanks to the ShitGirlsSay Twitter account and the viral video based on it, many people in the last couple of days have had a good laugh -- and in som...

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Book Review: Microstyle: The Art of Writing Little

George Mocharko | Posted 12.09.2011

Read More: Book Publishing, Linguistics, Twitter, Books, Writing, Context, Poetry, Minimalism, Authors, Social Media, Internet, Advertising, Internet Advertising, Marketing, Branding, Communication, Books News

Through status updates, instant messages, and "tweets," we have all had to adopted new ways of getting the word out as briefly and as memorable as possible.

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Bible's Different Authors Revealed By New Language Software

AP | By MATTI FRIEDMAN | Posted 08.29.2011

Read More: Bible Authors, Christianity, Linguistics, Bible, Bible Software, Who Wrote the Bible, Judaism, Bible Linguistics, Religion News

JERUSALEM -- Software developed by an Israeli team is giving intriguing new hints about what researchers believe to be the multiple hands that wrote t...

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Flights Of Futuristic Fantasy: Jeff Eisenberg's Biomorphic Art

Posted 08.06.2011

Read More: Linguistics, Art, Mylar, Jeff Eisenberg, Architecture, Artists, Sound Installation, Futurist, Biomorphic, Sci-Fi, Studio Visit, Beautiful/Decay, Mixed Media, Arts News

Jeff Eisenbergcreates almost Rorschach-like images that hover somewhere between structural vector flights of futuristic fancy and strange biomorphic o...

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Who Will Spell 'Winner' In This Year's Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals?

Posted 08.02.2011

Read More: Scripps National Spelling Bee, Linguistics, Spelling Bee, Spelling-Bee-Finals, Literacy, Joanna Ye, Laura Newcombe, Education News

Get out those dictionaries and keep up with the finalists of the 84th Scripps National Spelling Bee, who will compete Thursday night. Out of 275 you...

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WATCH: Trailer For Documentary Devoted To The New York Accent

Posted 07.06.2011

Read More: Manhattan, Linguistics, Video, New Yorker, New York Accent, Documentary, Heather Quinlan, Accents, If These Knishes Could Talk, Film, Mobster, Staten Island, New York, Arts News

With Manhattan property getting more and more expensive and funneling old families to the outer boroughs, New York City is losing its accents. "If The...

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Origin Of Human Language Revealed

The Huffington Post | Cara Parks | Posted 06.15.2011

Read More: Birth of Human Language, Phomenes, Linguistics, Language, Language Originated in Africa, Origin of Human Language, Africa, Language Africa, Language Study, World News

Human language arose in southern Africa, a new study in Science magazine claims. Language then spread across the globe through human migration. The...

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On Words: 'Global Warming' Meets Astrology

Bill Chameides | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Neologism, Etymology, Linguistics, Climate Skeptics, Sarah Palin, Politics, Cnn, Astrology, Climate Change, Etymologist, Refudiate, Word, Frank Luntz, Kristi Noem, Global Warming, William Shakespeare, Zodiac Signs, Green News

Crossposted with www.TheGreenGrok.com.For Friday a little, light, linguistics lesson. Breaking from TheGreenGrok formula of sharp, cutting-edge pieces...

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Time to Take a Hard Look at U.S. Linguistic Preparedness

Nataly Kelly | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Gays in the Military, US Military, Language, Linguistics, Tom Donilon, Barack Obama, Politics News

More than nine years have passed since the attacks of September 11th. Thousands of hours and pages of terrorism-related information remain untranslated. Yet, a soldier's ability to communicate on the ground is as vital to her or his safety as a bulletproof vest.

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Language and Being American in the World

Gail Vida Hamburg | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Foreign Language, Translators, Pashto, Afghanistan, Linguistics, Language, Globalization, Chinese, China, German, Pashtun, Afghanistan Translators, World News

It is not unusual for US interpreters in Afghanistan to be ignorant of the languages they claimed to be fluent in. Faking understanding of a foreign language is a common vanity.

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What's Not a Political Act?

Ming Holden | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Newsweek, Politics News, Politics, Linguistics, Latin America, Latin America Policy, Historical Memory, Culture, Politics News

When is it not a political act to honor victims of dirty wars, in Latin America or anywhere else? "Political" strikes me as one of the most ill-used words in American conversation.

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Twitter

The Independent | Joy Lo Dico | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Shakespeare on Toast, Linguistics, Texting, A Little Book of Language, Eats Shoots and Leaves, David Crystal, Twitter, English Language, Books, Abbreviations, Books News

Language is forever changing -- and forms such as tweets and text messages are no less valid than any textbook version, says the linguist David Crysta...

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Avatar and the Vocabulary of Evildoers -- Or, Why James Cameron's Script Isn't as Bad as You Think

Josh Schrei | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Rwanda, Linguistics, Avatar, Mining, James Cameron, Environment, Environmentalism, Nuclear Testing, Indigenous Rights, Indigenous People, Entertainment, Film, Movies, Entertainment News

The sad truth is that the history of the colonization and destruction of indigenous peoples brings with it a panoply of one-liners and inhumane vernacular that would make even Cameron cringe.

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Authors' Unique Words Provide "Linguistic Fingerprint"

BBC News | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Authors, Linguistics, Language, Books, Writing, Words, Herman Melville, D.H. Lawrence, Thomas Hardy, Rare Words, Books News

Analyses of classic authors' works provide a way to "linguistically fingerprint" them, researchers say. The relationship between the number of words ...

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