What the Folk? The Charming Yet Totally Malappropriate Story of Folk Etymology
Etymology is a funny thing. Even if you're not a word nerd, you might have wondered why so many English idioms we use are Just. So. Weird.
The Strange Life of Punctuation!
Punctuation is often a symbolically loaded. Is there anything else so heavily regulated, codified and coddled as the period, comma, or exclamation point?
Is Writing a Technology or a Language? Let’s Ask Some Aliens
Are written and spoken language really two different things?
How Does the Language of Headlines Work? The Answer May Surprise You.
How headlines have changed as media has evolved -- and how they haven't.
Will Reading Romance Novels Make Artificial Intelligence More Human?
Google is feeding its natural language AI thousands of romance novels in an effort to humanize its “conversational tone.” Will this give it "humanness?"
The Linguistics of Other People’s Pants (and Other Dishonorific Epithets)
The linguistics behind "dishonorifics." In this kind of naming construction, clearly honorifics are added in an ironic, tongue-in-cheek way.
The Monstrous Words Lurking in Your Language
“You have hissed all my mystery lectures. I saw you fight a liar in the back quad; in ...
The Linguistics of My Next Band Name
Why do certain combinations of words make good band names? Linguistic research points to "semantic space."
How to Navigate by Nostalgia: The Linguistics of Place Names
Place names are often intimately tied to nostalgia and history.
The Deafening (((Echoes))) of Marked Language
What is marked language, and what does it have to do with the online hate speech of anti-semitic "Echoes" on Twitter?