How brands get their names, explained by a professional namer

A professional explains why brand names have gotten weirder.

Interview: Why Mastering Language Is So Difficult for AI

Scientist Gary Marcus argues that “deep learning” is not the only path to true artificial intelligence.

The surprising power of memes

The science of these viral mash-ups reveals why they are so effective at spreading ideas and beliefs.

34 Great Apps and Resources to Help You Learn a Language

Learning a language is challenging but extremely rewarding. Try one of these excellent apps to help you get started.

The Enduring Mystery of 'Jawn,' Philadelphia's All-Purpose Noun

According to experts, it's unlike any word, in any language.

The Hidden History of “Hand Talk,” the Native American Sign Language That P

No one person can take credit for the invention of American Sign Language. Its history reaches back to the early 19th century, when forms of sign developed among Deaf communities in New England.

The Animal Translators

Scientists are using machine learning to eavesdrop on naked mole rats, fruit bats, crows and whales — and to communicate back.

The messages that survived civilisation's collapse - BBC Future

The Sumerians, Maya and other ancient cultures created texts that have lasted hundreds and even thousands of years. Here's what they can teach us about crafting an immortal message.

The art of effective trolling

Sometimes you can say more with humor than with a polished speech or marketing spot.

The 1600s Were a Watershed for Swear Words

The language that doesn't use 'no'

The Kusunda language has no known origin and a number of quirks, like no words for "yes" or "no". It also has only one fluent speaker left, something linguists are racing to change.

The Fine Art of Italian Hand Gestures: A Vintage Visual Dictionary by Bruno Munari

A pocket guide to Neapolitan nonverbal communication.

Have Scholars Finally Deciphered Linear Elamite, a Mysterious Ancient Scrip

Linear Elamite, a writing system used in what is now Iran, may reveal the secrets of a little-known kingdom bordering Sumer

How the Brain Links Gestures, Perception and Meaning

Neuroscience has found that gestures are not merely important as tools of expression but as guides of cognition and perception.

The Language You Speak Influences Where Your Attention Goes

It’s all because of the similarities between words.

How the Brain Allows the Deaf to Experience Music

Our sensory systems for hearing and touch overlap to stir a wealth of emotions.

When Did Shaking Hands Become a Standard Way of Greeting Someone?

There’s ancient evidence for the custom of shaking hands, but did it mean the same thing then as it does today?

What’s So Funny? The Science of Why We Laugh

Psychologists, neuroscientists and philosophers are trying to understand humor.

Why the French love to say no

Although the default answer to almost every question, request or suggestion is a disheartening ‘non’, a ‘oui’ is often hiding in the context of what is being said.

The Sanaa Palimpsest: A truly fascinating Quranic manuscript

The Sanaa Palimpsest has a number of unique characteristics, not least as an enduring artefact of Quranic scribal methods and of Islamic heritage within Yemen. Yet deciphering the text poses theological quandaries surrounding Quranic tradition.

Voynich Manuscript

How Dardistan became one of the most multilingual places on Earth | Aeon Essays

At the crossroads of south and central Asia lies one of the world’s most multilingual places, with songs and poetry to match

Is Music Universal?

From a neurological and evolutionary perspective, music is fascinating. There seems to be a deeply rooted biological appreciation for tonality, rhythm, and melody. Not only can people find certain sequences of sounds to be pleasurable, they can powerfully evoke emotions. Music…

The History of the Singular 'They'

The singular form of 'they' has been endorsed by writers like Jane Austen and William Shakespeare.

Hacker News

Researchers at MIT are investigating the brain of a woman, known by her initials EG, with a missing temporal lobe.

Lost Languages Discovered in One of the World's Oldest Continuously Run Libraries

The centuries-old texts were erased, and then written over, by monks at Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt

Ultimate Terms

There are words which have special meaning within each culture and carry power where they are used.

Frankly, We Do Give a Damn: The Relationship Between Profanity and Honesty

The Rhyme-as-Reason Effect: Why Rhyming Makes Messages More Persuasive

T-LEAF: Taxonomy Learning and EvaluAtion Framework

How we applied qualitative learning, human labeling and machine learning to iteratively develop Airbnb’s Community Support Taxonomy.

What Klingon and Other Constructed Languages Reveal

Christine Schreyer is a linguistic anthropologist who researches the people who invent new tongues and seek to sustain ancient ones.

I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here's How

Lifehacker reader Gabriel Wyner was tasked with learning four languages in the past few years for his career as an opera singer, and in the process la

Mapping How to Laugh Online in Different Languages

In this map of laughter around the world you will be able to see how haha is written in different countries depending on their languages.

The Strange and Secret Ways That Animals Perceive the World

Nonhuman creatures have senses that we’re just beginning to fathom. What would they tell us if we could only understand them?

Lakota elders helped a white man preserve their language. Then he tried to sell it back to them.

“No matter how it was collected, where it was collected, when it was collected, our language belongs to us," said Ray Taken Alive, a Lakota teacher.

Why is English so weirdly different from other languages? | Aeon Essays

No, English isn’t uniquely vibrant or mighty or adaptable. But it really is weirder than pretty much every other language

With ‘The Far Side,’ Gary Larson Pioneered the Art of the Meme

There couldn’t be a ‘Is This a Pigeon?’ without a ‘Beware of Doug’.

The Mind-Expanding Ideas of Andy Clark

The tools we use to help us think—from language to smartphones—may be part of thought itself.

What's the funniest name you've heard someone call an object when they couldn't remember its actual name?

24K votes, 10K comments. 49M subscribers in the AskReddit community. r/AskReddit is the place to ask and answer thought-provoking questions.

"Close Enough" Words for Things You Can't Remember

Have you ever had a brain fart and couldn't remember some common word or term that you needed to use? You can often get the point across by using whatever words might be close. That's how a peacock becomes a "disco chicken," or a cow can be called a "moo beast." In an AskReddit…

Handy Mnemonics: The Five-Fingered Memory Machine

Before humans stored memories as zeroes and ones, we turned to digital devices of another kind — preserving knowledge on the surface of fingers and palms. Kensy Cooperrider leads us through a millennium of “hand mnemonics” and the variety of techniques practised by Buddhist…

The Endgames of Bad Faith Communication

MIT scans brain of hyperpolyglot Vaughn Smith, who speaks 24 languages - Wa

In a city where diplomats and embassies abound, where interpreters can command six-figure salaries, where language proficiency is résumé rocket fuel, Vaughn Smith was a savant with a secret.

Is Geometry a Language That Only Humans Know? (Published 2022)

Neuroscientists are exploring whether shapes like squares and rectangles — and our ability to recognize them — are part of what makes our species special.

Why People Hate or Love the Sound of Certain Words

Is there a connection between sound and meaning?

https://www.dataisnature.com/?p=596

How The Inca Used Knots To Tell Stories

The Inca are most often remembered not for what they had but for what they didn’t have: the wheel, iron, a written language. This third lack has given rise to a paradox, the Inca paradox. Could it …

What Makes a Great Opening Line?

Maybe it has happened to you: a stranger catches your eye while you peruse the plant identification section of the library, or wander a mossy hillock speckled with Amanita bisporigera, or shuffle a…

5 Languages on the Brink of Extinction That You Can Learn Online

5 endangered languages you can learn via Duolingo, Memrise, and online platforms like Hawaiian, Yiddish, Cornish, Greenlandic, and Navajo.

Why Are Letters Shaped the Way They Are?

Linguistic games and research are revealing a hidden connection between what words look and sound like, and what they mean.