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"Change affects the way people speak as inevitably as it does any other area of human life. Language purists do not welcome it, but they can do very little about it." So explained linguist David Crystal in his 2006 book How Language Works, yet the concept of 'purity' remains popular in just about every language. Almost inevitably, the debate...

The worst job I ever held was as a driver in the then-emerging realm of largescale food delivery by bike. At the end of each month, we received a ranking of all drivers according to aggregated, speed-related stats - including, for some reason, how long we waited at a restaurant before receiving the food. Appear three times in the bottom...

In February, Chris looked into the democracy of language, the process by which rules evolve through a general willingness to let errors slide. But how about the reverse: the death of words due to a complete lack of usage? According to linguist Morris Swadesh, the languages of 20,000 years from now will retain just 1% of the core vocabulary...

Global warming has led to severe flooding and fires around the world, and the consequences on humans, animals and the environment are only just beginning. While the jury is not out in full, it is straining at the exit door to point the finger at greed and indiscrimination, from the profit-mongering multinationals (Amazon) to denial-posturing...

The Oxford English Dictionary defines democracy as:

Having just got to grips with the concept and operation of 'blockchain' and 'cryptocurrencies' at the beginning of 2021 - I know because after translating a paper on the subject and editing a further couple of articles, if I ever come across blockchain or bitcoin, I won't have to think 'what is that again?' - I happened to read a...

The use of colours to express emotions is pretty universal. Evoking a colour can be a striking way of conveying a vivid impression of the mood or physical appearance of an individual. Green with envy, red with rage, white with fear, feeling blue. All languages do this since colours have strong connotations (even if, in different cultures, colours...

What do Fred Nurk, Joe Bloggs, John Doe, Jan Perez and Mario Rossi all have in common? They are the proverbial men in the street in Australia, the UK, the US, Italy and Latin America respectively. Or, placeholder names as they are also referred to. We use them without really thinking. Of course, if you were to actually meet...

Have you ever judged somebody by their accent? I won't take no for an answer: studies have repeatedly shown that certain accents tend to be rated as less intelligent, friendly and trustworthy than others, even by their own speakers. While these same studies show that most of us are able to moderate our prejudices when there are potential...

Give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile. How many times have you heard that expression used to warn about conceding even a little to someone who is likely to take excessive advantage of your generosity? Better, then, not to give an inch. We frequently seem to quite literally measure moments in our lives through idiomatic expressions (often...