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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: language

language stories: 56 news summaries

21 - 40 of 56 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 Next >>

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OPINION

English Language
Nears 1M Words

Foreign words help language reach milestone

Jan 2, 09 4:58 PM CST
(Newser) - If your New Year’s resolution is never to use the words “change,” “bailout,” and “Phelpsian” again, you’ll get some help on or about April 29, when the English language will acquire its millionth word—or so says a Texas-based group that tracks such... More »

MORE ABOUT:
language • English • words

Texting Could Save Dying Languages

Linguists push to
get more of them
on cell phones

Jan 2, 09 8:25 AM CST
(Newser) - Linguists trying to save the world's endangered languages believe cell phones—more specifically, texting—can give them a vital boost, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some 7,000 languages are spoken worldwide, but predictive text software currently exists for just 80. Experts believe developing the technology for more tongues will... More »

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cell phones • language • text message • texting • foreign languages • mobile phones

GLOSSIES

 Let's Stop Talking In Slogans 

Using language to communicate hampered by psychology of advertising

Dec 7, 08 12:44 PM CST
(Newser) - We live in a world of snappy slogans, but that may not be the best way to communicate, write Dan Heath and Chip Heath in Fast Company. "People need a reason to prefer Crest over Colgate," but those same people—that's us—shouldn't talk like toothpaste salesmen. "... More »

MORE ABOUT:
advertising • marketing • communication • language • slogans

 Birds Think Like Us 

New book chronicles the life and mind of Alex, the world's smartest parrot

Nov 22, 08 4:01 AM CST
(Newser) - In her new book Alex and Me researcher Irene Pepperberg explains how her work with the African gray parrot shed light on human intelligence, Scientific American reports. The author says Alex’s smarts demonstrate why scientists should examine how an animal’s brain works, not just how it looks, because... More »

MORE ABOUT:
language • Irene Pepperberg • African gray parrot • cognitive development • parrot



 Top 10 
 Most 
 Irritating 
 Phrases 

Absolutely a nightmare, 24/7

Nov 7, 08 10:12 AM CST
(Newser) - At the end of the day, it's not rocket science, but the Guardian reports that researchers at Oxford University have been working absolutely 24/7 to compile a fairly unique list of phrases which, with all due respect, are some of the most irritating in popular use. You’ve just read... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Oxford University • language • English • linguistics • irritating phrases • expressions • Damp Squid

ANALYSIS

Sure, I'm Offended—
I'm Human!

People are extra sensitive these days, and science knows why

Oct 18, 08 7:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - From Larry David to John McCain, we’re all getting a little touchy these days, writes Emily Yoffe in Slate: “People are like tuning forks, ready to vibrate with indignation.” While economists argue humans are rational, “it seems we live in a culture devoted to retribution on... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • psychology • gossip • language • natural selection • morality • social behavior

 Dictionary Gives 
 Rare Words 
 One Last Chance 

Apodiectic use could save niddering and oppugnant

Oct 4, 08 8:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Collins English Dictionary is giving rarely used words a last chance before they are dumped from the new edition, Time reports. Language lovers were outraged at plans to  exuviate (shed) words like oppugnant (combative), so the editors have made public a list of 24 candidates for deletion. If the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
language • English • dictionary • words • lexicon

 LPGA to Test Players' English 

Tour worries about sponsor interaction as foreign players increase

Aug 26, 08 4:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - The LPGA will begin mandatory oral English tests for its players next year, and those who fail face suspension and required tutoring, Golfweek reports. The tour is stressing the importance of English as players from Asia have come to play a prominent role in the sport. Of the 121 international... More »

MORE ABOUT:
sports • South Korea • golf • LPGA • LPGA Tour • language • English

Children Can Count Without Numbers

Study suggests
that kids have innate
math abilities

Aug 19, 08 8:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - A study sure to fan a fiery disagreement among developmental psychologists has found that children can count objects even if their language lacks words for the numbers involved. Researchers found that Australian Aboriginal children, who know words for only a few small numbers, did just as well as English-speaking children... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Australia • Aborigines • brain • psychology • language • mathematics • psychological research

300M 'Chinglish' Speakers Can't Be Wrong

English as spoken in China may soon become a dialect

Jun 29, 08 5:52 AM CDT
(Newser) - Some 300 million English speakers in China are altering the language in small but important ways—and may be creating their own dialect, Michael Erard writes in Wired. So-called "Chinglish"—which stresses unique syllables, drops dos and dids, and adds sounds for questions—has already been studied in... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Singapore • language • English • Chinese • grammar

comment

 Unseemly Word Loses Its Sting 

'Near-dirty' term deserves a trip to the showers

Jun 21, 08 12:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - The word douchebag is in danger of losing its bite thanks to rampant overuse, writes Richard Dorment in Esquire. It's not that the "toxic mess of a man" population has increased, he observes. It may seem that way, what with reality TV and cable punditry promoting unsavory characters. But... More »

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profanity • obscenity • language • swearing • insult • opinion

 Doobly? Fipper?
 What Do You Call the Remote? 

Nearly family, remote deserves a nickname

Jun 17, 08 6:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - The English Project is looking for unique words used among friends and families, and it's found a particularly rich vein in alternative terms for the TV remote control, the Guardian of London reports. Favorites include:
  • doobly, podger, blipper
  • melly, didge, clicker
More »

MORE ABOUT:
language • TV remote control • slang

Chinese Create Slang for New Technology

Cell phone, computer make way into written and spoken Mandarin

May 28, 08 5:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - New technology has kids in China generating their own modern lingo, I.D. Magazine reports. The millennia-old Mandarin language lacks terms for things like cell phones (which go as shou ji, or "hand machine") and USB (which goes as yo pan, a word created partly phonetically), forcing users... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • technology • language • characters • slang • Mandarin • Cantonese

Baby Birds' Babbling Suggests Intricate Brain

How our feathered friends learn, play back song may hold answers for human speech

May 5, 08 4:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - Being bird-brained might not be much of an insult: New MIT research paints a more intricate portrait of how songbirds learn to sing, with one part of the brain used for learning and another for singing itself. Rather than maturing from babbling to birdsong, the independent but overlapping pathways work... More »

MORE ABOUT:
science • birds • brain • neuroscience • language • science experiment • speech

Philly Steak Shop Can Keep
'Please Speak English' Signs

Statement political, no service denied: panel

Mar 20, 08 5:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - The owner of a Philadelphia institution can keep signs that ask customers to order their cheese steaks in English, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. A city agency ruled the signs at Geno's Steaks—"This is America. When ordering, please speak English"—do not violate discrimination rules; owner Joey Vento... More »

MORE ABOUT:
immigration • America • Philadelphia • language • English • Joe Vento • cheese steak shop • Geno's • foreign languages

Why Girls Are Better at Language

Study finds brain wiring gives girls the edge

Mar 6, 08 11:12 AM CST
(Newser) - Study after study has found that girls have better language skills than boys, and scientists now think they've found a biological reason why, Scientific American reports. Researchers discovered that girls showed more activity in the language part of their brains, which deciphers abstract encoding, than boys. The boys had... More »

MORE ABOUT:
education • children • research • neuroscience • language • neurology • fMRI

Miami Needs to Study Spanish

International financial hub finds Latinos' language skills lagging

Mar 3, 08 1:30 PM CST
(Newser) - Miami's role as an international city—the "financial hub of Latin America," as one businessman calls it—is threatened by its residents' declining Spanish skills, the Miami Herald reports. Many descendants of the Cuban entrepreneurs and businessmen who flooded South Florida in the '60s and '70s speak only... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Miami • language • Latinos • immigrant • Spanish • Hispanic • Cuban Americans • bilingual education

New Dictionary Helps Germans Steer Clear of 'Nazi Words'

Taboo terms tainted
by Third Reich

Jan 31, 08 5:10 PM CST
(Newser) - German words like "Endlösung" (final solution) have been tainted, likely forever, by their association with the Nazis. A new dictionary looks at how the horrors of Hitler's regime changed the German language, Der Spiegel reports. The "Dictionary of Coming to Terms With the Past" looks at how... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Germany • Nazi • language • dictionary

The Most Useless Words of 2007

'Surge,' 'random,' 'under the bus' top list of cringe-worthy neologisms

Jan 1, 08 6:00 PM CST
(Newser) - Do you roll your eyes every time a newscaster calls a coincidence a "perfect storm"? Cringe the thousandth time a teenager invokes "random"? The faculty at Lake Superior State University shares your vexation. Here are some selections from the school's list of words and phrases to... More »

MORE ABOUT:
list • language • vocabulary • words • neologisms

It's All Greek to Miss Belgium

Beauty queen is no Dutch treat; caretaker PM tries to mend government

Dec 17, 07 2:28 PM CST
(Newser) - The new Miss Belgium sparked fury in Flanders this weekend with her admission that she doesn't speak Dutch, AFP reports. In a country already torn over the Flemish-French conflict that's derailed the government for months, 20-year-old Alizee Poulicek's attempt to speak the language of the country's majority was met with... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Belgium • Netherlands • beauty pageant • language • Flanders • Guy Verhofstadt • Alizee Poulicek

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