Kriengsak Talek/Shutterstock
Does the heart really have cockles or heartstrings? An anatomist clears up some misconceptions…and lends credence to others.
EPA/Shawn Thew
The shithole countries comment was a landmark moment. This US president has given up even trying to hide his prejudice.
A grand monument to love.
amira_a/Flickr
A loving relationship may be a unique mix of different ‘flavours’ of love.
Aussie slang such as ‘budgie’, ‘greenie’, ‘pollie’, ‘surfie’, and even ‘mozzie’ are now also making appearances in global English.
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Every few years there’s a furphy that our beloved ‘Strine’ slang is doing a Harold Holt – but in fact Aussies are still slinging true-blue slang.
Political arguments against high Latino immigration into the U.S. often play on fears that Spanish is pushing out English in American society. It’s not.
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Spanish is not overtaking English in the US, despite political fearmongering. In fact, due to the ‘three-generation pattern,’ Spanish speaking in immigrant families tends to decline over time.
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How you use the word ‘shithole’ depends on your gender, which paints Trump’s latest misstep as yet another case of toxic masculinity.
Bokeh Art Photo/Shutterstock.com
It has long been known that colour and emotion are linked – so could colour could be used as a language to express how we feel?
A teacher from the Arab town of Kabul gives an Arabic class to Israeli schoolchildren.
AP Photo/Oded Balilty
We underestimate the power of language to divide and to bring people closer together, scholars say.
A day after Donald Trump met with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, he told lawmakers the U.S. should have more immigrants from places like Norway and not “shithole” countries like Haiti.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Donald Trump’s language has disturbing similarities to the words and verbal tactics used by fascists, including his cries of “fake news” and his obsessive exaggerations about his achievements.
Let me guess where you’re from.
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The world is becoming increasingly connected, but local accents still define who we are.
Koldunova Anna/Shutterstock
Perception of truth and lies changes between languages for bilingual speakers.
Statues like these - here Paul Kruger at Pretoria’s Church Square - are a reminder of a time when Afrikaners were the ruling class in South Africa.
Mike Hutchings/Reuters
Afrikaners in post-apartheid South Africa struggle with a historical sense of inferiority that reinforces their whiteness.
In cities and countries around the world, drivers use a range of hand signals to communicate with other drivers.
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A sociolinguist wonders if they’ll ever be able to interpret the waves, high beams and middle fingers of human drivers.
Shutterstock/SinishaKarich
Child sexual abuse is rising but there is still ignorance around how to speak to and support children who are badly in need of help.
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What time looks like in different cultures.
The Roman weekday ‘dies Veneris’ was named after the planet Venus, which in turn took its name from Venus, goddess of love. Detail from Venus and Mars, Botticelli, tempera on panel (c1483).
Wikimedia Commons
The origins of our days of the week lie with the Romans. Three are named for planets, the other four gods.
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The best cracker jokes make us groan as much as laugh – and that’s deliberate.
Introducing rural and indigenous communities to science, through experiments and communication, is vital.
Felipe Figueira
The combination of knowledge and communication, along with a few other fundamental conditions such as liberty and respect , leads to social, cultural and technological development.
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It’s a multi-lingual effect.
The initial aim of political correctness, to establish non-hateful language was, and still is, admirable.
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In little more than a generation and a half we have become a more caring and inclusive society.