Ever wonder if all the words people use are words that actually exist? By exist we mean they are recognized and included in English dictionaries. Well, some of the words that people confidently use on a day-to-day basis do not exist. Some say that the use of these words highlights a crucial language feature (i.e. change), while …
Language belongs to us and we do with it what we please. We invent new words, new spellings and sometimes whole new languages. When it comes to words, we decide what they mean and we change their meanings at will. That’s what English speakers did to the words below. They used to mean something then took …
10 Common Words That Used To Mean Something Completely Different. Read More »
Idioms can tell us a lot about how people use language and interact with one another. They also somehow mirror certain people’s culture as they have very specific cultural meanings that convey societal standards, principles, and beliefs. Because the cultures of the world are beautifully diverse, the idioms that each language uses are unique and may have …
Our languages are incredibly diverse and it is highly unlikely to find a word or a handful of words that sound the same in all languages. Except that there is a word that is shared by all human languages, according to research. Surprise, surprise..the word is ‘huh’. Weird, huh! Well, it turns out that this is …
This is the word that exists in all human languages, according to research. Read More »
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 »
Have you ever wondered why we say tick-tock, King-Kong, and flip-flop? And why do kong-king and tock-tick sound so awkward to our ears? Why is it fiddle-faddle and pitter-patter rather than faddle-fiddle and patter-pitter? Why?…well ’cause! It turns out that this is one of the unwritten rules that English native speakers know, but don’t know they know. I will unravel this amazing rule here for you. Please bear with …
Please like our new page Facebook about Dogs Visit our new website about Dogs : https://udoggybag.com Americans and their British neighbors may share a language, but that doesn’t mean they speak exactly the same version of it. There are many unsubtle differences between British and American English that make each one unique, from small spelling changes …
Major differences between American and British English. Read More »
Words are fun. They are what gets us, language nerds, turned on. When you speak more than one language, you realize that words mean different things in different languages. Sometimes an innocent word in a language can sound really bad in another, and that’s where the real fun is. Below are some words that are …
Innocent Words That Sound Completely Inappropriate In Other Languages. Read More »
No language has all of the words, and English is no exception. While you can express the complex feeling of “insecurity, fear, concern, and envy over relative lack of possessions, status or something of great personal value, particularly in reference to a comparator, a rival, or a competitor.” with one word (i.e. jealousy), some other …
20 Fascinating Words with no English Equivalent. Read More »
People like counting. People like to compare things. These two trends are exaggerated even further on the internet. So it’s no wonder that there are websites like this, Global Language Monitor, that tout the number of words in English as some precise number (1,013,913 and growing at 15/day), compared to woeful 2nd place finisher Mandarin.
