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Articles about Language
Word RoutesExploring the pathways of our lexicon
Tracking Dialects on Twitter: What's Coo and What's Koo?
New techniques of "Twitterology" make it possible to study dialectal differences.
In last Sunday's New York Times, I wrote about how researchers are using Twitter to build huge linguistic datasets in order to answer all sorts of interesting analytical questions. Some are looking at the emotional responses of Libyans to unfolding events like the death of Qaddafi, while others are tracking the distribution of regional patterns in American English. This latter research area, Twitter dialectology, is just getting off the ground, but the results are already quite intriguing.
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Language LoungeA Monthly Column for Word Lovers
Lexical Apostasy
A word like "shtick" can end up diverging from its original meaning.
Words step outside of their borders all the time; and once they are in new territory, they rarely follow the rules that bound them in their original context. As time passes, they can become complete strangers to their original users, and may even be seen as betraying them.
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Behind the DictionaryLexicographers Talk About Language
Hallow, What's This?
The name of the holiday "Halloween" has a peculiar past.
As most histories of Halloween will tell you, Hallowe'en (or Halloween) is a shortened version of All-Hallow(s)-Eve, but how and why did eve turn into e'en? For that matter, what is a hallow? Why did the all get dropped?
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Word RoutesExploring the pathways of our lexicon
David Henry Hwang Traverses the Language Barrier in "Chinglish"
A new Broadway comedy finds humor in the dangers of mistranslation.
A new play is opening tonight on Broadway, and it's a treat for language lovers. It's called "Chinglish," and it was written by David Henry Hwang, who won a Tony Award for "M. Butterfly." I had a chance to talk to Hwang about his comic exploration of the perils of cross-linguistic misunderstanding.
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Word RoutesExploring the pathways of our lexicon
Occupying Word Street
The Occupy Wall Street movement has developed its own lexicon, starting with "occupy" itself.
The public protest over economic inequalities known as "Occupy Wall Street" has been going on nearly a month now, with the original demonstration in Manhattan's Financial District spreading to cities around the world. Thanks to the success of the movement, the lingo of the protesters has spread quickly, with the verb occupy in particular becoming a kind of rallying cry.
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Word RoutesExploring the pathways of our lexicon
"And One More Thing": The Insanely Great Language of Steve Jobs
Remembering the linguistic legacy of the charismatic Apple co-founder.
After the passing of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs on Wednesday, the outpouring of sympathy on Twitter was overwhelming, with an estimated 10,000 tweets per second. Several of the top "trending topics" over the following day were Jobs-related, marked by the hashtags #ThankYouSteve, #iSad, #ThinkDifferent, and #StayHungry. Even in death, Jobs's unique and spirited way with words was palpable.
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Word CountWriters Talk About Writing
Acronym Amplification
Techie types love to make acronyms, but some editorial rules are needed for them.
A warm welcome to our newest regular contributor, Mike Pope. As a longtime technical writer and editor at Microsoft, Mike has developed some special know-how in that favorite techie shorthand, the acronym. Here Mike explains the ins and outs of acronyms and initialisms.
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