Topic: Linguistics

It's Time to Stop Arguing About the Pronunciation of 'GIF'

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It's time we took some advice from George Gershwin and stopped bickering over the right and wrong way to say words: Let's call the whole thing off on this GIF pronunciation battle.

By Jen Doll

Apr 8, 2013

All Hail the Beautiful ( ) Space

The most powerful state of emptiness in the written word is the humble space. Let us pause and honor it for a     moment, as this particular moment provides us with yet another reminder of why we need the space so.

Comments | 721 Views

By Jen Doll

Feb 21, 2013

Why Twitter Makes Us Want to Add Extra Letterssss

Why do people insist on spelling certain words with more letters than is necessary on an inherently limited social media platform like Twitter? I turned to Tyler Schnoebelen, a recent PhD from Stanford who studies emotion in language, in hopes of gaining some clarityyy.

Comments | 2,759 Views

By Jen Doll

Dec 10, 2012

Year in Review

The Best (Worst?) Typos, Mistakes, and Correrctions of 2012

Which were the best—most amusing, most mortifying, funniest, most cringeworthy, and most interesting—mistakes of the year? Herewith, our favorites.

Comments | 78,628 Views

By Jen Doll

Oct 25, 2012

Geoffrey Chaucer Coined 'Twitter'

Today is the day a certain set of language and literature fans celebrate Mr. Geoffrey Chaucer, who died 612 years ago today. Not only was Old Chaucey a pretty compelling writer, but also, he was far better at coining words and phrases than the rest of us amateur portmanteau-chasers.

Comments | 6,218 Views

By Jen Doll

Sep 26, 2012

The Ways in Which We Mistake Our Words

Misuses of words are fast and frequent and come in any number of varieties. They are not all the same. Here are a few of the most likely ways we confuse our words, with examples to learn from.

Comments | 4,285 Views

By Jen Doll

Sep 25, 2012

David Cameron's Semantic Chauvinism

Britain's prime minister David Cameron has recently used the word butch in a sarcastic fashion to describe a Labour party leader as not good at his job, i.e., not masculine enough. What can we learn from this?

Comments | 1,087 Views

By Jen Doll

Sep 18, 2012

Exploring the Character of a Bad Word

Slate's Lexicon Valley podcast is always a font of linguistic information, but today's is particularly fun, more rebellious, you might say, than usual. It's not like we get to dissect a vulgarity or semi-vulgarity in a linguistic way every day!

Comments | 1,268 Views

By Jen Doll

Sep 14, 2012

Now We're Just Making Stuff Up: A Guide to the Rise of the Portmanteau

It has come to our attention that there is a new habit we have been speedily, decadently embracing with regard to our words. We'll call it portmanteauing

Comments | 3,771 Views

By Jen Doll

Sep 7, 2012

Actually, Literally, What Your Crutch Word Says About You

Joe Biden said literally quite literally a lot last night, which was fodder for much semantic mockery around the Internet. If there's one thing moderately word-nerdy folks (folks, he said that, too) hate, it's the repeated and possibly improper use of one of those crutch words.

Comments | 85,148 Views

By Jen Doll

Aug 28, 2012

Everything We Thought We Knew About the Swedish Chef Is Wrong

Americans of a certain age who grew up on the Muppets often adore the Swedish Chef, but many actual Swedes hate the dude, or, really, really dislike him. He may not even be Swedish. Who is this Muppet, anyway?

Comments | 31,066 Views

By Jen Doll

Aug 23, 2012

'Mwahahaha': Introducing Oxford Dictionaries' New Words

We got pretty excited about the new words added to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary recently, so it's only fair that we muster the same enthusiasm for the terms Oxford has unveiled in their quarterly update of new words and meanings. 

Comments | 6,207 Views

By Jen Doll

Aug 17, 2012

How We Use Pronouns Now: You, Me, and Everyone We Know

Last week I wrote of a shift that's occurring in gendered pronouns: More she and her, less pronoun domination by he and him, as per a recent study from a professor at San Diego State. Today, we take on the I. And me. And you, too.

Comments | 5,006 Views

By Jen Doll

Aug 6, 2012

Embracing the Age of Autocorrect

Of course you know autocorrect. You've probably found yourself a target of its accidentally rude, crude expressions at least once, possibly with unfortunate ends, sometimes with amusing ones.

Comments | 1,479 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jul 9, 2012

Soda vs. Pop: Twitter Is Pretty Good at Linguistics

Looking to solve the great soda versus pop debate, data scientist Edwin Chen went to Twitter for some data points and his results are pretty consistent with actual linguistic data on the topic.

Comments | 2,840 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 29, 2012

By Jen Doll

Apr 26, 2012

We Resist Further Cooperation on 'Coöperation'

One word we can't seem to get enough of these days—hint: not slacks!—is diaeresis, meaning those two dots that sit on top of a second vowel when two come right next to each other in separate syllables, as seen almost exclusively in The New Yorker.

Comments | 5,172 Views

By Jen Doll

Apr 24, 2012

In Defense of Slacks (the Word, at Least)

On Friday, The New Yorker's Ben Greenman kicked off a contest called Questioningly, asking "If you could eliminate a single word from the English language, what would it be?" We, in response, asked "If you could eliminate a single word from The New Yorker, what would it be?"

Comments | 2,318 Views

By Jen Doll

Apr 20, 2012

Words We Would Eliminate From 'The New Yorker'

If you could eliminate a single word from The New Yorker, what would it be?

Comments | 3,025 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Dec 12, 2011

Vocal Fry Isn't Just for College Girls

It turns out vocal fry, what the Internet is reporting as a new linguistic trend "creeping" into women's speech isn't much of a trend at all.

Comments | 25,013 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Oct 31, 2011

Twitter Is Not the Enemy of the English Language

Contrary to all the LOLs, emoticons and hashtags happening in feeds across the Twittersphere, Twitter isn't destroying the English language.

Comments | 2,759 Views

By Adam Martin

May 6, 2011

Why You Can't Avoid the Obama-Osama Mixup

Linguists say it's a natural effect of the syllables; but it might be racism

Comments | 2,128 Views

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