language
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Economy of Language
The Global Language Monitor estimates that the English language has over a million words. In contrast, the invented language Toki Pona has just over a hundred—a feature “designed to change how speakers think.” Its simplicity, besides making the language easy…
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The Rumpus Interview with Jay Rubin
Author and translator Jay Rubin talks about his new novel, The Sun Gods, translating Haruki Murakami into English, and the internment of Japanese citizens during World War II.
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The Origins of Slang
Over at Full Stop, Tammela Platt reviews The Essence of Jargon by Alice Becker-Ho, a look into the origins of slang as a protection developed by marginalized populations.
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The Giving Word
miser: “A wretch covetous to extremity,” according to Samuel Johnson, “who in wealth makes himself miserable by the fear of poverty.” ninjo: 人情 Japanese for human compassion, as compared with social obligations (see giri). noblesse oblige: literally, “noble rank entails…
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Young Writers Turn to Hashtags
Oxford University Press has concluded that “hashtag” is the UK children’s word of the year, with kids using the term to connote emphasis and emotions. The press analyzed more than 120,000 short story entries from British children under thirteen to…
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R.I.P. Formal Writing
Let’s consider that we are seeing a natural movement towards a society in which language is more oral—or in the case of texting, oral-style—where written prose occupies a much smaller space than it used to. As such—might we stop pretending…
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Brave New Words
This year in the decline of the English language, Dictionary.com has added words like “slacktivism,” “lifehack,” and “basic,” according to the Dictionary.com blog. On the positive side, they finally added definitions for gender-inclusive words like “agender,” “bigender,” and “gender-fluid,” and…
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Curating Life
You might say that our blog offers curated literary articles. That might sound pretentious, but not nearly as pretentious as a curated salad, a curated college application, or a curated wine list. The Guardian takes a look at the use, overuse, and…
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Politics, Lost in Translation
Asymptote Journal takes a look at some of the concerns translators have when confronting a politically problematic text. The choice of text is of course the first decision a translator faces—but the challenges translators confront aren’t necessarily limited to pushing…
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The Most Common Rhetorical Device You’ve Never Heard Of
Like its cousin apophasis, litotes is one of the stealth bombers of the rhetorical world – its anonymous ubiquity defies reason and gives it the power to strike at any time, without warning. The Guardian explores litotes, a rhetorical device…
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A Weird History
When we say “in a weird way” now, we often are letting you know: I recognize that what I am about to say may seem unclear, impressionistic, or strange; I haven’t completely sorted it out — and I am trying…
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Word of the Day: Suppalpation
(n); gaining affection by caressing; the act of enticing by soft words; from the Latin suppalpari (“to caress a little”) Simply put, written English is great for puns but terrible for learning to read or write. It’s like making children…