language

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This Man Speaks More Languages Than Most People Can Name

Translator Ioannis Ikonomou knows 32 languages and isn't done yet

(Newser) - In English, it's polyglot. In Greek, or Hindi, or Hebrew, the word for someone who knows several languages is, well, ask Ioannis Ikonomou. The New Statesman profiles the 50-year-old translator for the European Commission in Brussels: He knows 32 languages, and that's just the living ones. After learning...

Bonobos Have This in Common With Human Babies

They too use identical noises that function in various contexts

(Newser) - Humans aren't the only species to speak baby talk, apparently. A new study published in the journal Peer J finds our closest living relatives communicate using high-pitched calls or "peeps" strangely similar to the sounds made by human babies before they can talk. Researcher Zanna Clay of the...

University of NH: Don't Use Words Like 'Rich,' 'American'

Go with 'person of material wealth' who is a 'resident of the US'

(Newser) - The University of New Hampshire has created a " Bias-Free Language Guide ," which it says "is not a means to censor but ... presents practical revisions in our common usage that can ... break barriers relating to diversity." It includes a long list of "problematic/outdated" words, along with...

Women, Stop Using This Word at Work
Women, Stop Using
This Word at Work
OPINION

Women, Stop Using This Word at Work

'Just'

(Newser) - Women, enough with the word "just." In a post at LinkedIn , Google alum and entrepreneur Ellen Petry Leanse makes the case that women use the word much more often than men in the workplace—to their own detriment. It's a weak word, she argues, and it makes...

Guess Which Country Has 2nd-Most Spanish Speakers

Mexico has the most, with 121 million

(Newser) - Not speaking or studying Spanish yet? Then this might inspire you: The US now has the second-largest Spanish-speaking population outside of Mexico, according to a new study reported in the Guardian . According to Instituto Cervantes , a non-profit that promotes Spanish language and culture, the US now has 41 million native...

You Guys, Stop Saying &#39;You Guys&#39;
 You Guys, 
 Stop Saying 
 'You Guys' 
OPINION

You Guys, Stop Saying 'You Guys'

Vox writer says oft-used phrase promotes sexism, even if it's not intentional

(Newser) - Jenee Desmond-Harris admits that she used to start many of her social media posts with the informal and conversational "you guys" greeting, and her initial reaction to the idea of banishing the phrase was "oh, come on." But now she's ready to purge the popular phrase...

Did Science Just Discover a New Shakespeare Play?

Psych theory and text-analyzing software show 'Double Falsehood' may be Bard's

(Newser) - Did William Shakespeare pen Double Falsehood after all? Texas researchers say he probably did after comparing the play to "psychological signatures" they worked up for the Bard, Lewis Theobald (the supposed author), and Shakespeare contemporary John Fletcher. The study, published in Psychological Science , used text-analyzing software and psychological theory...

Stop Saying It&#39;s a &#39;War&#39; Against Cancer

 Let's End the 
 'War' Against 
 Cancer 
opinion

Let's End the 'War' Against Cancer

It's time to 'lay down our weapons,' writers say

(Newser) - We can "stand up to" it, "fight" it, "beat" it, and even "survive" it, but does this macho language help us deal with cancer? No way, say David Hauser and Richard Wassersug: "Not only has the military motif not led to a cure for the...

North, South Korea Languages Drifting Apart

After 7 decades, about one-third of words are different

(Newser) - On one side of the line that has divided two societies for so long, the words arrive as fast as globalization can bring them—English-based lingo like "shampoo," ''juice," and "self-service." To South Koreans, they are everyday language. To defectors from North Korea,...

Spanish Is the Happiest Language
 Spanish Is 
 the Happiest 
 Language 
study says

Spanish Is the Happiest Language

Scientists' analysis of websites suggests as much

(Newser) - If you're in a foul mood, it might be time to learn Spanish. Languages, and the people who use them, tend to favor using positive words over negatives, researchers find, and they've learned that that's particularly true in Spanish. Experts at the University of Vermont and the...

Guy Who Made 47K Wikipedia Corrections Is Wrong

Crusade against 'comprised of' is unfair: newspaper editor

(Newser) - David Shariatmadari just can't go along with the grammar guy who's correcting everyone on Wikipedia . As a newspaper editor, Shariatmadari admits to having "grammatical bugbears," but the crusade by software engineer Bryan Henderson to eliminate every "comprised of" on Wikipedia is way over the top....

What Chimps Say When They Talk to Each Other
What Chimps Say When They Talk to Each Other
STUDY SAYS

What Chimps Say When They Talk to Each Other

There's a special kind of fruit that makes them all chatty

(Newser) - Chimps chat, just like we do—and like many of us, they spend a lot of time gabbing about what they want to eat and where they're going to get their next meal, Discovery reports. For a study published in Animal Behaviour , scientists camped out in the Ivory Coast'...

Why It's So Hard to Get Rid of Your Accent

Tip: Try being under 5 years old

(Newser) - Even after we've become well-versed in a second language, that native accent can be tough to shake. In short, an expert tells LiveScience , that's because you probably are older than age five. Between birth and that age, our flexible minds are good at picking up different sounds. But...

Top Threat to Rare Languages: Growing Economies

Zoologist turns from endangered animals to endangered tongues

(Newser) - There are some 6,909 languages spoken today, but many are on the decline, and the biggest reason, researchers find, is economic growth. Researchers studied the 649 languages for which growth and decline data was available to determine the leading factors driving the change, Science magazine reports. In order to...

ISIS: Destroying the Language of Jesus?

Aramaic is under threat as ISIS invades northern Iraq

(Newser) - Islamic militants may have an unexpected victim in northern Iraq: an ancient collection of dialects and languages that's been around for over 3,000 years, Foreign Policy reports. Called Aramaic, it was flourishing among Assyrian Christians in the Nineveh plain of Iraq until ISIS invaded earlier this month and...

Grammar Blogger Fired Over 'Homo' in 'Homophones'

Boss thought confused students would think of gay sex

(Newser) - You've heard of homophobia. Now comes homophonia. The Salt Lake Tribune has the strange story of a social-media specialist who got fired after writing a blog post about homophones—the grammatical term referring to words that sound the same but are spelled differently, like too and two. It seems...

Study: Saying 'Like' All the Time Isn't All Bad

Those who do may be more conscientious than most

(Newser) - Those who speak by packing their sentences with words such as "you know," "I mean," and "like" aren't being ditzy as pop culture would suggest—they're being conscientious. So suggests a new study in the Journal of Language and Social Psychology whose authors...

To Slow Brain Aging, Learn a New Language

Even if you're already an adult, researchers suggest

(Newser) - We've already heard that being bilingual can help you fight dementia . Now, some follow-up good news: Even if you're an adult, it may not be too late to reap the cognitive benefits of learning a new language, the BBC reports. Researchers performed intelligence tests on 262 bilingual people...

What Language Did Jesus Speak?

Pope Francis, Benjamin Netanyahu disagree

(Newser) - This week saw a small disagreement between Pope Francis and Israel's prime minister. When the two met publicly in Jerusalem, Benjamin Netanyahu told the pope that "Jesus was here, in this land. He spoke Hebrew." Francis corrected him, Reuters reports: "Aramaic." Netanyahu's response: "...

Michigan Wiping 'R-Word' From Its Laws

Bills will remove 'retarded' and related words from the books

(Newser) - A few choice words are likely to be excised from Michigan law today, as Lt. Gov. Brian Calley is set to sign what is known as the "R-Word" package of bills into state law. The package—which contains eight House bills and seven Senate bills passed unanimously last Thursday,...

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