Flag of the Klingon Empire

Why We Love to Learn Klingon: The Art of Constructed Languages

Constructed languages like Klingon excite us because they enable us to actively participate in foreign or "alien" cultures. 
The word of the year, face with tears of joy emoji.

Can an Emoji Ever Be a Word?

You might be forgiven for thinking that the merry band of lexicographers at Oxford Dictionaries were trolling us ...
People enjoying their evening on a beach on Honolulu, Hawaii.

Mele Kalikimaka! How To Say “Merry Christmas” In Hawaiian

Translating "Merry Christmas" into Hawaiian offers insight into the language's modest inventory of consonants.
Vida logo

Gender Disparity and Book Reviews: the VIDA Count

The organization VIDA: Women in Literary Arts was launched in 2009 to document gender disparity in book reviews.
Deborah Eisenberg, short story writer, New York, NY.

The Stories of Deborah Eisenberg

Two short stories by Deborah Eisenberg.
Cover of "Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village" by Ronald Blythe

The Re-Release of a Classic

A new American edition of Ronald Blythe's Akenfield reminds us why it became one of the founding texts of oral history.
Time is money.

It Turns Out Ordinary Life is Full of Poetry (Metaphorically Speaking)

The metaphor isn't just a literary device; it informs our conceptual understanding of language and the world.
Weldon's Ladies' Journal April 1895

Public Domain via <a href="http://elusivemu.se/resources-for-artists-public-domain-fashion-images/#prettyPhoto[gallery-1]/1" target="_blank">elusivemu.se</a>

The Birth of Fashion Magazines

Fashion magazines, which first emerged in the 19th century, bridged notions of femininity with an increasingly consumerist society.
Speech Bubbles

When Actions Are Words

How certain speech acts perform actions and alter our social reality.
William Shakespeare's King Lear

When King Lear Was a Rom-Com

The King Lear people saw for almost two centuries was very different from Shakespeare's.