From its humble beginnings as a Roman numeral to its eventual tenth position in the English alphabet, J has had quite a linguistic journey. When was J added to the alphabet? J is a bit of a late bloomer; after all, it was the last letter added to the alphabet. It is no coincidence that I and J stand side by side—they actually started out as the same …
Metaphors and similes are figures of speech used to add flair and humor to a phrase. These popular rhetorical devices are all well and good, but sometimes you just need to get to the point; enter hypocatastasis. What is hypocatastasis? Linguistically, both a hypocatastasis and a metaphor imply “a resemblance, representation or comparison.” However, hypocatastasis packs more of a punch than a metaphor because it uses …
You can never predict the circumstances that rocket a word into the stratosphere of public awareness. This season’s “American Idol” has accomplished this feat for not one, but two complex illnesses: Tourette Syndrome (TS) and Asperger Syndrome (AS.) One of the “Idol” constestants, James Durbin from Santa Cruz, California, has both of these disorders. As each week passes, Durbin is helping to change the perception many …
Most of us know what the word lying means, but what happens when someone carefully skirts the truth instead of telling a bold-faced whopper? Politicians, in particular, are well-known for making use of equivocal language as a way of hiding their true actions. What other ways can we describe language that hides the truth? What is hyperbole? Tweens and teens tend to use hyperbole, otherwise …
Whether you think it’s up to the hype or not, this celestial event brings along some spectacular lunar activity and equally fun vocabulary. While the names of many moon phases are rich in folklore, the supermoon became “super” because of Richard Nolle—an astrologer with a flair for the dramatic. What does supermoon mean? The prefix super is a Latin loanword meaning “above, beyond” and moon is derived from the Old English …
You may not like it, but we all use them. Whether it is in a text message, an instant chat, or a casual email, emoticons appear in written communication to indicate the tone, humor or feeling of a message. As communication moves away from personal interaction to a text-only environment, emoticons fill the void left by the absence of the tone of voice and facial …
There’s a running debate among translators about what word is hardest to translate. Obviously, the challenges vary from language to language, with languages that have less in common creating more elusive word to word translations. Let’s acknowledge that determining the hardest word to translate is more of a game than any sort of realistic exercise. That said, here are a few contenders that make the …
A few years ago Frito-Lay introduced a bag for their snack chips that was made from plants, not plastic, and could decompose in compost. It seemed like a good idea – a company putting their environmental foot forward through sustainable packaging – however, the “rip” heard upon opening the bag of chips registered at about eighty-five decibels – equal to the volume level of city traffic. …
“The King’s Speech” garnered four golden statues at the 2011 Academy Awards ceremony, including the Oscar for Best Actor for Colin Firth’s riveting portrayal of King George VI. The film’s depiction of George VI’s lifelong struggle with stuttering has brought a renewed awareness to the speech disorder that affects over sixty-eight million people worldwide. What is the origin of this disorder and how did it …
For years, scientists have been on the hunt for a mysterious “Planet Nine” that may exist in our solar system with a massive orbit of thousands—or even millions—of years. In 2011, a provocative hypothesis posed by a duo of planetary astronomers from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette named its version of this mysterious planet Tyche. They proposed a planet estimated to be four times the size of …
Catalan is a Romance language spoken primarily in the Eastern and Northeastern regions of Spain, mainly Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Isles. It is the official language of Andorra, a landlocked country located in the Eastern Pyrenees (mountains bordered by Spain and France). The Catalan language was nearly wiped out in the early 1700s only to experience a renaissance beginning in the early 20th century. What …
In lists compiled by linguists and translators, it seems “duende” is a word that many experts regard as the hardest word in Spanish to convey in other languages. In the dictionary, the word is listed as “elf” or “magic.” However, in actual