“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” —Through the Looking Glass. Mr. Dumpty led down the most linguistic explanation of how words get their meanings. We, the people, assign what combinations of sounds we want to the […]
Made-up Words That Sound So Cool They Should Actually Exist. Read More »
Arabic is one of the most ancient, varied, and beautifully scripted languages. It is spoken by nearly 400 million users, placing it among the most 5 spoken languages in the world. Its influence on Spanish since the time of the Moors is well known, but what’s less well known is how many commonly used English
Every language has a list of rarely used words that very few people know. They are not commonly known because they are rarely needed. Why bother learning something that you will not use..right? But for us, language nerds, that’s what gives meaning to our lives. Tracking down words and what they mean satisfies a curiosity
30 English Words That Are Rarely Known To Most People. Read More »
You know..that little space, that dot-shaped thing, or that stuff you find when you pop the other stuff!! Or the whatchamacallit. We’ve all had moments when we couldn’t name a certain thing and we knew there should be a word for it. Well, you’re right, there is. Here is a list of words people don’t
Sometimes similarities may lead us to think that certain things are identical and therefore we tend to give them the same names. When we look closely, however, we find they are actually a little different but most of the time we still give them the same names. While some languages try to correct this over
24 Things Most People Think Are The Same But They Are Actually Different. Read More »
A demonym is a word that names citizens of a specific place, generally obtained from the name of the area. It’s not always easy to guess the demonym of certain places. You think you can just add -an to the name of the place to get a demonym but it’s not always the case, especially with names of
Words carry a certain social weight to them and that’s what dictionaries try to hide from us. Dictionaries give us literal meanings, dry most often, that can’t capture the different ways people use words and what they intend when they use them in different contexts. HipDict is an Instagram account that humorously redefines words and adds the
Often people who curse a lot are accused of being dumb, less intelligent, and lack more appropriate words to express themselves. Science has just flipped this assumption. A recent study has found that people who have a repertoire of curse words at their disposal might very well be intelligent and have a richer and more
To be honest, it’s starting to feel like British English and American English are not the same language anymore. To quote George Bernard Shaw, the United States of America and the UK are “two countries divided by a common language.” They can still understand each other, but the marked differences between the two varieties are
58 Differences Between British And American English That Still Confuse Everyone. Read More »
Have you ever felt a twinge of guilt after you have sworn or used “bad language”? Well, don’t! Science shows that swearing is a useful social skill that allows us to bond with people and establish strong relationships with them.
People Who Use Swear Words are Honest and Make Better Friends, According to Study. Read More »
