Tag: language
How did ‘white’ become a metaphor for all things good?
Aradhna Krishna, University of Michigan
Shortly after George Floyd’s death, one of my friends texted me that Floyd wasn’t necessarily a bad person, but, pointing...
Why ‘I was just being sarcastic’ can be such a convenient...
Roger J. Kreuz, University of Memphis
After President Donald Trump said during his June 20 rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that increased testing was responsible for...
Why do kids call their parents ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’?
Bethany Van Vleet, Arizona State University and Denise Bodman, Arizona State University
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have...
We call workers ‘essential’ – but is that just referring to...
Zachary Jaggers, University of Oregon
By this point in the coronavirus pandemic, you’ve probably heard a lot about “essential workers.” They’re the people working in...
Why do Americans say ‘bay-zle’ and the English say ‘baa-zle’?
Christine Mallinson, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an...
We’re living in the bizarre world that Flaubert envisioned
Susanna Lee, Georgetown University
Are we all trapped in a live-action version of Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary”?
The Jan. 3 assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was...
7 reasons to learn a foreign language
Kathleen Stein-Smith, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Half of the world population is bilingual, but only 25% of Americans can hold a conversation in another language.
Changing...
Examining how primates make vowel sounds pushes timeline for speech evolution...
Thomas R. Sawallis, University of Alabama and Louis-Jean Boë, Université Grenoble Alpes
Sound doesn’t fossilize. Language doesn’t either.
Even when writing systems have developed, they’ve represented...
EXPLORING NATURE
The chickadee in the snowbank: A ‘canary in the coal mine’...
Benjamin Sonnenberg, University of Nevada, Reno
Wet snow pelts my face and pulls against my skis as I climb...
