Words on the Way In: A Retrospective
The first installment of a new column on living language: talking about COVID (talk)
Graffiti: Jaytalking in 19th Century Paris
The files of Paris police from the late nineteenth century reveal the tumultuous politics of the time through the graffiti recorded in them.
How Being Polite with Police Can Backfire
When it comes to interactions with the police, the law favors direct speech. But that's not always the way we're trained to speak to people in power.
Fun with Naming Decades in History
Whether the 2020s will roar remains to be seen, but people have been coming up with nicknames for decades since the Elegant (18)80s.
The Heretical Origins of the Sonnet
The lyrical poetic form’s origins can be traced back earlier than Petrarch.
The Punk Rock Linguistics of Cottagecore
So you want to borrow a concept from another culture but don’t know what to call it? Try a morpheme!
How the Civil War Got Its Name
From "insurrection" to "rebellion" to "Civil War," finding a name for the conflict was always political.
How to Revive a Dead Language
Although it was the language of sacred texts and ritual, modern Hebrew wasn't spoken in conversation till the late nineteenth century.
The Ethical Life of Euphemisms
Euphemisms can hide facts that need to be confronted. How do they work from a linguist's point of view?