tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/words-20678/articlesWords – The Conversation2024-01-11T13:24:37Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2205202024-01-11T13:24:37Z2024-01-11T13:24:37ZSellout! How political corruption shaped an American insult<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568059/original/file-20240105-15-op8mrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C55%2C4034%2C2967&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Alf Bruseth, 'Politician Coin Bank' (1938).</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.20772.html"> Index of American Design</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you follow politics, sports, Hollywood or the arts, you’ve no doubt heard the insult “sellout” thrown around to describe someone perceived to have betrayed a core principle or shared value in their pursuit of personal gain. </p>
<p>The term has recently been hurled at a range of well-known targets: Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows for <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/watch/-hail-mary-attempt-fails-appeals-court-rules-mark-meadows-cannot-move-case-out-of-georgia-200487493763">cooperating with</a> a special counsel investigating election fraud in 2020; Kim Kardashian for advertising <a href="https://time.com/4314413/modern-feminism-is-selling-out/">her personal brands</a> as a form of women’s empowerment; even former NFL great Deion Sanders, for leaving Jackson State, a historically Black university, <a href="https://theconversation.com/calling-deion-sanders-a-sellout-ignores-the-growing-role-of-clout-chasing-in-college-sports-196792">to coach</a> at the University of Colorado.</p>
<p>Most people, I find, are familiar with this accusation. But few people really know the full story of “selling out” – when and where the term originated, how it spread across so many different sectors of American culture, and just why this insult hurts so much. These are the questions I set out to answer in the book I’m currently writing, tentatively titled “Sellouts! The Story of an American Insult.” </p>
<p>Through my research, I found that the idea of selling out originates with American politics — and more precisely, with the scandals of the Gilded Age.</p>
<h2>Gilded Age origins</h2>
<p>This era, which gets its name from Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner’s 1873 satirical novel “<a href="https://www.loa.org/books/178-the-gilded-age-amp-later-novels/">The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-day</a>,” spans roughly from the 1870s to the 1900s. These <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25144440">decades saw the rise</a> of industrial capitalism in the United States: people moving to cities, technologies transforming industries like the railroads, growing unrest and activism by workers, and crises erupting from an economy built around banks, stocks and corporations.</p>
<p>Until this time, the phrase “selling out” had largely <a href="https://www.oed.com/dictionary/sell_v?tab=phrasal_verbs#23525421">been used to describe</a> the sale of one’s stock or holdings – cattle, steel, grain, real estate. But <a href="https://www.oed.com/dictionary/sell_n2?tab=meaning_and_use#23522487">by the 1870s</a>, the term had quickly gained a new meaning as an insult for public figures — especially politicians — who had compromised their morals, and the needs of the community, in pursuit of illicit personal gain.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cartoon of obese men representing various industries looming over senators." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568056/original/file-20240105-19-bjst1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568056/original/file-20240105-19-bjst1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568056/original/file-20240105-19-bjst1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568056/original/file-20240105-19-bjst1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568056/original/file-20240105-19-bjst1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568056/original/file-20240105-19-bjst1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568056/original/file-20240105-19-bjst1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘The Bosses of the Senate’ by Joseph Keppler, published in the Jan. 23, 1889, issue of Puck.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Bosses_of_the_Senate_by_Joseph_Keppler.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, political scandals were hardly a novelty of the 1870s. What changed in the Gilded Age, <a href="https://networks.h-net.org/node/20317/reviews/21375/burg-summers-gilded-age-or-hazard-new-functions">historians suggest</a>, was not the frequency or severity of unethical behavior by politicians, but rather the public’s awareness of the corruption plaguing the U.S. political system. </p>
<h2>The Tweed Ring</h2>
<p>Party politics has always involved graft: skimming off the top of budgets, directing contracts to favored firms, and securing offices for friends. But <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/07/02/george-santos-william-boss-tweed-tammany-hall/">William Tweed, widely known as “Boss Tweed,”</a> took this corruption to new heights.</p>
<p>In the 1860s, Tweed ran New York’s Democratic Party. His circle of influence extended to dozens of city and state offices. The Tweed Ring would provide someone with a job, and then the beneficiary would provide the ring with a kickback.</p>
<p>Whenever contracts were issued for services like carpentry, the ring inflated costs and skimmed off the extra — at first, adding a mere 10%, but later exaggerating these expenses wildly. One carpeting bill from a Tweed contractor ran to US$565,731, a cost high enough for a carpet in New York City to get “<a href="https://kennethackerman.com/books/boss-tweed/">halfway to Albany</a>.” </p>
<p>The ring would also buy up large chunks of city real estate, especially plots they knew were about to receive development projects. Estimates on the total wealth they siphoned through such graft <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Boss_Tweed/ipAxruFk54AC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">range from</a> $20 million to a staggering $200 million – or around $5 billion in 2024, when adjusted for inflation.</p>
<p>Tweed’s cronies also fixed elections with a boldness that’s unthinkable today; one drunken accomplice <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tiger-Rise-Fall-Tammany-Hall/dp/020162463X">confessed he had voted</a> at least 28 times on Election Day.</p>
<p>In 1870, The New York Times began an unprecedented journalistic exposé of Tweed and his ring. Their editorials used the phrase “selling out” to capture how city and state politics were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1870/11/26/archives/the-tammany-ring-and-its-agents.html">manipulated by a corrupt few</a> who lined their pockets and kept a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1871/10/16/archives/the-democratic-circus.html">chokehold on elections</a>. </p>
<p>The Times also attacked other newspapers, like the New York World, which took large “advertising revenues” from Tweed, as evidence that these papers would “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1870/11/23/archives/the-mission-of-the-democratic-party.html">sell out to the highest bidder</a>.” In a <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_Journalism/eatZAAAAMAAJ?hl=en">major coup</a>, the Times eventually published complete records of the city’s finances, proving the ring’s corruption and landing Tweed inside the Ludlow Street Jail. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cartoon of men standing in a circle pointing their fingers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568057/original/file-20240105-27-m5onvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568057/original/file-20240105-27-m5onvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568057/original/file-20240105-27-m5onvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568057/original/file-20240105-27-m5onvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568057/original/file-20240105-27-m5onvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568057/original/file-20240105-27-m5onvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568057/original/file-20240105-27-m5onvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Thomas Nast’s cartoons in Harper’s transformed the public’s perception of William ‘Boss’ Tweed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/55200970-dc40-0130-375d-58d385a7bbd0">New York Public Library Digital Collections</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Times’ crusade against Tweed pioneered a new, activist form of journalism, while also helping establish “selling out” as a recognizable idea in American life. </p>
<p>Later journalists, known as muckrakers, would launch their own famous investigations, such as Lincoln Steffens’ writing on <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822043023084&seq=7">political machines</a> in other U.S. cities, David Graham Philips’ coverage of the <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100646108">widespread misdeeds</a> of U.S. senators, and Ida Tarbell’s exposure of Standard Oil’s <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/004490918">illicit business practices</a>.</p>
<p>All used the newly popularized phrase “selling out” to describe the corruption of a democratic society. The “corrupt government of Illinois sold out its people to its own grafters,” <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Struggle_for_Self_government/EYYmAAAAMAAJ?hl=en">wrote Steffens</a>, whereas “the organized grafters of Missouri, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island sold, or are selling, out their States to bigger grafters outside.” </p>
<h2>A contested concept</h2>
<p>Over the next century, the idea of selling out spread from politics to numerous other corners of American culture: <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/pmla/article/abs/on-the-literary-history-of-selling-out-craft-identity-and-commercial-recognition/2AA296CB7FEA8768D1F944CF88F7DBDB">Novelists chastised peers</a> who went to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01956051.1984.10661963">write for Hollywood</a> as sellouts, while <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/810368/summary">Black intellectuals</a> debated what, if anything, Black elected officials had to do to be seen as <a href="https://hls.harvard.edu/bibliography/sellout-the-politics-of-racial-betrayal/">“authentic” racial representatives</a> and not sellouts. </p>
<p>For all its many uses in American culture, however, selling out remains a contested concept. For virtually any action that some people view as a betrayal, others will see as a rational choice. </p>
<p>Consider Bob Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, who became the first Black billionaire when <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Billion_Dollar_BET/aF_LAgAAQBAJ?hl=en">he sold the cable channel</a> to Viacom in 2001. Some applauded his historic sale, but <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/11/04/but-has-the-network-sold-a-bit-of-its-soul/2c7ef34b-7c04-451b-8239-74f34a2c998b/">others accused</a> Johnson of “selling out” this unique platform for Black voices. </p>
<p>Trump supporters may similarly see Meadows as a traitor — a sellout who abandoned his party’s leader to save his own skin. But Democrats may see him as a Republican who has chosen the values of the country over protecting his party’s standard-bearer. Each side follows its own logic.</p>
<p>Selling out, then, is not always a clear-cut transgression. When a group feels like one of its own has betrayed some shared values, there are often meaningful questions to be asked about what that group’s values ought to be in the first place.</p>
<p>Some critics have <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/ibram-x-kendi-hasan-minhaj-and-the-question-of-selling-out">wondered whether</a> selling out is an <a href="https://mumbrella.com.au/is-selling-out-no-longer-a-concept-for-gen-z-356761">obsolete notion</a> in <a href="https://lithiumagazine.com/2020/05/22/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-sell-out-in-2020/">an age when</a> so many people aspire to be an influencer or entrepreneur. But as long as this term gets used to scold public figures like Meadows, it means Americans still believe some form of loyalty — to a community or a shared principle — matters more than personal gain.</p>
<p>But what does it say that so many Americans share the concern that success and integrity are in conflict, as if one comes at the expense of the other? Is it an increasingly unavoidable moral contradiction in a capitalist society?</p>
<p>“Selling out” evokes a widespread fear that anyone who pursues success will corrupt both their morality and their community. Some people – say, billionaires in their private jets – can perhaps suppress this fear more easily than others. But everyone knows its name.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220520/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Afflerbach does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why do so many Americans share the concern that success and integrity are in conflict, as if one comes at the expense of the other?Ian Afflerbach, Associate Professor of American Literature, University of North GeorgiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2171712023-11-28T13:41:05Z2023-11-28T13:41:05ZMerriam-Webster’s word of the year – authentic – reflects growing concerns over AI’s ability to deceive and dehumanize<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561970/original/file-20231127-24-mzbshd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=306%2C721%2C5664%2C4221&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">According to the publisher’s editor-at-large, 2023 represented 'a kind of crisis of authenticity.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/analog-collage-with-female-portrait-and-her-mirror-royalty-free-image/1304922773?adppopup=true">lambada/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When <a href="https://apnews.com/article/merriam-webster-word-of-year-2023-a9fea610cb32ed913bc15533acab71cc">Merriam-Webster announced</a> that its word of the year for 2023 was “authentic,” it did so with over a month to go in the calendar year. </p>
<p>Even then, the dictionary publisher was late to the game.</p>
<p>In a lexicographic form of <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/words-were-watching-christmas-creep-slang-definition">Christmas creep</a>, Collins English Dictionary announced <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/01/ai-named-most-notable-word-of-2023-by-collins-dictionary">its 2023 word of the year</a>, “AI,” on Oct. 31. Cambridge University Press <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/15/hallucinate-cambridge-dictionary-word-of-the-year">followed suit</a> on Nov. 15 with “hallucinate,” a word used to refer to incorrect or misleading information provided by generative AI programs. </p>
<p>At any rate, terms related to artificial intelligence appear to rule the roost, with “authentic” also falling under that umbrella.</p>
<h2>AI and the authenticity crisis</h2>
<p>For the past 20 years, Merriam-Webster, the oldest dictionary publisher in the U.S., has chosen a word of the year – a term that encapsulates, in one form or another, the zeitgeist of that past year. In 2020, the word was “pandemic.” The next year’s winner? “Vaccine.”</p>
<p>“Authentic” is, at first glance, a little less obvious.</p>
<p>According to the publisher’s editor-at-large, <a href="https://www.wbbjtv.com/2023/11/27/whats-merriam-websters-word-of-the-year-for-2023-hint-be-true-to-yourself/">Peter Sokolowski</a>, 2023 represented “a kind of crisis of authenticity.” He added that the choice was also informed by the number of online users who looked up the word’s meaning throughout the year.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561966/original/file-20231127-27-1x4zx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Print ad with a drawing of a thick book accompanied by the text, 'The One Great Standard Authority.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561966/original/file-20231127-27-1x4zx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561966/original/file-20231127-27-1x4zx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561966/original/file-20231127-27-1x4zx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561966/original/file-20231127-27-1x4zx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561966/original/file-20231127-27-1x4zx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561966/original/file-20231127-27-1x4zx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561966/original/file-20231127-27-1x4zx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A 1906 print ad for Webster’s International Dictionary advertised itself an an authoritative clearinghouse for all things English – an authentic, reliable source.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/advertisement-for-websters-international-dictionary-by-g-news-photo/478181481?adppopup=true">Jay Paull/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The word “authentic,” in the sense of something that is accurate or authoritative, has its roots in French and Latin. The Oxford English Dictionary has identified its usage in English as early as the <a href="https://www.oed.com/dictionary/authentic_adj?tab=meaning_and_use#33027938">late 14th century</a>.</p>
<p>And yet the concept – particularly as it applies to human creations and human behavior – <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-new-science-of-authenticity-says-about-discovering-your-true-self-175314">is slippery</a>.</p>
<p>Is a photograph made from film more authentic than one made from a digital camera? Does an authentic scotch have to be made at a small-batch distillery in Scotland? When socializing, are you being authentic – or just plain rude – when you skirt niceties and small talk? Does being your authentic self mean pursuing something that feels natural, even at the expense of cultural or legal constraints?</p>
<p>The more you think about it, the more it seems like an ever-elusive ideal – one further complicated by advances in artificial intelligence.</p>
<h2>How much human touch?</h2>
<p>Intelligence of the artificial variety – as in nonhuman, inauthentic, computer-generated intelligence – was the technology story of the past year.</p>
<p>At the end of 2022, OpenAI publicly released <a href="https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt">ChatGPT 3.5</a>, a chatbot derived from so-called large language models. It was widely seen as a breakthrough in artificial intelligence, but its rapid adoption led to questions about the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/06/technology/chatbots-hallucination-rates.html?smid=tw-share">accuracy of its answers</a>.</p>
<p>The chatbot also became popular among students, which compelled teachers <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/chatgpt-schools-plagiarism-lesson-plans/">to grapple with how to ensure</a> their assignments weren’t being completed by ChatGPT. </p>
<p>Issues of authenticity have arisen in other areas as well. In November 2023, a track described as the “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/arts/music/beatles-now-and-then-last-song.html#:%7E:text=It%27s%20a%20wistful%20postscript.,after%20the%20Beatles%20broke%20up.">last Beatles song</a>” was released. “Now and Then” is a compilation of music originally written and performed by John Lennon in the 1970s, with additional music recorded by the other band members in the 1990s. A machine learning algorithm was recently employed to separate Lennon’s vocals from his piano accompaniment, and this allowed a final version to be released. </p>
<p>But is it an authentic “Beatles” song? <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/21/magazine/the-beatles-now-and-then.html">Not everyone is convinced</a>.</p>
<p>Advances in technology have also allowed the manipulation of audio and video recordings. Referred to as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/events-that-never-happened-could-influence-the-2024-presidential-election-a-cybersecurity-researcher-explains-situation-deepfakes-206034">deepfakes</a>,” such transformations can make it appear that a celebrity or a politician said something that they did not – a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/30/1190970436/how-real-is-the-threat-of-ai-deepfakes-in-the-2024-election">troubling prospect</a> as the U.S. heads into what is sure to be a contentious 2024 election season. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/generative-ai-is-forcing-people-to-rethink-what-it-means-to-be-authentic-204347">Writing for The Conversation in May 2023</a>, education scholar Victor R. Lee explored the AI-fueled authenticity crisis.</p>
<p>Our judgments of authenticity are knee-jerk, he explained, honed over years of experience. Sure, occasionally we’re fooled, but our antennae are generally reliable. Generative AI short-circuits this cognitive framework.</p>
<p>“That’s because back when it took a lot of time to produce original new content, there was a general assumption … that it only could have been made by skilled individuals putting in a lot of effort and acting with the best of intentions,” he wrote.</p>
<p>“These are not safe assumptions anymore,” he added. “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, everyone will need to consider that it may not have actually hatched from an egg.”</p>
<p>Though there seems to be a general understanding that human minds and human hands must play some role in creating something authentic or being authentic, authenticity has always been a difficult concept to define.</p>
<p>So it’s somewhat fitting that as our collective handle on reality has become ever more tenuous, an elusive word for an abstract ideal is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217171/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger J. Kreuz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Innovations in AI seem to be spurring interest in what is or isn’t real, accurate and human.Roger J. Kreuz, Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, University of MemphisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2127512023-11-07T13:38:06Z2023-11-07T13:38:06ZYour mental dictionary is part of what makes you unique − here’s how your brain stores and retrieves words<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557506/original/file-20231103-15-cq6i0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2060%2C1452&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Your brain processes letters, words, sounds, semantics and grammar at breakneck speed.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/discovery-studying-and-learning-concept-royalty-free-illustration/1313637285">StudioM1/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The days of having a dictionary on your bookshelf are numbered. But that’s OK, because everyone already walks around with a dictionary – not the one on your phone, but the one in your head.</p>
<p>Just like a physical dictionary, your <a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/mental-lexicon">mental dictionary</a> contains information about words. This includes the letters, sounds and meaning, or semantics, of words, as well as information about parts of speech and how you can fit words together to form grammatical sentences. Your mental dictionary is also like a thesaurus. It can help you connect words and see how they might be similar in meaning, sound or spelling. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2cPhM-gAAAAJ&hl=en">researcher who studies word retrieval</a>, or how you quickly and accurately pull words out of your memory to communicate, I’m intrigued by how words are organized in our mental dictionaries. Everyone’s mental dictionary is a little bit different. And I’m even more intrigued by how we can restore the content of our mental dictionaries or improve our use of them, particularly for those who have language disorders. </p>
<p>Language is part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-was-talking-invented-a-language-scientist-explains-how-this-unique-feature-of-human-beings-may-have-evolved-186877">what makes humans special</a>, and I believe everyone deserves the chance to use their words with others. </p>
<h2>Your mental dictionary</h2>
<p>While a physical dictionary is helpful for shared knowledge, your personal mental dictionary is customized based on your individual experiences. What words are in my mental dictionary might overlap with the mental dictionary of someone else who also speaks the same language, but there will also be a lot of differences between the content of our dictionaries. </p>
<p>You add words to your mental dictionary through your educational, occupational, cultural and other life experiences. This customization also means that the size of mental dictionaries is a little bit different from person to person and varies by age. Researchers found that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01116">average 20-year-old American English speaker</a> knows about 42,000 unique words, and this number grows to about 48,000 by age 60. Some people will have even larger vocabularies.</p>
<p>By now, you might be envisioning your mental dictionary as a book with pages of words in alphabetical order you can flip through as needed. While this visual analogy is helpful, there is a lot of debate about how mental dictionaries are organized. Many scholars agree that it’s probably not like an alphabetized book.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Scientists created an interactive map of which brain areas respond to hearing different words.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One widely rejected theory, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/8029.003.0031">grandmother cell theory</a>, suggests that each concept is encoded by a single neuron. This implies that you would have a neuron for every word that you know, including “grandmother.” </p>
<p>While not accepted as accurate, the aspect of the grandmother cell theory suggesting that certain parts of the brain are more important for some types of information than others is likely true. For example, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523%2FJNEUROSCI.0559-06.2006">left temporal lobe</a> on the side of your brain has many regions that are important for language processing, including word retrieval and production. Rather than a single neuron responsible for processing a concept, a model called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1076">parallel distributed processing</a> proposes that large networks of neurons across the brain work together to bring about word knowledge when they fire together.</p>
<p>For example, when I say the word “dog,” there are lots of different aspects of the word that your brain is retrieving, even if unconsciously. You might be thinking about what a dog smells like after being out in the rain, what a dog sounds like when it barks, or what a dog feels like when you pet it. You might be thinking about a specific dog you grew up with, or you might have a variety of emotions about dogs based on your past experiences with them. All of these different features of “dog” are processed in slightly different parts of your brain.</p>
<h2>Using your mental dictionary</h2>
<p>One reason why your mental dictionary can’t be like a physical dictionary is that it is <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/frai.2022.1027392">dynamic and quickly accessed</a>. </p>
<p>Your brain’s ability to retrieve a word is very fast. In one study, researchers mapped the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0908921106">time course of word retrieval</a> among 24 college students by recording their brain activity while they named pictures. They found evidence that participants selected words within 200 milliseconds of seeing the image. After word selection, their brain continued to process information about that word, like what sounds are needed to say that chosen word and ignoring related words. This is why you can retrieve words with such speed in real-time conversations, often so quickly that you give little conscious attention to that process.</p>
<p>Until … you have a breakdown in word retrieval. One common failure in word retrieval is called the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-596X(91)90026-G">tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon</a>. It’s the feeling when you know what word you want to use but are unable to find it in that moment. You might even know specific details about the word you want, like other words with similar meaning or maybe the first letter or sound of that word. With enough time, the word you wanted might pop into your mind.</p>
<p>These tip-of-the-tongue experiences are a normal part of human language experience across the life span, and they increase as you grow older. One proposed reason for this increase is that they’re due to an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbw074">age-related disruption</a> in the ability to turn on the right sounds needed to say the selected word. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557488/original/file-20231103-29-ovw7xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Speech therapist showing young patient how to roll tongue in forming a word" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557488/original/file-20231103-29-ovw7xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557488/original/file-20231103-29-ovw7xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557488/original/file-20231103-29-ovw7xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557488/original/file-20231103-29-ovw7xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557488/original/file-20231103-29-ovw7xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557488/original/file-20231103-29-ovw7xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557488/original/file-20231103-29-ovw7xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Speech-language pathologists help patients improve on their word retrieval abilities and speech.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/female-professional-help-small-kid-with-speech-royalty-free-image/1213336945">fizkes/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
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<p>For some people, though, tip-of-the-tongue experiences and other speech errors can be quite impairing. This is commonly seen in <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-aphasia-an-expert-explains-the-condition-forcing-bruce-willis-to-retire-from-acting-180385">aphasia, a language disorder</a> that often occurs after injury to the language centers of the brain, such as stroke, or neurodegeneration, such as dementia. People with aphasia often have difficulty with word retrieval. </p>
<p>Fortunately, there are <a href="https://www.aphasia.org/">treatments available</a> that can help someone improve their word retrieval abilities. For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1310/tsr1706-411">semantic feature analysis</a> focuses on strengthening the semantic relationships between words. There are also treatments like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1044/2015_JSLHR-L-14-0131">phonomotor treatment</a> that focus on strengthening the selection and production of speech sounds needed for word production. There are even <a href="https://www.aphasia.org/aphasia-resources/aphasia-apps/">apps that remotely provide</a> word retrieval therapy on phones or computers. </p>
<p>The next time you have a conversation with someone, take a moment to reflect on why you chose the specific words you did. Remember that the words you use and the mental dictionary you have are part of what make you and your voice unique.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212751/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nichol Castro does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Most people can draw from tens of thousands of words in their memory within milliseconds. Studying this process can improve language disorder treatment and appreciation of the gift of communication.Nichol Castro, Assistant Professor of Communicative Disorders and Sciences, University at BuffaloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2106082023-10-11T12:29:20Z2023-10-11T12:29:20ZListen up, ladies and gentlemen, guys and dudes: Terms of address can be a minefield, especially as their meanings change<p>A male colleague could be <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/08/guys-gender-neutral/568231/">forgiven for not knowing</a> if using “guys” to refer to female co-workers is acceptable in the modern workplace. But should he <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/04/06/business/superintendent-ladies-email-microaggression-experts/">address them as “ladies</a>,” he risks a trip to HR, or at the very least being labeled a condescending creep.</p>
<p>So what in the name of <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/">Messrs Merriam and Webster</a> is going on with what us linguists call “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118786093.iela0005">address terms</a>” – that is, the words we use to address individuals – and their gender? All languages have such terms, with the most common being “you,” or <a href="https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/second-person-pronouns/">the second-person pronoun</a>. </p>
<p>But we have a host of alternative address terms commonly in use in the English language: “you guys,” “bro,” “dude,” “<a href="https://theconversation.com/yall-that-most-southern-of-southernisms-is-going-mainstream-and-its-about-time-193265">y'all</a>” and “mate” – depending on the variety of English you are speaking – are among the most common. And then there are those that signal intimacy, such as “babe” and “honey.” Each comes with a degree of social signaling – that is, each one signals what the speaker believes, or hopes, their relationship to be with the person they are talking to.</p>
<p>But why are some terms that were once accepted, like “ladies,” now <a href="https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2023/04/18/ladies-workplace-language">seen as offensive</a> by members of the gender they reference, while others <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/07/07/guys-defense-gendered-etymology/">once dismissed as gender exclusive</a>, like “guys,” are now deemed by many to be OK?</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.linguistics.pitt.edu/people/scott-f-kiesling">sociolinguist</a>, I have the answer: Over time, the meanings of words change – especially address terms.</p>
<h2>Dude, where’s my meaning?</h2>
<p>Let’s start with meaning. Address terms are special words, as they identify the actual person you are talking to. “You” in English is the most generic and comes in handy if you don’t know the addressee – think, “Hey you!” In other languages, one must choose between more or less formal terms. In French, for example, there is the <a href="https://www.talkinfrench.com/french-guide-to-tu-and-vous/">informal “tu” and formal “vous</a>.” </p>
<p>But even in English, when addressing someone in, say, an email, you can choose between the formal, informal or very informal. In correspondence I have been addressed as “Dr. Kiesling,” “Scott” or “Scotty.”</p>
<p>Linguists call these contextually related meaning “<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/indexicality-language-term-1691055">indexicalities</a>,” but here I’ll just call them meaning.</p>
<p>Words change their meanings over time, and meanings especially change as the use of an address term expands.</p>
<p>Let’s look at “dude,” a term I have studied for many years and which has changed significantly over its lifetime. </p>
<p>This term <a href="https://theweek.com/articles/457871/where-did-word-dude-come-from">originally comes</a> from the “doodle” part of “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” and at first it meant literally a dandy – a man who dresses especially well.</p>
<p>It was applied as a derogatory term for gangs in the U.S. West and Southwest known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoot_suit">Pachucos, or zoot-suiters</a>, since they dressed in a flamboyant style. These gangs started calling each other “dude” as a way to both resist the insult and to signal solidarity among fellow zoot-suiters. So the zoot-suiters added a new meaning of solidarity to “dude.”</p>
<p>From there, “dude” spread to the jazz, beat and surfing communities in the West, and in the 1980s it exploded nationwide. But at that point, it mostly retained a masculine meaning.</p>
<p>“Dude” eventually evolved in such a way that it could be used without reference to anyone at all, and now can express a stance or emotion, as demonstrated with humor in an early 2000s <a href="https://youtu.be/dyMSSe7cOvA">Bud Light commercial</a> in which “dude” – the only word spoken in the entire commercial – is used to mean everything from exasperation to joy.</p>
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<p>Address terms like “dude” expand their usage constantly, and new ones are constantly invented. The most recent examples include <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/bro-brah-bruv-bruh-and-breh-meanings-explained">variants of “bro” and “bruh</a>” – which actually have slightly different meanings according to initial data from a recent poll I conducted. As best we can tell, “bro” was limited to being used only between men, but is now <a href="https://medium.com/illumination/has-bro-become-the-universal-slang-51a6292fba5b">used by women as well</a>, and “bruh” is used to express some sort of negative emotion or exasperation – by any gender – and doesn’t even need to be addressed to anyone.</p>
<h2>Showing ‘ladies’ the exit</h2>
<p>Although American-English writing styles have moved away from treating all humans as generically masculine, terms with masculine roots such as “dude,” “bro,” “bruh,” “you guys,” “chap” and “mate” have expanded to be able to refer to any human of any gender.</p>
<p>Address terms that lose their gender tend to have one thing in common: They start out as masculine referring terms, become address terms, and then expand. </p>
<p>This is rare for feminine terms. “Sister” or “girl” are similarly terms that have expanded their meanings – they don’t necessarily have to mean one’s biological sister, or a female child. But few would agree that those terms could be used to address a group of mixed-gender individuals without insulting the men in the group, or without humor.</p>
<p>Why this asymmetry? A likely answer is that masculine identities are seen as powerful. For this reason, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/01/tomboy/512258/">referring to a woman as a “tomboy</a>” has traditionally been less of an insult than referring to a man as a “sissy.” </p>
<p>In this way, the initial move to calling women “dude” was not perceived as insulting, and then it becomes used more and more widely. On the other hand, saying something like “hey girl” to a man might be insulting, although such use is common in LGBTQ+ communities.</p>
<p>But why is it that women can also take offense when addressed as “ladies”?</p>
<p>The issue came up this past spring when a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/21/us/easthampton-massachusetts-school-district-superintendent-email/index.html">male candidate for a school superintendent position used “ladies</a>” in an email to address two women, including a committee member. The term, he was told, was a “microaggression” and “disrespectful”; his job offer was rescinded.</p>
<p>The use of “gentlemen” – should the two recipients have been men – would have unlikely made headlines.</p>
<p>The reason is the power asymmetry between “ladies” and “gentlemen.” Just think of the stereotypical image of the lady and the gentleman: The latter is generally strong and powerful, and the former is frivolous and weak, unless modified by an adjective, such as “Iron Lady” or “Strong Lady” – modifications that seem odd and almost redundant to use with “gentleman.” </p>
<h2>The nonobjectionable ‘all’</h2>
<p>Linguist <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/language-and-womans-place-9780195167573?cc=us&lang=en&">Robin Lakoff argued</a> in the early 1970s that the word “lady” was a actually a kind of euphemism, a more “polite” way of referring to a woman, and that “lady” reduces the power of the person referred to as a lady. “Gentleman” has none of that euphemistic and powerless connotation.</p>
<p>This could have factored in to the school board controversy. Many people today have only encountered the term “ladies” when it’s used in a way that focuses attention on the femininity of the person addressed – especially when the gender is irrelevant for other meaning purposes. </p>
<p>Of course “girls” could have been seen as even worse, since it implies immaturity as well.</p>
<p>If you’re afraid to use any address term at this point, you’re not alone. There are, however, ways around this. And if you’re worried about offending a group by using an inappropriate reference term, there’s always a somewhat bland – but largely inoffensive – workaround: “all.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210608/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott F. Kiesling has received funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Gendered words can be offensive in certain contexts – it’s all in what’s being signaled, according to a sociolinguistScott F. Kiesling, Professor of Linguistics, University of PittsburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2041672023-08-14T14:56:29Z2023-08-14T14:56:29ZThe science of why you can remember song lyrics from years ago<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534865/original/file-20230629-22632-ez2qiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=42%2C71%2C9447%2C6245&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The science behind rhyme, rhythm and repetition.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-african-american-woman-singing-song-2137952063">Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Why is it that many people can’t remember where they put their car keys most mornings, but can sing along to every lyric of a song they haven’t heard in years when it comes on the radio? Do song lyrics live in some sort of privileged place in our memories?</p>
<p>Music has a long history of being used as a mnemonic device, that is, to aid the memory of words and information. Before the advent of written language, music was used to <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1995-97902-000">orally transmit stories and information</a>. We see many such examples even today, in how we teach children the alphabet, numbers, or – in my own case – the names of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h44uaNXEQI">50 states</a> of the US. Indeed, I’d challenge even any adult reader to try and recall the letters of the alphabet without hearing the familiar tune or its rhythm in your mind.</p>
<p>There are several reasons why music and words seem to become intricately linked in memory. Firstly, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.20.6.1471">features of music</a> often serve as a predictable “scaffold” for helping us to remember associated lyrics. </p>
<p>For instance, the rhythm and beat of the music give clues as to how long the next word in a sequence will be. This helps to limit the possible word choices to be recalled, for instance, by signalling that a three-syllable word fits with a particular rhythm within the song. </p>
<p>A song’s melody can also help to segment a text into meaningful chunks. This allows us to essentially remember longer segments of information than if we had to memorise every single word individually. Songs also often make use of literary devices like rhyme and alliteration, which <a href="https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197096">further facilitate memorisation</a>. </p>
<h2>Sing it</h2>
<p>When we have sung or heard a song many times before, this song may become accessible via our implicit (non-conscious) memory. Singing the lyrics to a very well-known song is a form of <a href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/procedural-memory.html">procedural</a> memory. That is, it is a highly automatised process like riding a bike: it’s something we are able to do without thinking much about it. </p>
<p>One of the reasons music is so deeply ingrained in memory in this way is because we tend to hear the same songs many, many times <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-were-obsessed-with-music-from-our-youth-154864">throughout our lifetimes</a> (more so, than say, reading a favourite book or watching a favourite film). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman with pink hair singing into music device with headphones on." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534867/original/file-20230629-25452-718jfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534867/original/file-20230629-25452-718jfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534867/original/file-20230629-25452-718jfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534867/original/file-20230629-25452-718jfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534867/original/file-20230629-25452-718jfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534867/original/file-20230629-25452-718jfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534867/original/file-20230629-25452-718jfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘I just can’t get you out of my head’: we tend to remember songs and lyrics quite easily.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-active-stylsh-teenage-girl-pinkish-1765476086">Anatoliy Karlyuk/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Music is also <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-sad-songs-say-so-much-to-some-people-but-not-others-65365">fundamentally emotional</a>. Indeed, research has shown that one of the main reasons people engage with music is because of the diversity of emotions it conveys and evokes. </p>
<p>A wide range of research has found that <a href="https://theconversation.com/making-a-mark-on-the-brain-how-emotion-colours-memories-15872">emotional stimuli are remembered better than non-emotional ones</a>. The task of trying to remember the ABCs or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXtpjBzPMeY">the colours of the rainbow?</a> is inherently more motivating when set to a catchy tune – and we can remember this material better later on when we make an emotional connection.</p>
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<h2>Music and lyrics</h2>
<p>It should be noted that not all previous research has found that music facilitates memory for associated lyrics. For instance, upon the first encounter with a new song, memorising both the melody and associated lyrics is <a href="https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198404">harder than memorising just the lyrics</a>. This makes sense, given the multiple tasks involved. </p>
<p>However, after getting over this initial hurdle and being exposed to a song several times, more beneficial effects seem to kick in. Once a melody is familiar, the associated lyrics are generally <a href="https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.106.3.927-957">easier to remember</a> than if you tried to memorise these lyrics without a tune behind them. </p>
<p>Research in this area is also being applied to assist people with various neurodegenerative disorders. For instance, music seems to help those with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2012.29.5.521">Alzheimer’s disease</a> and <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00395/full">multiple sclerosis</a> to remember verbal information. </p>
<p>So, the next time you put your car keys in a new spot, try creating a catchy song to remind you of their location the next day – and, in theory, you shouldn’t forget where you’ve put them so easily.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204167/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Jakubowski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Music creates powerful memories and emotional connections in our brains.Kelly Jakubowski, Associate Professor in Music Psychology, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2076812023-06-15T12:33:23Z2023-06-15T12:33:23ZHow the Unabomber’s unique linguistic fingerprints led to his capture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532034/original/file-20230614-19-yvo44e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C6%2C2230%2C1518&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ted Kaczynski was arrested after the longest and most expensive investigation in the FBI's history.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/convicted-unabomber-theodore-kaczynski-is-escorted-by-us-news-photo/106884098?adppopup=true">Rich Pedroncelli/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Can the language someone uses be as unique as their fingerprints?</p>
<p>As I describe in my forthcoming book, “<a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781633888982/Linguistic-Fingerprints-How-Language-Creates-and-Reveals-Identity">Linguistic Fingerprints: How Language Creates and Reveals Identity</a>,” that was true in the case of Theodore Kaczynski.</p>
<p>Kaczynski, who was known as the <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/origin-ted-kaczynskis-infamous-nickname-145500991.html">Unabomber</a>, died in a North Carolina prison on June 10, 2023, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ted-kaczynski-unabomber-1197f597364b36e56bdbcaca9837bdc4">reportedly by suicide</a>.</p>
<p>Kaczynski had been a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/05/us/suspect-s-trail-suspect-memories-his-brilliance-shyness-but-little-else.html">math prodigy and a professor</a> at the University of California, Berkeley, before he withdrew from society and declared war on the modern world. </p>
<p>From a <a href="https://helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/crime-and-courts/photos-a-look-inside-the-unabombers-montana-cabin/collection_41103cf1-dc68-5950-babc-17861f0b8858.html">remote cabin in Montana</a>, he sent a number of explosive devices through the mail. In other cases, he planted them. Between 1978 and 1995, 16 of his bombs <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/06/10/ted-kaczynski-dead-unabomber/">killed three people</a> and seriously injured nearly two dozen more.</p>
<p>Kaczynski’s crimes triggered the longest and <a href="https://en.as.com/latest_news/ted-kaczynski-the-unabomber-has-died-what-are-some-of-the-most-expensive-fbi-investigations-n/">most expensive</a> criminal investigation in U.S. history. Law enforcement had little to go on other than a few letters that the terrorist had sent to the media, as well as fragments of notes that had survived his device’s detonations.</p>
<h2>Spellings and word choices offer clues</h2>
<p>In 1995, there was a breakthrough. That’s when the Unabomber offered to pause his attacks if a newspaper published his manifesto about the evils of modern society. Controversially, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/20/us/publication-of-unabomber-s-tract-draws-mixed-response.html">The Washington Post did so</a>. The FBI supported the paper’s decision, hoping that someone would recognize the terrorist based on the writing style of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/unabomber/manifesto.text.htm">35,000-word essay</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Copies of two newspapers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532004/original/file-20230614-22-d0iwj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532004/original/file-20230614-22-d0iwj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532004/original/file-20230614-22-d0iwj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532004/original/file-20230614-22-d0iwj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532004/original/file-20230614-22-d0iwj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532004/original/file-20230614-22-d0iwj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532004/original/file-20230614-22-d0iwj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Washington Post published the Unabomber’s 35,000-word manifesto on Sept. 19, 1995.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-the-front-pages-of-the-new-york-times-and-the-news-photo/106884096?adppopup=true">Luke Frazza/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>FBI forensic linguist <a href="https://www.jamesrfitzgerald.com">James Fitzgerald</a> and sociolinguist <a href="http://www.rogershuy.com">Roger Shuy</a> were able to uncover several clues about the terrorist’s identity based on the manifesto and his other writings.</p>
<p>For example, the Unabomber used strange misspellings for some words, such as “wilfully” for “willfully,” and “clew” for “clue.” Shuy recognized these as <a href="http://www.rogershuy.com/pdf/Linguistic_Profiling.pdf">spelling reforms</a> that had been championed by <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-per-flash-simplespelling-0229-20120129-story.html">The Chicago Tribune</a> during the 1940s and 1950s, although they were never widely adopted.</p>
<p>Their use by the bomber suggested he might have spent his formative years in or near Chicago.</p>
<p>Fitzgerald noted the use of terms like “broad,” “chick” and “negro” in the manifesto was consistent with the vocabulary a middle-aged person from that era.</p>
<p>The Unabomber also referred to “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1ib-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA203&dq=20.+Roger+W.+Shuy,+The+Language+of+Murder+Cases:+Intentionality,+Predisposition,+and+Voluntariness+(Oxford:+Oxford+University+Press,+2014).&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivhfXiqMH_AhVojYkEHbsSBVoQ6AF6BAgJEAI#v=snippet&q=raising%20children&f=false">rearing children</a>” as opposed to “raising children.” The former term is characteristic of the northern U.S. dialect and would be consistent with someone who grew up in or near the Windy City.</p>
<p>The manifesto also contains such fairly esoteric terms as “<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anomic">anomic</a>” and “<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chimerical">chimerical</a>,” suggesting that its author was highly educated.</p>
<h2>A brother’s suspicions</h2>
<p>But the move to publish the manifesto ended up being the decisive factor.</p>
<p>It was read in Schenectady, New York, by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/05/us/suspect-s-trail-family-brother-who-tipped-off-authorities-leads-quiet-simple.html">Linda Patrik</a>, who showed it to her husband, David Kaczynski. She asked if he thought it sounded like something his brother Ted could have written.</p>
<p>David was initially skeptical. Then he noticed that the essay contained unusual expressions, like “cool-headed logicians,” that he remembered his estranged sibling making use of. He <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/09/IHT-a-nagging-feeling-by-family-member-pointed-to-unabomber-suspect.html">approached the FBI</a> with his suspicions, and it was noted that David’s brother had been born in Chicago in 1942.</p>
<p>A search of Kaczynski’s cabin turned up explosive devices, as well as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/13/us/bomber-manifesto-amid-items-found-law-officials-say.html">original copy</a> of the manifesto. Kaczynski <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/23/us/unabomber-case-overview-kaczynski-avoids-death-sentence-with-guilty-plea.html">pleaded guilty</a> in 1998 and was incarcerated until his death at age 81.</p>
<h2>Fingerprinting authors</h2>
<p>The Unabomber investigation has been justifiably hailed as a triumph of forensic linguistics. But sleuths of prose and punctuation have had other notable victories. </p>
<p>Even something as seemingly trivial as unusual punctuation can provide clues to a suspect’s identity – which is what happened in 2018, when a forensic linguist was able to pin a murder on a British man <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6028507/Forensic-linguist-reveals-murderer-snared-sending-texts-commas.htm">because of his unusual use of commas and spacing</a> when sending text messages.</p>
<p>Similar techniques have been used by language experts to identify authors. In 1996, “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/4166/primary-colors-by-anonymous/">Primary Colors</a>,” a novel based on Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign, was published by “anonymous.” English professor Donald Foster was able to finger Newsweek columnist Joe Klein as the author of the work, <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1996-02-16-1996047127-story.html">noting similarities</a> between the text of “Primary Colors” and Klein’s other published work, which included the use of unusual adverbs (“goofily”), states described as modes (“crisis mode”) and drawn-out interjections (“naww”).</p>
<p>And in 2013, “The Cuckoo’s Calling,” a novel authored with the pen name <a href="https://robert-galbraith.com/stories/the-cuckoos-calling/">Robert Galbraith</a>, was exposed as having been written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-name-game-jk-rowling-and-a-history-of-pseudonyms-16150">J.K. Rowling</a>. <a href="https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=5315">Patrick Juola</a>, a computer scientist, and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-23313074">Peter Millican</a>, a philosopher, independently identified the author of the Harry Potter series as the crime novel’s true author. Both men used computer programs to analyze such factors as the distribution of word lengths and common word usage in books written by several suspected authors. They then compared the results to “The Cuckoo’s Calling” and identified Rowling as the closest match.</p>
<h2>An infallible method?</h2>
<p>These techniques seem almost magical when they work. But <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/07/23/words-on-trial">they’re not foolproof</a>.</p>
<p>In 2018, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html">published an op-ed</a> written by an anonymous “resister” inside the Trump administration. However, the editorial was too short for linguistic analysis.</p>
<p>Even after the resister published a full-length book, titled “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/books/review/a-warning-anonymous-book-review-trump.html">A Warning</a>,” it wasn’t possible to identify the author. He eventually outed himself as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/us/politics/miles-taylor-anonymous-trump.html">Miles Taylor</a>. He had served as the chief of staff in the Department of Homeland Security. But because he had never published anything else, there was no text to which “A Warning” could be compared.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man in suit jacket poses with folded arms." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532021/original/file-20230614-31-4yi2ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532021/original/file-20230614-31-4yi2ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532021/original/file-20230614-31-4yi2ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532021/original/file-20230614-31-4yi2ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532021/original/file-20230614-31-4yi2ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532021/original/file-20230614-31-4yi2ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532021/original/file-20230614-31-4yi2ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The public learned of Miles Taylor’s identity only after he revealed himself as the author of ‘A Warning.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/miles-taylor-who-has-recently-revealed-himself-as-the-news-photo/1229883086?adppopup=true">Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And scholars are still debating the identity of <a href="https://elenaferrante.com">Elena Ferrante</a>, the pseudonym used by a bestselling Italian novelist. Ferrante has published a dozen books, including “My Brilliant Friend,” <a href="https://lithub.com/have-italian-scholars-figured-out-the-identity-of-elena-ferrante/">but the author’s true identity remains controversial</a>. </p>
<p>Either way, technological advances have made it increasingly difficult for people who leave a paper trail to hide their identities – and the old adage to “not put anything in writing” is as true as it’s ever been.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207681/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger J. Kreuz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Similar techniques used to identify criminals have been employed to unmask anonymous authors. But they aren’t foolproof.Roger J. Kreuz, Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, University of MemphisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2056202023-06-12T12:24:33Z2023-06-12T12:24:33ZLinguists have identified a new English dialect that’s emerging in South Florida<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530654/original/file-20230607-23-bbcsrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C9%2C2171%2C1548&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Travel to Miami, and you might hear people say 'get down from the car' instead of 'get out of the car.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protesters-hang-out-the-window-of-a-car-on-flagler-street-news-photo/51091597?adppopup=true">Miami Herald/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“We got down from the car and went inside.” </p>
<p>“I made the line to pay for groceries.”</p>
<p>“He made a party to celebrate his son’s birthday.”</p>
<p>These phrases might sound off to the ears of most English-speaking Americans.</p>
<p>In Miami, however, they’ve become part of the local parlance.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://news.fiu.edu/2023/get-down-from-the-car-miami-dialect">my recently published research</a>, these expressions – along with a host of others – form part of a new dialect taking shape in South Florida.</p>
<p>This language variety came about through sustained contact between Spanish and English speakers, particularly when speakers translated directly from Spanish. </p>
<h2>When French collided with English</h2>
<p>Whether you’re an English speaker living in Miami or elsewhere, chances are you don’t know where the words you know and use come from. </p>
<p>You’re probably aware that a limited number of words – usually foods, such as “sriracha” or “croissant” – are borrowed from other languages. But borrowed words are far more pervasive than you might think. </p>
<p>They’re all over English vocabulary: “<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pajamas">pajamas</a>” from Hindi; “<a href="https://animalia.bio/arabian-gazelle">gazelle</a>” from Arabic, via French; and “<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tsunami">tsunami</a>” from Japanese.</p>
<p>Borrowed words usually come from the minds and mouths of bilingual speakers who end up moving between different cultures and places. This can happen when certain events – war, colonialism, political exile, immigration and climate change – put speakers of different language groups into contact with one another. </p>
<p>When the contact takes place over an extended period of time – decades, generations or longer – the structures of the languages in question may begin to influence one another, and the speakers can begin to share each other’s vocabulary.</p>
<p>One bilingual confluence famously changed the trajectory of the English language. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Norman-Conquest">In 1066</a>, the Norman French, led by William the Conqueror, invaded England in an event now known as “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Norman-Conquest">the Norman Conquest</a>.” </p>
<p>Soon thereafter, a French-speaking ruling class replaced the English-speaking aristocracy, and for roughly 200 years, the elites of England – including the kings – did their business in French.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Faded color illustration of soldiers and injured troops." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530640/original/file-20230607-26-mlovtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530640/original/file-20230607-26-mlovtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530640/original/file-20230607-26-mlovtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530640/original/file-20230607-26-mlovtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530640/original/file-20230607-26-mlovtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530640/original/file-20230607-26-mlovtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530640/original/file-20230607-26-mlovtv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An 18th-century illustration of the Battle of Hastings, which initiated the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-battle-of-hastings-found-in-the-collection-of-british-news-photo/520722235?adppopup=true">Heritage Images/Hulton Fine Art Collection via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>English never really caught on with the aristocracy, but since servants and the middle classes needed to communicate with aristocrats – and with people of different classes intermarrying – French words trickled down the class hierarchy and into the language. </p>
<p>During this period, <a href="https://medium.com/english-language-faq/how-many-french-words-are-there-in-english-how-did-they-get-there-538f54ea016b">more than 10,000 loanwords</a> from French entered the English language, mostly in domains where the aristocracy held sway: the arts, military, medicine, law and religion. Words that today seem basic, even fundamental, to English vocabulary were, just 800 years ago, borrowed from French: prince, government, administer, liberty, court, prayer, judge, justice, literature, music, poetry, to name just a few.</p>
<h2>Spanish meets English in Miami</h2>
<p>Fast forward to today, where a similar form of language contact involving Spanish and English has been going on in Miami since the end of <a href="https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973">the Cuban Revolution</a> in 1959.</p>
<p>In the years following the revolution, hundreds of thousands of Cubans left the island nation for South Florida, setting the stage for what would become one of the most important linguistic convergences in all of the Americas. </p>
<p>Today, the vast majority of the population is bilingual. In 2010, more than 65% of the population of Miami-Dade County identified as Hispanic or Latina/o, and in the large municipalities of Doral and Hialeah, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/15765243/Multilingual_Miami_Trends_in_Sociolinguistic_Research">the figure is 80% and 95%</a>, respectively.</p>
<p>Of course, identifying as Latina/o is not synonymous with speaking Spanish, and language loss has occurred among second- and third-generation Cuban Americans. But the point is that there is a lot of Spanish – and a lot of English – being spoken in Miami. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black and white photo of Cubans walking on beach holding luggage and children." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530639/original/file-20230607-29-tu4xz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530639/original/file-20230607-29-tu4xz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530639/original/file-20230607-29-tu4xz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530639/original/file-20230607-29-tu4xz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530639/original/file-20230607-29-tu4xz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530639/original/file-20230607-29-tu4xz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530639/original/file-20230607-29-tu4xz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cuban refugees on the island of Cay Sal wait for the U.S. Coast Guard to take them to Florida in 1962.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/cuban-refugees-on-sal-cay-waiting-for-us-coast-guard-to-news-photo/50679206?adppopup=true">Lynn Pelham/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Among this mix are bilinguals. Some are more proficient in Spanish, and others are more skilled English speakers. Together, they navigate the sociolinguistic landscape of South Florida in complex ways, knowing when and with whom to use which language – and when it’s OK to mix them.</p>
<p>When the first large group of Cubans came to Miami in the wake of the revolution, they did precisely this, in two ways. </p>
<p>First, people alternated between Spanish and English, sometimes within the same sentence or clause. This set the stage for the enduring presence of Spanish vocabulary in South Florida, as well as the emergence of what some people refer to as “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2012/08/10/158570815/puedes-believe-it-spanglish-gets-in-el-dictionary">Spanglish</a>.” </p>
<p>Second, as people learned English, they tended to translate directly from Spanish. These translations are a type of borrowing that linguists call “<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/loan-translation-calque-1691255">calques</a>.”</p>
<p>Calques are all over the English language. </p>
<p>Take “dandelion.” This flower grows in central Europe, and when the Germans realized they didn’t have a word for it, they looked to botany books written in Latin, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/dandelion">where it was called dens lionis</a>, or “lion’s tooth.” The Germans borrowed that concept and named the flower “<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/L%C3%B6wenzahn">Löwenzahn</a>” – a literal translation of “lion’s tooth.” The French didn’t have a word for the flower, so they too borrowed the concept of “lion’s tooth,” calquing it as “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/may/25/plantwatch-dandelions-hawthorn-sunshine">dent de lion</a>.” The English, also not having a word for this flower, heard the French term without understanding it, and borrowed it, adapting “dent de lion” into English, calling it “dandelion.” </p>
<h2>A new lingo emerges</h2>
<p>This is exactly the sort of thing that’s been happening in Miami.</p>
<p>As a part of my ongoing research with students and colleagues on the way English is spoken in Miami, I conducted <a href="https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/eww.22036.car">a study</a> with linguist <a href="https://buffalo.academia.edu/KristenDAlessandroMerii">Kristen D’Allessandro Merii</a> to document Spanish-origin calques in the English spoken in South Florida. </p>
<p>We found several types of loan translations. </p>
<p>There were “<a href="https://pureenglish.org/2012/05/06/calques-loan-translations/">literal lexical calques</a>,” a direct, word-for-word translation. </p>
<p>For example, we found people to use expressions such as “get down from the car” instead of “get out of the car.” This is based on the Spanish phrase “bajar del carro,” which translates, for speakers outside of Miami, as “get out of the car.” But “bajar” means “to get down,” so it makes sense that many Miamians think of “exiting” a car in terms of “getting down” and not “getting out.” </p>
<p>Locals often say “married with,” as in “Alex got married with José,” based on the Spanish “casarse con” – literally translated as “married with.” They’ll also say “make a party,” a literal translation of the Spanish “hacer una fiesta.”</p>
<p>We also found “<a href="https://langeek.co/en/grammar/course/359/loan-words-and-calque">semantic calques</a>,” or loan translations of meaning. In Spanish, “carne,” which translates as “meat,” can refer to both all meat, or to beef, a specific kind of meat. We discovered local speakers saying “meat” to refer specifically to “beef” – as in, “I’ll have one meat empanada and two chicken empanadas.” </p>
<p>And then there were “phonetic calques,” or the translation of certain sounds. </p>
<p>“Thanks God,” a type of loan translation from “gracias a Dios,” is common in Miami. In this case, speakers analogize the “s” sound at the end of “gracias” and apply it to the English form.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Examples of unique expressions that have emerged in Miami.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>The Miami-born adopt the calques</h2>
<p>We found that some expressions were used only among the immigrant generation – for example, “throw a photo,” from “tirar una foto,” as a variation of “take a photo.” </p>
<p>But other expressions were used among the Miami-born, a group who may be bilingual but speak English as their primary language. </p>
<p>In an experiment, we asked Miamians and people from elsewhere in the U.S. to rate local expressions such as “married with” alongside the nonlocal versions, like “married to.” Both groups deemed the nonlocal versions acceptable. But Miamians rated most of the local expressions significantly more favorably than folks from elsewhere.</p>
<p>“Language is always changing” is practically a truism; most people know that Old English is radically different from Modern English, or that English in London sounds different from English in New Delhi, New York City, Sydney and Cape Town, South Africa. </p>
<p>But rarely do we pause to think about how these changes take place, or to ponder where dialects and words come from. </p>
<p>“Get down from the car,” just like “dandelion,” is a reminder that every word and every expression have a history.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205620/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phillip M. Carter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It came about through sustained contact with native Spanish speakers who directly translated phrases from Spanish into English, a form of linguistic borrowing called ‘calques.’Phillip M. Carter, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Florida International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2060462023-05-30T12:23:40Z2023-05-30T12:23:40ZWhat it takes to become a spelling bee champ<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528633/original/file-20230526-19-805x46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C23%2C5119%2C3369&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Study groups and quizzes can help, but one studying technique stands out above the rest.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/mixed-race-girl-wearing-number-on-stage-royalty-free-image/82149516?phrase=+spelling+bee&adppopup=true">Hill Street Studios / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whenever the <a href="https://spellingbee.com/">Scripps National Spelling Bee</a> takes place, parents and children may wonder: What does it take to become a champion? Is it worth the effort?</p>
<p>As just about any former Scripps champion could tell you, the contest – which is set to take place May 31 to June 1 this year – involves <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/us/spelling-their-way-to-success.html">a fair amount of luck</a>, so preparation does not guarantee a victory. There’s simply no way a contestant can know which word awaits them from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary. But if young people <a href="https://syamantakpayra.com/assets/uploads/papers/payra_2016.pdf">find enjoyment</a> in learning how to spell words, as well as understanding the origins and meanings of these words, then they will feel proud of what they accomplished.</p>
<p>Still, as I state in my book “<a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479831142/hyper-education/">Hyper Education: Why Good Schools, Good Grades, and Good Behavior Are Not Enough</a>,” there are certain practices that can greatly boost a child’s chances of becoming an excellent speller. I observed these practices among families who assist their children in competitive academics.</p>
<h2>1. Invest in study materials</h2>
<p>Rather than just open the dictionary, contestants study word lists, including the 4,000 words in the <a href="https://spellingbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-files/2022%20Words%20of%20the%20Champions.pdf">free official study guide provided</a> by Scripps. Some parents create their own word lists based on observing past bees. </p>
<p>But to the extent possible, competitive spellers, including several <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/05/the-scripps-national-spelling-bee-how-8-kids-won/590782/">previous Scripps National Spelling Bee winners</a>, have purchased special <a href="https://spellpundit.com/#wordlists">word lists</a> to gain a competitive edge. These word lists, which may come in the form of computer software programs or printed booklets, are not easy for everyone to afford. The 2021 champion, Zaila Avant-garde, said her family <a href="https://time.com/6080654/zaila-avant-garde-spelling-bee-equality/">“had a little bit of trouble</a>” coming up with the money to purchase a popular online resource, which at the time cost $600.</p>
<p>Beyond purchasing supplemental materials, hiring a coach has become <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-national-spelling-bees-new-normal-200-an-hour-teen-spelling-coaches/2017/05/30/cc8eb8de-4228-11e7-adba-394ee67a7582_story.html">the new normal</a>. These coaches, who are often former spelling bee contestants or teachers, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-national-spelling-bees-new-normal-200-an-hour-teen-spelling-coaches/2017/05/30/cc8eb8de-4228-11e7-adba-394ee67a7582_story.html">charge between $50 to over $200 an hour</a>. Some coaches work with students one on one <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/06/16/733158499/a-spelling-bee-coach-on-how-to-spell-success">on a weekly basis all year</a>.</p>
<h2>2. Practice independently</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A girl reads a dictionary as she lies on the floor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528644/original/file-20230526-27-5d0ns6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528644/original/file-20230526-27-5d0ns6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528644/original/file-20230526-27-5d0ns6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528644/original/file-20230526-27-5d0ns6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528644/original/file-20230526-27-5d0ns6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528644/original/file-20230526-27-5d0ns6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528644/original/file-20230526-27-5d0ns6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Deliberate practice is one of the most effective ways to improve spelling bee performance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-girl-reading-the-dictionary-royalty-free-image/97437921?phrase=kids+dictionary&adppopup=true">Alexandra Grablewski via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Students must commit to learning the word lists primarily through studying by themselves. Research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550610385872">deliberate practice</a> – that is, studying and memorizing words while alone – is a better predictor of performance in the national spelling bee than being quizzed by others or reading for pleasure. All of the students I met recounted studying in their rooms or at libraries or school. The daily ritual of studying also helps youths build up the stamina of spelling needed on the competitive stage. </p>
<h2>3. Make studying a family affair</h2>
<p>While studying alone is essential for adequate preparation, families should be prepared to accompany their contestant on this journey. I observed one mother and daughter who studied word lists at the kitchen table for three hours a day – every day – as they prepared for the competition.</p>
<p>Other families would make a game out of studying, with homemade placards and grown-ups playing the role of announcer. Another family would frequently watch “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437800/">Akeelah and the Bee</a>” – a movie about a young girl from Los Angeles who tries to make it to the national spelling bee – as a way to keep their daughter motivated.</p>
<p>A former champion shared that when her family went to an Italian restaurant, her father would use it as an occasion to practice words of Italian origin, such as chardonnay, rigatoni and spaghetti. The daughter would write the words on the paper menu, which she then brought home as a study guide and kept for years as memorabilia. All of these activities help the child know that they are not in this alone.</p>
<h2>4. Form study groups</h2>
<p>Another way young spellers make connections in this process is through online study groups. This can be done whether they are classmates in the same school or contestants living across the country. Youths can quiz one another, share strategies or make up study games. Having a sense of connection can deepen their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0162353213480432">passion for learning</a> and further their motivation to stick with it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A middle school-aged boy with headphones looks at a laptop screen. He is smiling and writing in a notebook." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528661/original/file-20230526-17-spcgfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528661/original/file-20230526-17-spcgfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528661/original/file-20230526-17-spcgfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528661/original/file-20230526-17-spcgfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528661/original/file-20230526-17-spcgfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528661/original/file-20230526-17-spcgfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528661/original/file-20230526-17-spcgfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Forming online study groups can help keep kids engaged.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/asaian-child-boy-kid-taking-an-e-learning-learning-royalty-free-image/1393146298?phrase=online+study+middle+school&adppopup=true">travelism via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The same camaraderie that children form in these study groups can be seen on stage during the Scripps National Spelling Bee itself. It’s not uncommon for contestants to give each other high-fives after spelling a word correctly. There is less of an “us versus them” mentality that characterizes other competitive sports because students compete not against one another but against the dictionary. </p>
<h2>5. Read a lot</h2>
<p>When I investigated why students got interested in spelling, just about all of them mentioned their love of reading. They also listed reading as their favorite hobby. Reading cannot substitute for deliberate practice, but it forms the foundation for why students fell in love with words in the first place.</p>
<p>Students benefit when they learn to become active readers. This involves looking up words they do not understand, paying attention to the use of words in sentences and, of course, focusing on their spelling. </p>
<p>With all this being said, it’s important for families – and the contestants themselves – to pay attention to how they are feeling about the preparation. What parts do they enjoy the most? Is spelling practice taking up all their time to socialize or enjoy other interests and hobbies?</p>
<p>Burning out on a single competition isn’t worth it if it undermines a student’s passion for learning. Families should pay attention to when it’s time to tone down the studying and relax or let other interests rise to the surface. Parents of champions – and even champions themselves – routinely told me that their biggest benefit from the spelling bee was a heightened sense of responsibility and confidence. No trophy can match that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206046/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pawan Dhingra does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The road to becoming a champion speller is made easier with support from family and friends, but ultimately it depends on an individual student’s commitment to learning, a scholar writes.Pawan Dhingra, Associate Provost and Professor of American Studies, Amherst CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1955222022-12-06T13:34:10Z2022-12-06T13:34:10ZHow to deal with holiday stress, Danish-style<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498797/original/file-20221204-26-kjoo8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C12%2C4035%2C2702&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">With so many competing demands during the holidays, it's easy to take on more than you can handle.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/overwhelmed-santa-royalty-free-image/175392894?phrase=christmas stress&adppopup=true">mphillips007/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The holidays often involve jubilant gift exchanges, renewed connections with family and friends, and treasured traditions. </p>
<p>But the love and cheer can also <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/File%20Library/Unassigned/APA_Holiday-Stress_PPT-REPORT_November-2021_update.pdf">be accompanied by a host of stressors</a> – chaotic travel, conflicts over COVID-19 preventive measures, difficult dinner conversations with relatives, and worries about affording and finding holiday gifts. </p>
<p>This stress <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037//0278-6133.17.1.17">can worsen</a> your mental and physical health. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1161/01.cir.0000151424.02045.f7">Research even finds</a> that mortality is higher than normal during the holidays. </p>
<p>How can you best find a balance during the holidays so that you are fulfilled instead of frazzled?</p>
<p>Perhaps you can find balance by taking a few cultural cues from the Danes.</p>
<p>Denmark, despite its winters that can be <a href="https://seasonsyear.com/Denmark">cold and gloomy</a>, is full of people <a href="https://worldhappiness.report/">who consistently rank among the happiest</a> in the world.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://blogs.dickinson.edu/helwegm/">native Dane and a psychologist</a>, I’ll often point to Danish words that can cultivate well-being. These words can be used at any time of the year, but I think a couple are particularly useful for navigating the stress of the holidays.</p>
<h2>Going above and beyond</h2>
<p>Understanding the Danish word “overskud” can help you find more balance during a period of joy and competing commitments.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.thelocal.dk/20220516/danish-word-of-the-day-overskud/">Overskud</a>” is a noun that roughly means “excess.” In an economic context it means profit, but in everyday speech it’s used to refer to having the energy, willingness or resources to tackle a task or a problem. </p>
<p>Having overskud is generally viewed as a good thing – you might go the extra mile at work, plan an elaborate holiday party, find extra thoughtful presents or volunteer at your child’s school. </p>
<p>Danes sometimes combine the noun with other nouns so that you might say that you can make an “overskuds-breakfast” – a fancy breakfast of omelettes, bacon, coffee and french toast. Or you might be an overskuds-dad – the dad who decorates cookies with his kids and their friends. </p>
<p>Although it might seem a bit like bragging to say one has overskud, Danes react to people describing having overskud with authentic applause and support. After all, who wouldn’t want to have extra energy and bandwidth to tackle life?</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://hellebentzen.dk/artikel/kropsterapi/overskud-i-hverdagen/">Danish therapists</a> maintain that having more overskud can lead you to experience more contentment, calm and presence. </p>
<h2>Your energy isn’t boundless</h2>
<p>And yet the holidays can sometimes demand overskud in a number of different areas: Food should be healthy but also fit everyone’s preferences and expectations. Presents should be thoughtful and affordable. Elaborate decorations must come up and go down.</p>
<p>How do you balance it all?</p>
<p>Any psychologist will tell you that maintaining <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/set-boundaries#how-to-define-your-boundaries">healthy boundaries</a> is associated with better mental health. </p>
<p>Importantly, the word overskud is also used to clearly communicate when people cannot tackle an event, task or obligation. </p>
<p>Instead of saying “I’m swamped,” a Dane might say they don’t have enough “overskud” to go to a party or meet for a glass of <a href="https://denmark.dk/people-and-culture/christmas-recipes/gloegg">gløgg</a>, a mulled Christmas wine. It’s basically a shorthand way to say, in a nonjudgmental way, that something sounds like fun, and you would love to do it, but you simply don’t have the energy.</p>
<p>Danes also use a verb that’s related to overskud, which is a noun. They will say that they cannot “overskue” something – organizing a family holiday event, planning a trip or deep-cleaning the house.</p>
<p>Often, activities that are meant to be fun and invigorating, like going to a holiday party on a weeknight or buying presents for a fundraiser, still require a fair amount of effort. If your store of energy is empty and you’d rather just stay home in your PJs, you might say “I just cannot overskue doing it.”</p>
<p>Essentially, the Danes use the words overskud and overskue to say, “No,” and there’s an unspoken understanding that it’s nothing personal. Saying “no” to some things will give you the time and energy to say “yes” to others, so you can tackle the holidays with vigor and cheer – and be that overskud party planner, cookie decorator or gift giver, should you wish to do so.</p>
<h2>The importance of ‘pyt’</h2>
<p>People might want their vision for the holidays to go off without a hitch. But reality often smacks people in the face: rude strangers, long lines, decoration disasters, out-of-stock toys, piles of dirty dishes, screaming children and resentful relatives.</p>
<p>You can practice letting go of holiday-related frustrations by simply saying the Danish word “<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-danish-word-the-world-needs-to-combat-stress-pyt-112216">pyt</a>,” <a href="http://schwa.dk/filer/udtaleordbog_danpass/d_002_2_g_non-v_1316.wav">which is pronounced</a> like “pid.”</p>
<p>Pyt is similar to saying “oh, well” or “stuff happens” and is used to let go of minor frustrations, hassles or mistakes. Danes might say about their own behavior “pyt, I didn’t do a great job wrapping that present.” Or they might say “pyt” when they sense someone else’s disappointment: “pyt, those cookies do look a bit funny, but they’re still delicious.” </p>
<p>Pyt is about accepting that things won’t go exactly as planned, and embracing that fact. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Christmas tree bulb in an anvil." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498798/original/file-20221204-55824-8jvbis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498798/original/file-20221204-55824-8jvbis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498798/original/file-20221204-55824-8jvbis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498798/original/file-20221204-55824-8jvbis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498798/original/file-20221204-55824-8jvbis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498798/original/file-20221204-55824-8jvbis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498798/original/file-20221204-55824-8jvbis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Don’t let the pressure of a perfect Christmas make you crack.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/christmas-under-pressure-royalty-free-image/157646865?phrase=christmas+stress">alacatr/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Having very high personal standards is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000036">predictor of</a> poor coping skills and a poor ability to deal with daily stressors. Moreover, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02783193.2017.1393711">stress</a> can be mitigated by accepting imperfection as a healthy and normal part of life. </p>
<p>Another way to get to pyt is to focus on what really counts. Is this long line at the mall really worth ruining your day? Or is it a minor annoyance that will soon be forgotten? </p>
<p>Perhaps you can take a moment while waiting to think about some of the things you’re thankful for or remind yourself that you’re OK. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.10.190">Research shows</a> that self-reflection and self-compassion together are particularly effective in reducing stress. Moreover, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167219853846">self-compassion</a> can lead to acceptance of both your own and other people’s flaws. </p>
<p>One of the benefits of holiday stress – compared to unexpected stress – is that you can anticipate it. </p>
<p>You’ve been here before. If you don’t try to do it all and don’t expect everything to go according to plan, you may just end up having your best holiday yet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195522/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie Helweg-Larsen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Denmark, despite its cold and gloomy winters, is full of people who consistently rank among the happiest in the world.Marie Helweg-Larsen, Professor of Psychology, the Glenn E. & Mary Line Todd Chair in the Social Sciences, Dickinson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1932652022-11-29T13:35:33Z2022-11-29T13:35:33Z‘Y'all,’ that most Southern of Southernisms, is going mainstream – and it’s about time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497709/original/file-20221128-25-u3e61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=113%2C24%2C5041%2C3580&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A sign encourages people to vote in Charlotte, N.C., ahead of the 2022 U.S. midterm elections.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sign-made-by-the-group-democracy-nc-reads-its-time-to-vote-news-photo/1244530643?phrase=y'all&adppopup=true"> Sean Rayford/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/233049240?accountid=11824&parentSessionId=kVHOP8EzU2pwO4y4LFLsjx0xdUKGkFopcW7QCWFFPPs%3D">Southern Living</a> magazine once described “y’all” as “the quintessential Southern pronoun.” It’s as iconically Southern as sweet tea and grits.</p>
<p>While “y’all” is considered <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-nonstandard-english-1691438">slang</a>, it’s a useful word nonetheless. The English language doesn’t have a good second person plural pronoun; “you” can be both singular and plural, but it’s sometimes awkward to use as a plural. It’s almost like <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0311/p18s04-hfes.html">there’s a pronoun missing</a>. “Y’all” fills that second person plural slot – as does “you guys,” “youse,” “you-uns” and a few others.</p>
<p>I’m interested in “y’all” because I was born in North Carolina and grew up saying it. I still do, probably a couple dozen times a day, usually without intention or even awareness. <a href="https://works.bepress.com/david-parker/">As a historian</a> who has researched the early history of the word, I’m also interested in how the word’s use has changed over the years.</p>
<h2>Like something a ‘hillbilly redneck’ would say</h2>
<p>“Y’all” might serve an important function, but it has acquired negative connotations. </p>
<p>Back in 1886, <a href="https://www.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/94432411/31D5C386FF6A456FPQ/1?accountid=11824">The New York Times</a> ran a piece titled “Odd Southernisms” that described “y’all” as “one of the most ridiculous of all the Southernisms.” </p>
<p>That perception has persisted. Like the <a href="https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=ling_etds">Southern dialect</a> in general, the use of “y’all” has often been seen as vulgar, low-class, uncultured and uneducated. As someone noted in <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=y%27all&page=2">Urban Dictionary</a>, “Whoever uses [y’all] sounds like a hillbilly redneck.”</p>
<p>In a more recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/18/magazine/yall.html">New York Times essay</a>, writer Maud Newton said that she associated the word with her father, who “defended slavery, demanded the subservience of women and adhered to ‘spare the rod and spoil the child.’” He also demanded that his children say “y’all” rather than “you guys.” She grew up hating the word. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Red and white-striped water tower featuring the text 'Florence Y'all.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497706/original/file-20221128-4861-6pnfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497706/original/file-20221128-4861-6pnfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497706/original/file-20221128-4861-6pnfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497706/original/file-20221128-4861-6pnfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497706/original/file-20221128-4861-6pnfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497706/original/file-20221128-4861-6pnfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497706/original/file-20221128-4861-6pnfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A water tower in Florence, Ky., proudly displays the collective form of address long associated with the U.S. South.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/water-tank-with-florence-y-all-greeting-painted-on-the-side-news-photo/535788459?phrase=y'all&adppopup=true">Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At a time when many Americans are calling for the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/23/970610428/nearly-100-confederate-monuments-removed-in-2020-report-says-more-than-700-remai">removal of Confederate monuments</a> and opposing the <a href="https://inclusivehistorian.com/lost-cause-myth/">Lost Cause mythology</a>, “y’all,” with its Southern overtones, might make some people uncomfortable – a misguided reaction, perhaps, but one that has been felt by both those who hear it and those who say it.</p>
<h2>Imagine ‘y’all’ with a British accent</h2>
<p>The word has not always had such negative connotations. </p>
<p>The etymology of “y’all” is murky. Some <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Old-English-New-Linguistics-Humanities/dp/0815310862">linguists</a> trace it back to the Scots-Irish phrase “ye aw”; <a href="https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/eww.14.1.03lip">others</a> suggest an African American origin, perhaps from the Igbo word for “you” brought over by Nigerian-born slaves. According to the “Oxford English Dictionary,” the word first appeared in print in 1856, and all of its examples are sources connected to the American South. <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807858066/the-new-encyclopedia-of-southern-culture/">Michael Montgomery</a>, a noted linguist, said that early use of the word “is unknown in the British Isles.”</p>
<p>But recently I used some of the new digital literary databases to search for older uses of the word, and <a href="https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/159662">I found over a dozen examples</a>. They were all in dramatic or poetic works dating back to the 17th century and published in London. The earliest “y’all” that I uncovered was in William Lisle’s “The Faire Æthiopian,” published in 1631 – “and this y'all know is true.”</p>
<p>My examples push “y’all” back 225 years before the citation in the “Oxford English Dictionary,” and they show that the word appeared first in England rather than the United States. </p>
<p>I think it’s important to point out that it originated in a more formal context than what’s commonly assumed. There are none of the class or cultural connotations of the later American examples.</p>
<p>I should also note that there is almost a centurylong gap between the last known usage of this British version of “y’all” and the first known usage of the American version. Scholars may well decide that these versions of “y’all” are essentially two different words. </p>
<p>Still, there it is, in an English poem written in 1631. </p>
<h2>‘Y'all means all’</h2>
<p>Ironically, at the same time that some people have shied away from using “y’all,” the word seems to have grown in popularity. An article on exactly this topic, published in the Journal of English Linguistics in 2000, was titled “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00754240022005045">The Nationalization of a Southernism</a>”; based on scientific polling, the authors suggested that “y’all” will soon be seen as an American, rather than Southern, word. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man walks by billboard with text reading 'love all y'all.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497701/original/file-20221128-20-uy7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497701/original/file-20221128-20-uy7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497701/original/file-20221128-20-uy7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497701/original/file-20221128-20-uy7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497701/original/file-20221128-20-uy7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497701/original/file-20221128-20-uy7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497701/original/file-20221128-20-uy7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There’s an inclusivity inherent to ‘y'all.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/july11-2017-storefront-sign-love-all-yall-photographed-on-news-photo/1145913265?phrase=y'all&adppopup=true">Bill Tompkins/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There might be several reasons for this. One is that African American use of the word in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbDiiJv9_Qk">music</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Icons-African-American-Comedy-Greenwood/dp/0313380848">other forms of popular culture</a> has made it more familiar – and, therefore, acceptable – to those who didn’t grow up with it.</p>
<p>Second, “you guys,” <a href="http://survey.johndal.com/results/290/">another common alternative</a> for the second-person plural pronoun, is losing support because of its sexist connotations. Are females included in you guys? How about those who identify as nonbinary? </p>
<p>Maud Newton eventually came to embrace “y’all.” When she moved to Tallahassee, Florida, after law school, she found that “in grocery stores and coffee shops, on the street and in the library, everyone – Black and white, queer and straight, working-class and wealthy – used y’all, and soon I did, too.”</p>
<p>“Y’all means all” – that’s a wonderful phrase that seems to be popping up everywhere, from <a href="https://scontent-atl3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/52696104_10155844141826150_4218014470036783104_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=DVHP94pupXwAX8MRuB1&_nc_ht=scontent-atl3-2.xx&oh=00_AfD9_-BRJfm2m3Y7RjeQN32t_9s_R4k8tg8nRmh4aoOEMg&oe=63A5C5F2">T-shirts</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Yall-Means-All-Emerging-Appalachia/dp/1629639141?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER">book titles</a> to <a href="https://www.syracuseculturalworkers.com/products/poster-yall-means-all">memes</a> and music.
A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVW3ZXOrG4E&list=RDBVW3ZXOrG4E&start_radio=1">song</a> written by Miranda Lambert for Netflix’s “Queer Eye” beautifully captures the spirit of the phrase:</p>
<pre class="highlight plaintext"><code> You can be born in Tyler, Texas,
Raised with the Bible Belt;
If you’re torn between the Y’s and X’s,
You ain’t gotta play with the hand you’re dealt ...
Honey, y’all means all.
</code></pre><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193265/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David B. Parker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The use of ‘y'all’ has often been seen as vulgar, low-class and uncultured. That’s starting to change.David B. Parker, Professor of History, Kennesaw State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1894022022-08-31T16:23:40Z2022-08-31T16:23:40ZFive myths about Shakespeare’s contribution to the English language<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481760/original/file-20220830-19040-xflx1d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C0%2C2000%2C1401&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Untitled design</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_William_Shakespeare#/media/File:Shakespeare_Droeshout_1623.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Shakespeare’s language is widely considered to represent the pinnacle of English. But that status is underpinned by multiple myths – ideas about language that have departed from reality (or what is even plausible). Those myths send us down rabbit holes and make us lose sight of what is truly impressive about Shakespeare – what he did with his words. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/shakespearelang/">Encyclopedia of Shakespeare’s Language</a> project at Lancaster University, deploying large-scale computer analyses, has been transforming what we know about Shakespeare’s language. Here, incorporating some of its findings, we revisit five things that you probably thought you knew about Shakespeare but are actually untrue. </p>
<h2>1. Shakespeare coined a vast number of words</h2>
<p>Well, he did, but not as many as people think – even reputable sources assume more than 1,000. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust puts it at <a href="https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/shakespeares-words/">1,700</a>, but carefully add that this number concerns words whose earliest appearance is in Shakespeare’s works. </p>
<p>The word “hobnail” first appears in a text attributed to Shakespeare, but it’s difficult to imagine it arose from a creative poetic act. More likely, it was around in the spoken language of the time and Shakespeare’s use is the earliest recording of it. Estimates of just how many words Shakespeare supposedly coined do not usually distinguish between what was creatively coined by him and what was first recorded in a written document attributed to him. </p>
<p>Even if you don’t make that distinction and include all words that appear first in a work attributed to Shakespeare, whether coined or recorded, numbers are grossly inflated. Working with the literature and linguistics academics <a href="https://english.asu.edu/content/jonathan-hope-professor-literature">Jonathan Hope</a> and <a href="https://slt-cdt.sheffield.ac.uk/students">Sam Hollands</a>, we’ve been using computers to search millions of words in texts pre-dating Shakespeare. With this method, we have found that only around 500 words do seem to first appear in Shakespeare.</p>
<p>Of course, 500 is still huge and most writers neither coin a new word nor produce a first recording.</p>
<h2>2. Shakespeare IS the English language</h2>
<p>The myth that Shakespeare coined loads of words has partly fuelled the myth that Shakespeare’s language constitutes one-quarter, a half or even all of the words of today’s English language.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A closeup on the spine of a book of the complete works of Shakespeare." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481763/original/file-20220830-8838-chnq8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481763/original/file-20220830-8838-chnq8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481763/original/file-20220830-8838-chnq8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481763/original/file-20220830-8838-chnq8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481763/original/file-20220830-8838-chnq8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481763/original/file-20220830-8838-chnq8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481763/original/file-20220830-8838-chnq8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shakespeare’s complete works could only ever have constituted a small proportion of the English Language.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/shakespeares-complete-works-6793507">Jon Naustdalslid/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The number of different words in Shakespeare’s texts is around 21,000 words. Some of those words are repeated, which is how we get to the total number of around one million words in works attributed to Shakespeare. (To illustrate, the previous sentence contains 26 words in total, but “of”, “words” and “to” are repeated, so the number of different words is 22). The Oxford English Dictionary has around 600,000 different words in it, but many are obscure technical terms. So, let’s round down to 500,000. </p>
<p>Even if every word within Shakespeare had been coined by him (which is of course not the case, as noted above), that would still only be 4.2% of today’s English language. So, Shakespeare could only ever have contributed a very small fraction, though quite possibly more than most writers.</p>
<h2>3. Shakespeare had a huge vocabulary</h2>
<p>Ludicrously, popular claims about Shakespeare’s huge vocabulary seem to be driven by the fact that his writings as a whole contain a large number of different words (as noted above, around 21,000). But the more you write, the more opportunities you have to use more words that are different. This means Shakespeare is likely to come out on top of any speculations about vocabulary size simply because he has an exceptionally large surviving body of work.</p>
<p>A few researchers have used other methods to make better guesses (they are always guesses, as you can’t count the words in somebody’s mind). For example, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sq/article-abstract/62/1/53/5064657?redirectedFrom=fulltext">Hugh Craig</a>, a Shakespearean scholar who has pioneered the use of computers for analysing language in literature, looked at the average number of different words used across samples of writings of the same length. He found that, relative to his contemporaries, the average frequency with which different words appear in Shakespeare’s work is distinctly … average.</p>
<h2>4. Shakespeare has universal meaning</h2>
<p>Sure, some themes or aspects of the human condition are universal, but let’s not get carried away and say that his language is universal. The mantra of the historical linguist is that all language changes – and Shakespeare isn’t exempt.</p>
<p>Changes can be subtle and easily missed. Take the word “time” – surely a universal word denoting a universal concept? Well, no.</p>
<p>For each word in Shakespeare, we used computers to identify the other words they associate with, and those associations reveal the meanings of words.</p>
<p>“Time”, for instance, often occurs with “day” or “night” (for example, from Hamlet: “What art thou that usurp'st this time of night”). This reflects the understanding of time in the early modern world (roughly, 1450-1750), which was more closely linked to the cycles of the moon and sun, and thus the broader forces of the cosmos. </p>
<p>In contrast, today, associated words like “waste”, “consume” and “spend” suggest that time is more frequently thought of as a precious resource under human control.</p>
<h2>5. Shakespeare didn’t know much Latin</h2>
<p>The myths above are popular myths, spread by academics and non-academics alike (which is why they are easy to find on the internet). Myths can be more restricted.</p>
<p>Within some theatrical circles, the idea that Shakespeare didn’t know much Latin emerged. Indeed, the contemporary playwright Ben Jonson famously wrote that Shakespeare had “small Latin, and less Greek”. Shakespeare lacked a university education. University-educated, jealous, snooty playwrights might have been keen to take him down a peg. </p>
<p>Working with the Latin scholar <a href="https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/english/staff/caterina-guardamagna/">Caterina Guardamagna</a>, we found that Shakespeare used 245 different Latin words, whereas in a matching set of plays by other playwrights there were just 28 – the opposite of what the myth dictates.</p>
<p>That Shakespeare used so much Latin without a university education makes his achievement in using it all the greater.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189402/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:j.culpeper@lancaster.ac.uk">j.culpeper@lancaster.ac.uk</a> receives funding from the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), grant reference AH/N002415/1. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Gillings does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>He is certainly important to English but he isn’t responsible for as much of it as you might think.Jonathan Culpeper, Chair professor in English Language and Linguistics, Lancaster UniversityMathew Gillings, Assistant Professor, Vienna University of Economics and BusinessLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1843702022-06-13T19:28:04Z2022-06-13T19:28:04ZFrom ‘dada’ to Darth Vader – why the way we name fathers reminds us we spring from the same well<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468104/original/file-20220609-11759-gqb31p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C99%2C3679%2C2283&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Even supervillains need the odd day off.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/heavy-metal-fan-dressed-as-darth-vader-crowd-surfs-at-news-photo/1333946536?adppopup=true">Katja Ogrin/Redferns via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Movie legend has it that the identity of Luke Skywalker’s father was always hiding in plain sight – well, at least <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/11/28/did-german-speakers-understand-the-darth-vader-reveal-before-anyone-else/?sh=44e317f8605e">through a subtle naming clue</a>. “Darth Vader” does, after all, have a distinct paternal ring to it linguistically. Indeed, had the big reveal been “I am your fader” it would have made a nice play on the heavy-breathing villain’s name with a nod to an old Dutch term for “father.”</p>
<p>The true origin story of Vader’s moniker is <a href="https://screenrant.com/star-wars-darth-vader-dark-father-translation-myth/">not as cool as the myth</a>. But as someone who <a href="https://www.unr.edu/english/people/valerie-fridland">studies the origins of words</a>, I see the story providing an example of something that is real: the universality of the names used for fathers across all languages. </p>
<p>Considering that dads played a key part in populating the dawn of civilization, it is perhaps not that surprising that a label for the dude we call “dad” would emerge early in the development of languages. But, whether it’s “papa,” “dada” or “vater,” what is striking is the cross-cultural bias in the words used to describe him – and how the same names have stuck around over millennia.</p>
<h2>Why ‘pater’ is familiar</h2>
<p>Tracking the linguistic evolution of modern “father,” we find it <a href="https://www-oed-com.unr.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/68498">as far back as written English goes</a> – with references to “feadur” or “fadur” or “fædor” in Old English texts from the seventh to 11th centuries. In Old Dutch <a href="https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/2013/02/05/episode-20-the-early-germanic-tribes/">there was “fader</a>”; in Old Icelandic we find “faðir”; <a href="https://oldenglishteaching.arts.gla.ac.uk/Units/3_Description_of_OE.html">in Old High German</a>, a precursor to modern German, it was “fater” – now “vater”; and, finally, in Old Danish, “fathær.”</p>
<p>This uniformity strongly suggests this word was found in the languages’ early Germanic parent – that is, the source language from which all these Germanic languages descended.</p>
<p>But the similarity in terms used for “father” doesn’t stop with this Germanic forefather. Related words are found across the entire <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Indo-European_Languages/">Indo-European language tree</a> – a large group of distantly related languages that stretches over most of Europe and a good bit of Asia. For instance, we find closely matching terms in Latin with “pater,” Sanskrit’s “pitar” and in Greek with “patér” – all older languages that developed separately from the Germanic line.</p>
<p>This means that the word “father” likely came from a long-dead source language, <a href="https://www.archaeology.org/exclusives/articles/1302-proto-indo-european-schleichers-fable">estimated to date back some 6,000 years</a>. This single parent language – known as Proto Indo-European – spawned all these later languages and their shared word for paters.</p>
<p>But how did the “p” in “pater” morph into the “f” found in all the Germanic “father” words"?</p>
<p>Historical linguists have reconstructed the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Indo-European-languages/The-parent-language-Proto-Indo-European">most likely sounds</a> that were used in <a href="https://www.ruf.rice.edu/%7Ekemmer/Words04/history/pie.html">this hypothesized parent language</a>. Since Ancient Greek, Latin and Sanskrit all have “p,” “t” and “k” sounds, their Indo-European source also probably had these, or closely related, sounds.</p>
<p>But as Germanic languages formed their own branch of the family tree, this “p” turned into an “f.” This explains why there is a “p” in Latin-based words like “Pisces,” “podiatry” and “patriarchy,” but “f” in the Germanic descended equivalents like “fish,” “foot” and father.“ This sound change was not random but followed what came to be called <a href="https://www.linguisticsonline.net/post/the-story-of-grimm-s-law-what-is-it">Grimm’s law</a>, named for the very same brother Grimm who brought us "Hansel and Gretel.”</p>
<p>Grimm noted a pattern of sound correspondences across Indo-European languages that suggested a series of regular changes must have occurred as Indo-European split into daughter languages. These changes likely started out as dialect variants that became more distinct as groups of speakers were separated and new languages evolved – with the shifted sounds. </p>
<h2>The ‘babas’ and the ‘papas’</h2>
<p>One might expect closely related languages to share words for fathers, but even across languages in which there is no known evidence of a common ancestry the words for “dad” sound strikingly familiar. </p>
<p>Languages as distinct as <a href="https://www.shh.mpg.de/1285923/sino-tibetan-origin">Sino-Tibetan Chinese</a> and <a href="https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/where-wasiw-spoken">Native American Washo</a> use “baba.” In Nilo-Saharan Maasai, spoken in Kenya and Tanzania, it’s “papa,” and, in <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/41603">the Semitic language Hebrew</a>, “abba.”</p>
<p>A similar bent is found in English, where children use the more intimate “papa,” “dad” or sometimes “daddy” as an alternative to the more formal “father,” especially when in trouble or getting bailed out of jail. </p>
<p><strong>‘Dad’ and ‘Daddy’ have grown in popular usage in recent decades:</strong></p>
<iframe name="ngram_chart" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=Papa%2CDaddy%2CDad%2CFather%2CPa%2C&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2CPapa%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CDaddy%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CDad%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CFather%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CPa%3B%2Cc0" width="100%" height="250" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
<figure><figcaption><span class="caption">Google Ngram showing percentage of sample books (y-axis) that contain selected English words for ‘father’ since 1800.</span></figcaption></figure>
<p>This tendency toward similar vocabulary words suggests that something pretty universal must be driving it. And though at first “d” and “p” and “b” might not seem to be all that similar sounding, they are all part of a class of what are called “<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/stop-consonant-phonetics-1691993">stop consonants</a>” in linguistics. Stop consonants are sounds made with a short but complete obstruction of air flow through the mouth during their articulation. </p>
<p>Why does this matter to pops everywhere? Because stop sounds, along with vowels, are the earliest and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-kids-call-their-parents-mom-and-dad-137579">most frequent sounds babies tend to babble</a> – which means “pa,” “ta,” “ba” and “da” are all early infant vocalizations.</p>
<p>Also, repetition is a feature of both baby babble and what parents babble back. As a result, this specific babbling bent makes “dadas,” “babas” and “papas” – along with “apas” and “abas” – very popular things for little Carlos or Keisha to say while hanging out in the crib.</p>
<p>So, when dad happens by and hears what he interprets as his call sign, a celebratory first word commemoration commences, <a href="https://archive.org/details/roman-jakobson-why-mamaand-papa-1971">regardless of whether Junior actually intended it that way or not</a>.</p>
<h2>A universal papa</h2>
<p>And this circles back to the origin story for the word “father.” </p>
<p>Linguists theorize that, at some early point in the development of the Indo-European language, the sound sequence “pa” – babbled in early speech and wishfully interpreted as referring to good ol’ dad – was combined with a suffix such as “ter,” possibly <a href="https://archive.org/details/roman-jakobson-why-mamaand-papa-1971">denoting a kinship relationship</a>.</p>
<p>Looking at the evolution of language more generally, linguists can’t say with certainty whether modern languages inherited the word from an undiscovered original early human language – likely African – or if this process occurred <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/41603">several times over the course of language history</a>.</p>
<p>But what it does suggest is that dads have clearly been important enough throughout the history of humankind to merit special designation. And, unlike so many other words that have been shifted and reshaped or replaced over time by inherent linguistic pressures and language contact, the fondness for “dadas,” “dads,” “fathers” and “papas” seems to be unusually resistant to change. </p>
<p>So, whether you call him your papa, your baba or your abba, just be sure to call him, and let him know how well he, and his title, have stood the test of time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184370/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valerie M. Fridland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A linguist explores the origin of the word ‘father’ – and why derivatives are common in languages across the globe.Valerie M. Fridland, Professor of Linguistics, University of Nevada, RenoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1839052022-06-03T12:16:23Z2022-06-03T12:16:23ZCan Bionic Reading make you a speed reader? Not so fast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466634/original/file-20220601-49081-ugrudd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C20%2C6720%2C4446&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In an age of distraction, the desire to read faster and more efficiently is understandable. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/no-one-is-safe-royalty-free-image/1291463895">eclipse_images/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What if something as simple as bolding parts of a word could make reading a breeze, improving your focus, speed and comprehension?</p>
<p>That’s the claim made by the creators of <a href="https://bionic-reading.com">Bionic Reading</a>, an app that revises texts so that the most concise parts of the words are “highlighted.” </p>
<p>Doing so, according to the makers of the app, directs the eyes to focus on the important parts of the text. Because “your brain reads faster than your eye,” this allows users to read more quickly and efficiently.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1529067758914256898"}"></div></p>
<p>Early adopters have raved about the app on social media – <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9_KaVksCPU">including some users with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia</a>. But <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8pomrUYAAAAJ&hl=en">as an educational psychologist</a> who researches reading in print and digital mediums, I think the hype is overblown – if not misleading.</p>
<h2>Shaky claims</h2>
<p>On the <a href="https://bionic-reading.com">Bionic Reading website</a>, the inventor, a typographer named Renato Casutt, explains that Bionic Reading was tested independently using 12 participants. He adds that it wasn’t explicitly tested on people with dyslexia.</p>
<p>He then goes on to write that “the results are unclear.” From there, Casutt says Bionic Reading had a positive effect for most participants, but that others found it “disturbing.” </p>
<p>These tests don’t adhere to standard scientific practices. A sample size of 12 is extraordinary small, and it is highly unlikely it would make it past an editor’s desk for peer review at a reputable journal. Casutt doesn’t tell readers what the “positive effect” refers to. Was it reading time? Comprehension? Enjoyment?</p>
<p>The Conversation reached out to Bionic Reading for more clarity and to better understand its methodology. The company did not respond.</p>
<p>The company website’s assertion that the “brain reads faster than the eye” is also deeply flawed. Perhaps it’s a reference to <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Orthographic-Mapping-in-the-Acquisition-of-Sight-Ehri/156bd9fa294573538a19dc2ef4bd19bdae9cf418">sight words</a>: When someone learns how to read, they normally have many words that they can make sense of via simple recognition, rather than by breaking down the word into individual syllables or sounds. These sight words often appear at a higher frequency in texts at all reading levels. </p>
<p>Either way, what makes reading “slow” is not due to an inability to quickly perceive the words themselves – which is what Bionic Reading claims to fix. Instead, reading takes the time it does <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100615623267">due to language processing</a>, which is where our brains turn strings of letters into words and a series of words into meaning.</p>
<p>So no matter how quickly you recognize certain words, your brain still has to do the work to understand the sentence. </p>
<h2>Speed at a cost</h2>
<p>This isn’t the first time someone has tried to introduce ways to read text more quickly. In fact, educators <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1000838">used to teach speed reading in the 1980s</a>. However, that method faded from curriculums as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1529100615623267">research showed that faster isn’t always better</a> – nor do the techniques even lead to faster reading in most cases.</p>
<p>Bionic Reading may even hinder readers. Consider the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-6918(77)90012-9">speed-accuracy trade-off</a>, which theorizes that the more quickly one does something, the worse their performance.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I tested this theory for reading comprehension across print and digital mediums. We found, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2017.1411877">time</a> after <a href="https://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/24981">time</a>, whether in print or on a screen, the faster someone read a text, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.04.001">the less likely they were to comprehend it</a>.</p>
<p>When people read quickly, <a href="https://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/24981">they interact with the text on a more superficial level</a>, often skipping over entire sentences or paragraphs and failing to reread important parts of the text. </p>
<h2>Tried and true techniques</h2>
<p>To help struggling readers, especially those with dyslexia and ADHD, research suggests that one of the most helpful tools can be to simply encourage reading more slowly.</p>
<p>This is the antithesis of Bionic Reading’s argument. However, unlike Bionic Reading, the “read more slowly” school of thought <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=suc1o0hueowC&oi=fnd&pg=PA91&dq=slow+down+reading+for+dyslexia&ots=j9deteB8pJ&sig=0IRQ0YYJ7nou5U4PhOmmd8Oc9W8#v=onepage&q=slow%20down%20reading%20for%20dyslexia&f=false">has decades of research</a> supporting it.</p>
<p>Other simple steps, such as <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XZvzCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA7&dq=follow+along+as+you+read+for+comprehension&ots=1GHql5fO44&sig=DKWLKk9lwWbjx3bWyTsm5lcRK54#v=onepage&q=follow%20along%20as%20you%20read%20for%20comprehension&f=false">following along with your finger or computer mouse</a>, can be helpful for those with reading difficulties, too. </p>
<p>I can understand the allure of Bionic Reading. Information bombards us. Sources of distraction are rampant. But <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/americas-reading-problem-scores-were-dropping-even-before-the-pandemic/">reading proficiency scores were dropping to new lows</a> even before the pandemic. Now is not the time to be valuing speed at the cost of comprehension.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183905/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren M. Singer Trakhman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The claims made by the creators of the app – which highlights parts of words to supposedly enhance users’ reading abilities – are dubious.Lauren M. Singer Trakhman, Assistant Clinical Professor of Human Development, University of MarylandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1773142022-05-26T12:26:58Z2022-05-26T12:26:58ZHow ‘gate’ became the syllable of scandal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464833/original/file-20220523-18-ecjk98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2239%2C0%2C4615%2C3113&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A view of the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-the-watergate-complex-from-the-balcony-at-rise-news-photo/489740234?adppopup=true">John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On June 17, 1972, Washington, D.C., police arrested five men for breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. Although the administration’s press secretary, Ron Ziegler, dismissed the crime as a “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/11/us/ron-ziegler-press-secretary-to-nixon-is-dead-at-63.html">third-rate burglary</a>,” its scope would grow to consume Richard Nixon’s presidency and then <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-richard-nixons-obsession-with-daniel-ellsberg-and-the-pentagon-papers-sowed-the-seeds-for-the-presidents-downfall-159113">bring it to an end 26 months later</a>.</p>
<p>As with other infamous episodes, such as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1924/08/07/archives/davis-sees-in-oil-big-campaign-issue-says-in-answer-to-butler.html?searchResultPosition=10">Teapot Dome</a> scandal or the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1969/07/20/archives/woman-passenger-killed-kennedy-escapes-in-crash-senator-tells-the.html?searchResultPosition=9">Chappaquiddick</a> tragedy, the event would come to be known by the place where it occurred. </p>
<p>But unlike those two precedents, the Watergate Office Building would be immortalized as the catchall term for political scandal.</p>
<p>“Watergate,” in this context, is an example of <a href="https://www.oed.com/public/gatesuffix/the-gate">metonymy</a>. A part – the site of the break-in – comes to stand for the larger whole: the illegal acts committed by Nixon’s administration, as well as the subsequent investigation into them.</p>
<p>Metonymy is a common way in which English is fortified with new vocabulary – think of “the Pentagon” as a stand-in for the U.S. military, or “Hollywood” as a way to refer to the motion picture industry.</p>
<p>What’s unusual about Watergate is that one syllable <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Concise_Encyclopedia_of_Semantics/3_1snsgmqU8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=concise+encyclopedia+of+semantics+%22splinters+become+morphemes%22&pg=PA630&printsec=frontcover">splintered off</a> to become the universally recognized designator for political malfeasance. When boozy government-sponsored parties that broke COVID-19 lockdown rules came to light in the U.K., the scandal quickly became known as “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boris-johnson-london-government-and-politics-3661df0855d575186e958ec0d10a8537">partygate</a>.” But the syllable has also migrated beyond politics, becoming a tag for wrongdoing of virtually any kind.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/455924?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">Other splinters</a> have also been pressed into service to create new words. For example, “-athon,” from “marathon,” can emphasize an event’s long duration – telethon, dance-a-thon, and hackathon. Similarly, “-aholic,” from “alcoholic,” denotes an addiction: shopaholic, workaholic, sexaholic.</p>
<p>But in terms of sheer productivity, “-gate” has no peer. Wikipedia’s list of -gates has <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_%22-gate%22_scandals_and_controversies">over 260 entries</a>. </p>
<p>During its remarkable career, it has often been wielded as a linguistic cudgel, and few other four-letter strings have such power to stigmatize and to demonize.</p>
<h2>The early years</h2>
<p>A year after the Watergate break-in, the humor magazine National Lampoon referenced “<a href="https://www.cjr.org/analysis/gate_keepers.php">Volgagate</a>” – a fictitious Russian scandal – in its August 1973 issue. This seems to have been the first use of -gate as a generic label for a political scandal.</p>
<p>A month later, Newsweek characterized a scheme to peddle cheap Bordeaux as “<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/gate-suffix-scandal-word-history">Winegate</a>.” Its extension to viniculture suggested that -gate might have a life outside of politics.</p>
<p>But the real popularizer of -gate was William Safire, Nixon’s former speechwriter. As a conservative political columnist with The New York Times for over 30 years, Safire created or promoted many such terms. These included <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1980/07/21/archives/essay-none-dare-call-it-billygate.html?searchResultPosition=1">Billygate</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1977/08/11/archives/lancegate.html?searchResultPosition=1">Lancegate</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/06/opinion/essay-briefingate-phase-ii.html?searchResultPosition=1">Briefingate</a> to describe scandals that emerged during Jimmy Carter’s presidency. He also popularized <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/42578225.pdf">Travelgate</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/03/opinion/essay-whitewater-cover-up.html?searchResultPosition=1">Whitewatergate</a> during the Clinton years.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man in suit talks on phone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465155/original/file-20220524-25-olohkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465155/original/file-20220524-25-olohkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465155/original/file-20220524-25-olohkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465155/original/file-20220524-25-olohkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465155/original/file-20220524-25-olohkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465155/original/file-20220524-25-olohkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465155/original/file-20220524-25-olohkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After Nixon resigned, his former speechwriter, William Safire, deployed ‘gate’ as a suffix to describe various scandals that engulfed the Democratic Party.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-is-a-photograph-of-william-safire-president-nixons-news-photo/515395986?adppopup=true">Bettmann/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These episodes didn’t rise to the seriousness of Watergate, of course. But by making them into -gates, Safire was implying that Democrats could be <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/-gate-or-ghazi-toward-unified-theory-scandal-naming/357053/">just as corrupt</a> as Republicans.</p>
<p>Apart from Safire’s inventions, few episodes from the 1970s to the 1990s were referred to as -gates. Only about 10% of the terms on Wikipedia’s list date from the 20th century. Even major political scandals of the period only occasionally received this epithet.</p>
<p>Consider the Reagan administration’s <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/iran-contra-affair">scheme</a> to use Iranian arm sales to fund the Nicaraguan Contras. All the attributes for a Watergate-style comparison were present: illegal activity, conspiracy and an attempted cover-up.</p>
<p>Despite this, The New York Times referred to the episode as “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/12/opinion/in-the-nation-two-different-gates.html?searchResultPosition=1">Reagangate</a>” just twice, “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/04/magazine/on-language.html?searchResultPosition=4">Contragate</a>” only 11 times and “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/09/opinion/how-irangate-differs-from-watergate.html?searchResultPosition=1">Irangate</a>” about 100 times. In contrast, the paper used the phrase “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/11/opinion/the-ifancontra-uproar-a-travesty.html?searchResultPosition=30">Iran-Contra</a>” nearly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/search?query=%22iran-contra%22">6,000 times</a> in its coverage.</p>
<h2>Opening the ‘flood-gates’</h2>
<p>In the new millennium, however, -gate became totally unmoored from politics. </p>
<p>It has been employed to describe kerfuffles in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/11/watergate-gamergate-and-the-evolution-of-language/382276/">almost every field</a> of human endeavor – sports (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/astros-cheating.html">Astrogate</a>), journalism (<a href="https://www.salon.com/2015/10/17/rathergate_and_the_dark_magic_of_2004_when_the_gop_learned_how_to_subvert_truth_and_alter_political_reality/">Rathergate</a>), technology (<a href="https://www.cultofmac.com/492086/today-apple-history-antennagate-consumer-reports/">Antennagate</a>) and entertainment (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/opinion/janet-jackson.html?searchResultPosition=11">Nipplegate</a>).</p>
<p>Already in 2022, hashtags referring to a number of events – such as <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=slapgate&src=typed_query&f=top">#slapgate</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23lettergate&src=typed_query">#lettergate</a> – have trended on Twitter. </p>
<p>For those who value precision in language, this as a problem – because if everything is a scandal, then nothing is.</p>
<p>Consider “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/22/new-zealand-prime-minister-john-key-apologises-for-pulling-waitresss-hair">Ponytailgate</a>.” In 2015, New Zealand’s prime minister, over a period of several months, repeatedly tugged on the ponytail of a young café waitress. He persisted despite repeated requests from both the waitress and the prime minister’s wife that he stop. Such behavior is boorish at best. </p>
<p>But does it belong in the same category as events involving corruption, a conspiracy, or a cover-up?</p>
<h2>A pleasing sounding suffix</h2>
<p>It may be that -gate is used because nothing better has come along. Replacement terms have enjoyed only limited popularity.</p>
<p>The splinter “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/how-to-name-a-scandal-what-is-a-nbsp-gate-and-what-is-a-ghazi/283104/">-ghazi</a>” arose in reference to the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya. It was occasionally deployed against the Obama administration. For example, when President Obama wore a <a href="https://www.mrporter.com/en-ch/journal/fashion/president-obama-tan-suit-summer-style-one-memorable-look-1342176">tan suit</a> to a press conference, “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/08/no-one-heard-anything-obama-just-said-because-his-tan-suit-was-so-loud/379321/">Beigeghazi</a>” was born. But -ghazi probably failed as a suffix for scandal because it was too much of a mouthful.</p>
<p>This can be seen in the 2014 debate over what to call former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/nyregion/george-washington-bridge-scandal-what-you-need-to-know.html">lane closure scandal</a>. Should it be “Bridgeghazi” or “Bridgegate” – or even “<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/low_concept/2014/01/bridgegate_or_bridgeghazi_chris_christie_s_bridge_scandal_needs_a_name.html">Bridgeaquiddick</a>”? </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/us/supreme-court-bridgegate.html">Bridgegate</a> won out – undoubtedly because it was shorter and simpler. Resonance also seems to apply for other scandals: “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/sports/deflategate-appeal-tom-brady-roger-goodell.html?searchResultPosition=47">Deflategate</a>” simply sounds better than “<a href="https://augustafreepress.com/ballghazi-deflategate/">Ballghazi</a>” as a name for the New England Patriots football scandal.</p>
<h2>One size fits all?</h2>
<p>Not content with its domination of English, -gate has also wormed its way <a href="https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/joseph.1/publications/1992gate.pdf">into other languages</a>, such as German, Serbo-Croatian, Greek and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/455461.pdf">Hungarian</a>.</p>
<p>But like most successful trends, the widespread use of -gate has engendered <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/we-cant-have-a-scandal-without-the--gate/2012/06/10/gJQAfUBNTV_story.html">significant backlash</a>. As with Ponytailgate, many of these coinages fail to differentiate the mundane from the momentous. This invites accusations of <a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/should-journalists-stop-using-gate-reference-every-scandal-21357">journalistic laziness</a>, in which events are merely lumped together rather than analyzed.</p>
<p>In addition, overuse has transformed -gate constructions from the somewhat clever coinages of Safire’s day into the <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2012-05-29-ct-talk-gate-words-manker-0529-20120529-story.html">tired clichés</a> of today. It can also be difficult to tell when a -gate construction <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/irony-and-sarcasm">is intended ironically</a>, which makes interpretation difficult. </p>
<p>Finally, sometimes shorthand is just too short. “Reagangate” may have failed as a label for Iran-Contra because it wasn’t specific enough. The term could have referred to any of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/9255cf25155fca5abdd58d94388d3e60">several different episodes</a> during Reagan’s eight-year administration.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465154/original/file-20220524-16-d3848s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Football player signs ball in end zone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465154/original/file-20220524-16-d3848s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465154/original/file-20220524-16-d3848s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465154/original/file-20220524-16-d3848s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465154/original/file-20220524-16-d3848s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465154/original/file-20220524-16-d3848s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1112&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465154/original/file-20220524-16-d3848s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465154/original/file-20220524-16-d3848s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1112&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Terrell Owens, during an October 2002 Monday Night Football game, took a Sharpie out of his sock to sign a football after scoring a touchdown.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/san-francisco-49ers-wide-receiver-terrell-owens-signs-a-news-photo/83697304?adppopup=true">Tami Tomsic/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the other extreme, the same -gate has been applied to very different controversies. “Sharpiegate” referred to Terrell Owens’ <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/The-pen-is-mightier-than-49ers-as-long-as-it-s-2762064.php">signing of a football</a> in 2002. But it was also trotted out for President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/05/trump-hurricane-dorian-alabama-map-sharpiegate">edit of a map</a> of Hurricane Dorian’s path in 2019. And in 2020, it became associated with <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-arizona-sharpie/sharpiegate-allegations-fuel-unproven-claims-of-voter-fraud-in-arizona-idUSKBN27K2QO">allegations of ballot fixing</a> in Arizona.</p>
<p>But even half a century later, -gate is still finding gainful employment in politics. It was used, for example, to tag several Trump scandals, <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/09/25/why-ukrainegate-is-nothing-like-russiagate-trump/">from Russiagate to Ukrainegate</a>. And President Joe Biden has had to contend with <a href="https://lavocedinewyork.com/en/news/2021/08/22/is-this-a-kabulgate-government-accountability-and-a-story-that-wont-add-up/">Kabulgate</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23formulagate&src=typed_query&f=top">#formulagate</a>.</p>
<p>No president has resigned since Nixon, arguably in the face of <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/01/46-political-scandals-that-were-worse-than-watergate-216923/">worse scandals</a> than Watergate. </p>
<p>As with the wear and tear on an overused suffix, one has to wonder: Have voters become numb to political scandal, too?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177314/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger J. Kreuz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many of the coinages fail to differentiate the mundane from the momentous. Has the suffix’s overuse rendered it essentially meaningless?Roger J. Kreuz, Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, University of MemphisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1791972022-03-18T12:30:58Z2022-03-18T12:30:58ZHow poetry can help people get through hard times – 4 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452578/original/file-20220316-7879-d9br05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C4492%2C3006&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Poetry can be a way for people to come together. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/poet-amanda-gorman-recites-one-of-her-poems-during-the-59th-news-photo/1230698197?adppopup=true">Saul Loeb - Pool/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukrainian American writer Ilya Kaminsky’s poem “<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/91413/we-lived-happily-during-the-war">We Lived Happily During the War</a>” went <a href="https://headtopics.com/us/ukrainian-american-poet-ilya-kaminsky-on-his-viral-poem-and-watching-a-war-from-afar-24515047">viral across social media</a>. </p>
<p>Poetry can often help people make sense of the world in difficult times. For <a href="https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldpoetryday">World Poetry Day</a>, The Conversation U.S. has gathered four articles on the power of poetry.</p>
<h2>1. Poetry gives people a voice</h2>
<p>In 1991, Kentucky poet Frank X. Walker coined the term “Affrilachian” after attending a poetry reading that featured several Black Appalachian poets. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Oyx-_UIAAAAJ&hl=en">Amy M. Alvarez</a>, assistant teaching professor of English at West Virginia University, and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=sikWDEQAAAAJ&hl=en">Jameka Hartley</a>, an instructor of gender and race studies at University of Alabama, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-black-poets-and-writers-gave-a-voice-to-affrilachia-155706">wrote</a> on the history of how Black people in Appalachia found their voice in poetry.</p>
<p>“By coining the terms ‘Affrilachia’ and ‘Affrilachian,’ Walker sought to upend assumptions about who is part of Appalachia,” they write. “Rather than accepting the single story of Appalachia as white and poor, Walker wrote a new one, forging a path for Black Appalachian artists.” </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-black-poets-and-writers-gave-a-voice-to-affrilachia-155706">How Black poets and writers gave a voice to 'Affrilachia'</a>
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<h2>2. Comforting us in grief</h2>
<p>After many of her loved ones died, Emily Dickinson fell into a deep depression. She secluded herself in her home and wrote nearly 2,000 poems – many of which were about grief and death. One of her most famous poems, “<a href="https://www.clarabartonmuseum.org/dickinson/">It Feels A Shame To Be Alive</a>,” was written in the midst of the Civil War.</p>
<p>Dickinson’s poems resonate well during a pandemic that’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/14/world/europe/youth-mental-health-covid.html">left many people in despair</a>, wrote <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-redmond-1141608">Matthew Redmond</a>, a doctoral candidate in English at Stanford University. </p>
<p>“Dickinson’s imagery shows how keenly she would have understood what we might feel, dwarfed by a mountain of mortality that will not stop growing,” Redmond <a href="https://theconversation.com/emily-dickinson-is-the-unlikely-hero-of-our-time-144262">wrote</a>. “The same anger, exhaustion and sense of futility were her constant companions in later life.” </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/emily-dickinson-is-the-unlikely-hero-of-our-time-144262">Emily Dickinson is the unlikely hero of our time</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. Poetry can help students learn</h2>
<p>Amanda Gorman <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/20/meet-amanda-gorman-the-youngest-inaugural-poet-in-us-history.html">made headlines in 2021</a> when, at 22, she became the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. Her success was an opportunity for educators to use spoken-word poetry to teach students. </p>
<p>Three educators – <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kathleen-m-alley-1200226">Kathleen M. Alley</a>, associate professor of literacy at Mississippi State University; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mukoma-wa-ngugi-1205002">Mukoma Wa Ngugi</a>, associate professor of literatures in English at Cornell University; and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/wendy-r-williams-1200173">Wendy R. Williams</a>, assistant professor of English at Arizona State University – <a href="https://theconversation.com/amanda-gormans-poetry-shows-why-spoken-word-belongs-in-school-153838">wrote</a> on how teaching spoken-word poetry can benefit students. </p>
<p>Spoken-word poetry “holds the promise of helping young people to connect with ideas as well as providing a means to deepen comprehension and develop understanding and empathy, which can then be applied to real-world situations,” wrote Alley. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/amanda-gormans-poetry-shows-why-spoken-word-belongs-in-school-153838">Amanda Gorman's poetry shows why spoken word belongs in school</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>4. Poetry can helps us laugh in dark times</h2>
<p>James Bond is known for delivering classic one-liners, especially in the face of danger.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059800/">Thunderball</a>”, Bond harpoons a villain and then jokes, “I think he got the point.”</p>
<p>[<em>Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-150ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>But killer zingers like his can also be found in ancient poems. In Homer’s “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22382">The Iliad</a>,” Polydamas spears Prothoenor in the shoulder. As Prothoenor dies, Polydamas jokingly suggests that his spear will be good tool for Prothoenor to lean on like “a staff when he descends to the underworld.”</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrew-m-mcclellan-1196263">Andrew M. McClellan</a>, a lecturer in classics and humanities at San Diego State University, wrote about why ancient poets literally loved to add insult to injury. </p>
<p>“The jokes are for the audience, and it’s as close as the genre gets to breaking the fourth wall,” he <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ancient-history-of-adding-insult-to-injury-170612">wrote</a>. “Viewers are attuned to these witticisms not simply because they are funny, but because they’re self-consciously ridiculous. They help distance the audience from the often horrific levels of violence on display.” </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ancient-history-of-adding-insult-to-injury-170612">The ancient history of adding insult to injury</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179197/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Poetry can unite people when all seems lost. The Conversation US has pulled together four articles from its archives that speak on the power of poetry.Alvin Buyinza, Editorial and Outreach Assistant, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1770962022-02-22T13:09:29Z2022-02-22T13:09:29ZWhy people hate or love the sound of certain words<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447596/original/file-20220221-26-jyl7nz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C1578%2C900&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/vector-set-speech-bubbles-doodle-hand-1670479162">funbutterfly/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>During the pandemic, many of us have felt our stress levels rise every time we hear the word “virus”. But few people realise that just the <a href="https://as.cornell.edu/news/study-finds-hidden-emotions-sound-words">sound of the word virus alone</a> is likely to raise the blood pressure — and would have done so even before COVID-19 figured large in the headlines. </p>
<p>We’ve all experienced how certain sounds can grate on our nerves, such as the noise made by dragging your fingernails across a blackboard or the cry of a baby, but it turns out that the sounds of some words (like “virus”) can also affect how we feel and even give us a clue to what they mean (something to avoid). This phenomenon, where the sound of a word triggers an emotion or a meaning, is referred to as “sound symbolism”. Yet the idea that there might be a link between the sound of words and their meaning flies against accepted <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/course-in-general-linguistics/9780231157261">linguistic thinking</a> going back more than a century.</p>
<p>In our book, <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1119740/the-language-game/9781787633483.html">The Language Game: How Improvisations Created Language and Changed the World</a>, we outline a radically new perspective on how we, as humans, got language in the first place, how children can learn and use it so effortlessly, and how sound symbolism figures into this.</p>
<h2>The relation between sound and meaning</h2>
<p>The language sciences have for a long time assumed that the sound of a word should tell us nothing about what it means. This is meant to explain why different languages often use very different sound patterns to express the same meaning. For example, the perennial woody plant that we refer to in English as “tree” is “<em>Baum</em>” in German, “<em>arbre”</em> in French, and “<em>shù</em>” (樹) in Mandarin Chinese. Of course, languages contain onomatopoeia such as beep, bang and buzz – but many scholars, like <a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/steven-pinker/words-and-rules/9780465049714/">Steven Pinker</a>, have argued that such sound-meaning relations are mere exceptions that prove the rule.</p>
<p>However, as language scientists have looked more closely at the world’s more than <a href="https://www.ethnologue.com/">7,000 languages</a>, they have discovered that sound symbolism is no rare exception but arises in many shapes and forms. <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/113/39/10818/">Our analysis</a> involving nearly two-thirds of the world’s languages revealed that there are reliable interrelations between the particular sounds used in words and what the words mean. </p>
<p>For example, if you pick a language at random that has the concept of “red”, the corresponding word is more likely than not to have an “r” sound in it — such as “<em>rød</em>” in Danish, “<em>rouge</em>” in French, and “<em>krasnyy</em>” (<em>красный</em>) in Russian. But this doesn’t mean that an “r” sound always means “red”, only that words for red often have “r” sounds in them the world over. And these relationships are not because the speakers of these languages all live in the same place or because they speak languages that all derived from a common ancestor long ago.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="line drawings of trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447520/original/file-20220221-26-1kaqxil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447520/original/file-20220221-26-1kaqxil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447520/original/file-20220221-26-1kaqxil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447520/original/file-20220221-26-1kaqxil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447520/original/file-20220221-26-1kaqxil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447520/original/file-20220221-26-1kaqxil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447520/original/file-20220221-26-1kaqxil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The word ‘tree’ sounds different in a lot of languages, for instance it is ‘<em>arbe</em>’ in French and ‘<em>baum</em>’ in German.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/set-trees-continuous-line-drawing-vector-1355885966">StocKNick/Shuttestock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Made-up words can be sound symbolic too. In a classic study from 1929, the German psychologist <a href="https://archive.org/details/gestaltpsycholog0000kohl">Wolfgang Köhler</a> observed that when Spanish speakers were shown a rounded shape and a spiky one and asked which one they thought were called “baluba” and which “takete”, most associated baluba with roundedness and takete with spikiness. Subsequent studies (replacing baluba with bouba and takete with kiki) have found similar patterns among <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/imp/jcs/2001/00000008/00000012/1244?crawler=true&casa_token=SkMZnIfT5doAAAAA:sfExKvaFsrkYKqKWCroAoB1IB7LPNMlWCVFu4NNFtWOYVgon7Fy3mstDiVWv8USstFI8YDpooAAhSTivRxxqWFs">American undergraduates and Tamil speakers in India</a>. Even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2012.05.004">infants as young as four months</a> have similar preferences.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0956797620927967">a 2021 study</a>, we showed that this bouba-kiki effect might be rooted in emotional arousal (calming versus stimulating). People in our experiments felt that the spiky shapes induced a degree of edginess, whereas the rounded figures were perceived as softer and more calming. Similarly, kiki was rated as having tense, hard sound properties, whereas bouba was more soothing. </p>
<p>In a final experiment, participants matched a completely new set of rounded and spiky shapes to a completely new set of bouba/kiki-like nonsense words. The results confirmed that spiky shapes were chosen for high-arousal words and rounded shapes for low-arousal words. This suggests that at least some of the connections between sound and meaning in our vocabulary are driven by our emotional responses to what we see and hear.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Blue abstract shapes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447593/original/file-20220221-22-18k6fy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447593/original/file-20220221-22-18k6fy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447593/original/file-20220221-22-18k6fy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447593/original/file-20220221-22-18k6fy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447593/original/file-20220221-22-18k6fy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447593/original/file-20220221-22-18k6fy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447593/original/file-20220221-22-18k6fy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Which is ‘bouba’ and which is ‘kiki’?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why we also need arbitrariness</h2>
<p>Sound symbolic connections between sound and meaning are useful: they can make the task of learning a language easier because the sound of a word can constrain what it might mean. But there are limitations to this. </p>
<p><a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/34g8355v">Computer modelling</a> of how children learn language has revealed that, as a child’s vocabulary grows, it becomes harder and harder to have unique sounds to signal different aspects of meaning (such as that all words relating to water should start with a “w”). Indeed, in <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2013.0299">a study of English sound-meaning mappings</a>, we found that words that tend to be acquired earlier in development were more sound symbolic than words that are acquired later.</p>
<p>There is, indeed, a powerful force driving sounds and meanings <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-08514-001">apart</a>. Suppose that all breeds of dog were labelled with highly similar words: for example, beagle, bagel and bugle, then the slightest mishearing will mean we bring to mind the wrong breed. But beagles, bugles, and bagels are very different things. So hearing a person say they have bought a new lead for their beagle isn’t likely to cause much confusion (buying a lead for a bugle or a bagel makes no sense). Disconnecting sound and meaning makes communication more robust — and languages will over time tend to loosen the link between sound and meaning. </p>
<p>Yet many deep historical links between sound and meaning are still detectable and can be surprisingly powerful. To calm the tensions from hearing about a virus, the very same <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/113/39/10818/">acoustic analyses</a> suggests a solution: focus on the soothing, calming sounds of sun, moon and mom, instead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177096/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Is there a connection between sound and meaning?Morten H. Christiansen, The William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Psychology, Cornell UniversityNick Chater, Professor of Behavioural Science, Warwick Business School, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1763252022-02-04T13:09:21Z2022-02-04T13:09:21ZWant to master Wordle? Here’s the best strategy for your first guess<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444360/original/file-20220203-17-18vqztc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3514%2C2334&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There are 2,315 five-letter words in Wordle's dictionary.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/wordle-game-displayed-on-a-phone-and-a-laptop-screens-is-news-photo/1237931947?adppopup=true">Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Wordle has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/crosswords/nyt-wordle-purchase.html">skyrocketed in popularity</a>, multiple media outlets <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2022/01/wordle-how-to-win-strategy-crossword-experts.html">have published articles</a> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/wordle-has-tur">that explore the best word</a> to use as your initial guess. </p>
<p>Often the authors of these pieces theorize that the word ought to be one that uses as many vowels as possible, contains letters that frequently appear in English or possesses features that regularly occur in the language.</p>
<p>Well, my finance students and I decided to tackle this question in as definitive a manner as possible by determining the optimal first word to play in Wordle. </p>
<p>Our analysis actually ran through all possible combinations of five-letter words and ran simulations across all possible iterations – over 1 million of them – to figure out the best starting strategy.</p>
<h2>A ‘tried’ and true approach</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cnet.com/how-to/wordle-explained-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-viral-word-game/">In Wordle</a>, players have six attempts to guess a five-letter word. Each time the player makes a guess, they learn whether each letter is correct and in the right location, appears in the word in another location or isn’t in the word at all.</p>
<p>Players can have different approaches. Some might simply want to solve the word, even if it takes six tries. Others try to do it in as a few guesses as possible.</p>
<p>Based on our analysis, if you’re trying to win in as few guesses as possible, the top three words to go with are “slice,” “tried” and “crane.” Using any of these three words will produce an average number of word attempts of 3.90, 3.92, and 3.92, respectively, if you’re using an optimal strategy to play (more on that later).</p>
<p><iframe id="LTbA9" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/LTbA9/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>If, on the other hand, you’re simply trying to win within the allotted six guesses, the top three words to play are “adept,” “clamp” and “plaid.” Using any of these three words will yield an average success rate in winning the game of 98.79%, 98.75%, and 98.75%, respectively, if you’re playing the optimal strategy.</p>
<p><iframe id="MuBec" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/MuBec/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>And herein lies the first interesting distinction between playing to win and playing to win in as few guesses as possible. </p>
<p>If you’re playing to win in the allotted six guesses, it appears best to play a word that has just one vowel and four consonants in it, as six out of the top 10 words have just one vowel. But if you’re playing to win in as few guesses as possible, it’s best to play a word that has two vowels and three consonants: All of the top 10 have two vowels.</p>
<h2>Inside the simulations</h2>
<p>Other researchers, <a href="https://theconversation.com/wordle-the-best-word-to-start-the-game-according-to-a-language-researcher-175114">such as David Sidhu at University College London</a>, have tried to determine the “best first word” from a linguistic perspective. In these efforts, the best selection is decided by how often certain letters appear in the English language, or the frequency of where these letters are located in five-letter words. </p>
<p>While these approaches are noble, our analysis extends beyond them by actually performing simulations across all possible word options to find the best type of word to play first.</p>
<p>To perform this analysis, two of my students, Tao Wei and Kanwal Ahmad, constructed a program that went through all <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2022/01/wordle-how-to-win-strategy-crossword-experts.html">2,315 official five-letter words</a> in Wordle’s dictionary. The program attempted each possible word as a first guess and ran simulations across all possible end word solutions, checking how long each attempt would take to guess the correct end word – 1,692,265 total simulations. </p>
<p>We then averaged all attempts for each word to see how many guesses one could expect to make to get to the correct end word. </p>
<p>To perform this massive simulation requires a method for picking the optimal word on the second guess, third guess and so on. </p>
<p>To give yourself the best odds on each ensuing guess, it’s important to select letters that are most likely to appear in each position. So the program used the list of 2,315 total words to determine the frequency at which each letter appears. </p>
<p>After receiving the results from the previous guess, the program filtered down the possible words to those that meet the criteria. Say the first guess were “bloke,” and L and E were in the correct position, while B, O and K didn’t appear in the solution. The program would then narrow down the list of possible words to those like “flume” and “slate.”</p>
<p>The program then assigns a score to each word in this list, where the score is the sum of the frequency of its letters. The word “slate,” for example, has a score of 37% because the letter “S” appears 5% of the time in the full list, while the letter appears “A” 8% of the time, and so on. The word with the highest score is then submitted as the next guess.</p>
<p>Running this simulation over all possible first guesses and against all possible solutions yielded the results.</p>
<p>But maybe you don’t want to start with the same word every time you play. In that case – and if you want to win with the fewest guesses – try making sure your first guess has two vowels, with one of them at the end of the word.</p>
<p>If you’re just looking to win within the allotted six guesses, then you may want to consider a word with fewer vowels – and definitely a word that ends in a consonant.</p>
<p>Hopefully our mathematical approach to Wordle hasn’t sucked all the joy out of the game. At the very least, it’ll give you a leg up if you decide to put a friendly wager on tomorrow’s game.</p>
<p>[<em>Get fascinating science, health and technology news.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=science&source=inline-science-fascinating">Sign up for The Conversation’s weekly science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176325/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek Horstmeyer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Whether you want to win with as few guesses as possible, or you just want to figure out the right word before running out of turns, a scholar offers some tips.Derek Horstmeyer, Professor of Finance, George Mason UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1745432022-01-10T14:40:41Z2022-01-10T14:40:41Z‘Go toss your cookies elsewhere’: ten phrases that cause confusion across the Anglosphere<p>An annual list of “<a href="https://www.lssu.edu/traditions/banishedwords/">banished words</a>” compiled by Lake Superior State University in Michigan has caused a stir by including the distinctively Australian phrase “no worries”. Dislike of this idiom appears to be based on the misconception that it is an instruction not to worry. “If I’m not worried, I don’t want anyone telling me not to worry”, complained one person who nominated the phrase for boycotting, adding: “If I am upset, I want to discuss being upset.” </p>
<p>Originating in Australian English in the 1960s, the phrase is in fact used to mean “all right” or “fine”, or to acknowledge thanks. Its international spread was encouraged by the success of the 1986 film Crocodile Dundee and the long-running TV series Neighbours. Since linguistic misunderstandings of this kind are an inevitable feature of a language that is spread across the globe, here is a handy guide to some potential areas of confusion.</p>
<p><strong>1. Caught with yours pants down</strong></p>
<p>Being caught with your pants down, that is, being taken off guard in an embarrassing situation, carries different degrees of humiliation depending on which side of the Atlantic you are on at the time. That’s because in the US pants refer to what the Brits call trousers, while in Britain it refers to what people wear under their trousers. </p>
<p>In Scotland it is possible to be caught trousered with your pants down, since “trousered” is a term for being drunk. Its recent inclusion in the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10373655/Sir-Billy-Connollys-favourite-word-drunk-trousered-enters-Oxford-English-Dictionary.html">Oxford English Dictionary</a> is credited to its being the preferred term of comedian Billy Connolly. In many parts of the UK, the verb “<a href="https://www.lexico.com/definition/trouser">to trouser</a>” can also be synonymous with “to pocket”, usually cash. </p>
<p><strong>2. Budgie smugglers</strong></p>
<p>This isn’t a term for people who attempt to pass through customs with small tropical birds secreted about their person, but rather an Australian word for a pair of close-fitting swimming trunks. These days they are often associated with former prime minister Tony Abbott, who has a penchant for <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3252942/He-won-t-losing-budgie-smugglers-Dumped-PM-Tony-Abbott-vows-continue-wearing-trademark-swimwear-boardshorts-just-drag-surf.html">being photographed</a> thus attired.</p>
<p>Another item of clothing commonly sported on the Australian beach is thongs. This not the skimpy undergarment, however, but an alternative name for flip-flops.</p>
<p><strong>3. Piss on someone’s chips</strong></p>
<p>As you may know, what the British call “chips” are known as French fries in the US – despite George W. Bush’s attempts to change this to “<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/11/sprj.irq.fries/">freedom fries</a>” when the French wouldn’t join the coalition of the willing to invade Iraq in 2003. Americans use the term chips to refer to crisps, as do Australians.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A pan of chips cooking on9 top of an open fire." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440028/original/file-20220110-25-1rhwfzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440028/original/file-20220110-25-1rhwfzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440028/original/file-20220110-25-1rhwfzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440028/original/file-20220110-25-1rhwfzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440028/original/file-20220110-25-1rhwfzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440028/original/file-20220110-25-1rhwfzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440028/original/file-20220110-25-1rhwfzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Leave my chips alone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">pausestudio via Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whichever fried potato snack you’re enjoying, having someone urinate on them would certainly spoil the treat. But this idiom more likely refers to wood chips used in kindling, and so signifies spoiling someone’s plans or taking away their enjoyment of something. It has a similar force to the expression <a href="https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/mgv3a5i#iqzdioy">piss on someone’s bonfire</a>, which is intended to convey an equivalent dampening effect, albeit one that is less likely to put the fire out entirely.</p>
<p><strong>4. Play piece</strong></p>
<p>This is not an instruction to a child in a music lesson to play a piece of music, but rather the Scottish term for a snack taken to school to eat at break time. It derives from the Scottish use of “piece” to mean sandwich – although it can refer to any kind of light bite, and not necessarily a healthy one.</p>
<p><strong>5. Toss your cookies</strong> </p>
<p>Most of us are familiar with the American use of “cookie” to refer to what in England is called a biscuit. But to toss your cookies isn’t an invitation to share baked treats, but an idiom meaning “be sick” – known in Australia as “go for the big spit”. </p>
<p><strong>6. Warm your ginger</strong> </p>
<p>If someone in Glasgow offers you a ginger you might well expect a can of ginger beer or perhaps even the bright orange Scottish favourite Irn Bru. But in the west of Scotland, “ginger” is in fact a generic term for any flavour of fizzy drink. </p>
<p>Given this, you might be forgiven for assuming that an offer to warm your ginger means to take the chill off a can of Coke. But this phrase actually draws on a different Scottish use of “<a href="https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/ginger">ginger</a>” to mean backside, and so means: “give you a beating”. </p>
<p><strong>7. Do the messages</strong></p>
<p>This is not an invitation to become a secret agent or to catch up on your email, but instead a Scottish phrase meaning “do the shopping”. In the US this involves a trip to the grocery store, the equivalent of a British corner shop; in Australia and New Zealand these are known as milk bars or mixed businesses, while in South Africa they are termed <a href="https://dsae.co.za/entry/caf%C3%A9/e01439">cafés or tea rooms</a>. To make matters more confusing, in Indian English a café or restaurant is known as a “hotel”. Meanwhile Australians use the word “hotel” to mean <a href="https://www.huaglad.com/en/aunews/20210508/430790.html">the pub</a>.</p>
<p><strong>8. Eat parrot head</strong></p>
<p>This expression – which comes in the even odder variant “eat parrot bottom” – is a Caribbean phrase referring to someone who is excessively talkative. Someone prone to incessant chat in Scotland is known as a “<a href="https://www.lexico.com/definition/blether">blether</a>”, from an Old Norse word meaning “talk nonsense”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two Severe Macaw parrots standing on a branch kissing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440030/original/file-20220110-27-1tzc0q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440030/original/file-20220110-27-1tzc0q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440030/original/file-20220110-27-1tzc0q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440030/original/file-20220110-27-1tzc0q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440030/original/file-20220110-27-1tzc0q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440030/original/file-20220110-27-1tzc0q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440030/original/file-20220110-27-1tzc0q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This is not really what ‘Eat parrot head’ means.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Volodymyr Burdiak via Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-51448295">Nigerian English</a>, the word gist, meaning “essence” or “main part”, has been extended to refer to idle chat and gossip, while Irish English uses “pant”. Although this may involve tales of people caught with their pants down, the word itself has nothing to do with underpants or trousers – <a href="https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/260393?rskey=JU0kmN&result=4&isAdvanced=false#eid">it originates</a> from a shortening of pantomime.</p>
<p><strong>9. Traffic robot</strong></p>
<p>This isn’t the latest development in artificial intelligence but the South African term for a traffic light, or what Americans call a stop light. The word robot is of <a href="https://www.lexico.com/definition/robot">Czech origin</a>, from <em>robota</em>, meaning “forced labour”. It was coined by Karel Čapek in the 1920 play <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R.">R.U.R.: Rossum’s Universal Robots</a> to refer to mass-produced workers made from artificially synthesised material.</p>
<p><strong>10. Prepone a meeting</strong></p>
<p>The verb “prepone” is used in Indian English to mean bring something forward in time. As such it offers a handy opposite to postpone. And if postponing until tomorrow isn’t far enough away, in Nigerian English it is possible to put something off until “next tomorrow”. </p>
<p>This word refers to the day after tomorrow, the equivalent of the 16th-century “overmorrow” (from German <em>übermorgen</em>), whose demise has left a gap in other varieties of English.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174543/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Horobin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An American university has banned the expression ‘no worries’. Here are some other words and phrases that confuse speakers of different versions of English.Simon Horobin, Professor of English Language and Literature, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1719252021-11-22T13:28:21Z2021-11-22T13:28:21ZTalking turkey! How the Thanksgiving bird got its name (and then lent it to film flops)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432923/original/file-20211119-12581-1pzk5rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C0%2C4000%2C2628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not everyone is a fan of Turkey Day.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/free-range-bronze-turkeys-royalty-free-image/1282776886?adppopup=true">E4C via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Meleagris Gallopavo Day” is a bit of a mouthful. Which may be why this Thanksgiving, most people will opt for the less ornithologically precise “Turkey Day.”</p>
<p>And just as turkey is a versatile meat – think of those leftover options! – so too is the word “turkey,” which can refer to everything from the bird itself to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/turkey-2915">populous Eurasian country</a> to <a href="https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/worst-movies-of-all-time/">movie flops</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://sasn.rutgers.edu/about-us/faculty-staff/jack-lynch">scholar who studies word origins</a>, I love “talking turkey” – not only how the bird came to be named, but also how the word has evolved over time. But let’s start with what has become the centerpiece of most Thanksgiving Day dinners.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/animals/bird/mega/all.html">North American turkey</a> – the kind that many families will be carving up this Thanksgiving – was being <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/taming-turkey">domesticated in Mexico some 2,000 years ago</a>.</p>
<p>Europeans glimpsed their first turkeys around 1500, when Spanish explorers arrived in the Americas and brought them back to the mother country. By the 1520s, turkeys were <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/11/turkey-history-world-thanksgiving/417849/">being bred in Spain</a>, and soon the delicacy was appearing on rich people’s tables across Europe.</p>
<h2>Oh, dinde!</h2>
<p>But what to call the new import? Europeans in the New World were overwhelmed by the new plants and animals they saw, and often used familiar names for unfamiliar species. The Spanish, for instance, thought turkeys looked like peacocks, so they used the Spanish word “<a href="https://www.spanishdict.com/translate/pavo">pavos</a>.” The French called them “poules d’Indes,” or Indian chickens, later shortened to “<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dinde">dinde</a>.”</p>
<p>To the English, the newly discovered American birds looked like the guineafowl – a bird native to Africa but which was introduced into Europe by Arab and Turkish traders in the 14th and 15th centuries. </p>
<p>And it is this point in the story that the modern-day turkey gets its name.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/ottomanempire_1.shtml">Ottoman Empire</a> was then at its height. Ethnic Turks, based in Constantinople (now Istanbul), ran the empire that spanned the Near East, Middle East and North Africa. As a result, to many Europeans, anyone from “the East” was a “Turk.”</p>
<p>Because Ottomans dominated trade in the eastern Mediterranean, a lot of produce coming to Europe was seen as “Turkish.” So a precious stone from Persia was named “Turkey stone,” and the French version of that name, “pierre turquoise,” gave us the word “<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/turquoise">turquoise</a>.”</p>
<p>In the same way, African guineafowl, introduced by Turkish traders, became a “turkey-cock” or “turkey-hen.” Over time, this was shortened to just “turkey.”</p>
<h2>Now that’s a feast!</h2>
<p>For as long as the New World turkeys have been in Europe, they’ve been featured in celebratory meals. The English word first appears in print in <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=aTJRAQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Dugdale%20Origines%20Juridiciales&pg=PA131#v=onepage&q&f=false">an account of a banquet</a> hosted by politician John Prideaux in 1555: The menu included 38 red deer, 43 pheasants, 50 quince pies, 63 swans, 114 pigeons, 120 rabbits, 840 larks, 325 gallons of Bordeaux wine and “Turkies 2. rated at 4s. a piece.”</p>
<p>History’s most famous turkey dinner, though, was <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-first-thanksgiving-dinner-actually-looked-like-85714">served in Plymouth Plantation in 1621</a>, as 50 Pilgrims who survived a year of brutal hardship joined 90 Native Americans for a three-day feast. Turkey wasn’t the only dish being served. Writing in his <a href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/bradfords-manuscript-of-plimoth-plantation">History of Plymouth Plantation</a>, Governor William Bradford noted that Native Americans brought “codd, & bass, & other fish,” and others brought “water foule” and venison. But he was especially impressed with the “great store of wild Turkies.”</p>
<p>The bird has become so associated with harvest-time celebratory dinners that we’ve been calling Thanksgiving “Turkey Day” since at least 1870.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the word has continued to find new uses, showing up with <a href="https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/hwibi6q">dozens of meanings</a>. In 1839, the Southern Literary Messenger – a magazine edited by Edgar Allen Poe – reported on a new kind of dance, called the “turkey-trot” from its jerking motions.</p>
<p>In 1920, New York’s Department of Health reported that “Some addicts voluntarily stop taking opiates and ‘suffer it out’ … which in their slang is called taking ‘<a href="https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/5k7gmoa">cold turkey</a>.‘”</p>
<p>The turkey’s reputation for stupidity prompted other meanings. The legendary gossip columnist <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/walter-winchell-biographical-timeline/15619/#podcastsubscribe">Walter Winchell</a> told readers of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/25/opinion/click-click-gobble-gobble.html">Vanity Fair in 1927</a> about some new showbiz slang: “‘A turkey,’” he reported, “is a third rate production.” </p>
<p>Since then, movies that flop with the critics or at the box office have been called turkeys.</p>
<p>Another disparaging sense arrived in the 1950s, when turkey became a name for “a stupid, slow, inept, or otherwise worthless person.” That, in turn, probably led to the rise of the “<a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/3378674-Ohio-Players-Jive-Turkey-Part-1-Streakin-Cheek-To-Cheek">jive turkey</a>,” which first showed up in African American speech in the early 1970s, defined by slang <a href="https://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/02/24/jonathon-green-lexicographer/">lexicographer Jonathon Green</a> as “<a href="https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/kenrl3q#uv4asfq">an insincere, deceitful, dishonest person</a>.”</p>
<h2>Jive or straight talking?</h2>
<p>And what about “talk turkey”? Well, that can mean quite contradictory things.</p>
<p>One dictionary from 1859 defines it as “To talk in a silly manner, talk nonsense.” A similar meaning is attached to another turkey-related word, “<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gobbledygook">gobbledygook</a>.”</p>
<p>Another definition found in the 1889 “Americanisms, Old & New” had “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=OQY1AQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=%22when%20plain%20English%20would%22%20%22turkey%22&pg=PA543#v=onepage&q&f=false">talking turkey</a>” meaning “To use high-sounding words, when plain English would do equally well or better.”</p>
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<p>The most familiar meaning of “talking turkey,” in which it is a stand-in for “straight talk,” is often said to come from a once popular joke. A white man and an American Indian, the story goes, spend a day hunting together and manage to bag a turkey and a somewhat less bountiful buzzard. The devious white man proposes a “heads-I-win-tails-you-lose” division of the spoils. “I’ll take the turkey, and you the buzzard,” he says, “or, if you prefer, you take the buzzard, and I’ll take the turkey.” The frustrated American Indian replies – usually in some version of would-be comic pidgin English – “You talk all buzzard to me, and don’t talk turkey.”</p>
<p>Those who <a href="http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-tal1.htm">study word histories</a> are skeptical of stories like this, since most are invented after the fact. More likely, “talk turkey” came from pleasant conversation at Thanksgiving dinner, or maybe negotiations between Native Americans and European colonists over the cost of poultry. Whatever the origin, though, when we “talk turkey,” we’re engaging in the kind of straightforward, honest speech the scheming hunter denied his hunting partner.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171925/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Lynch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From ‘turkey trot’ to ‘going cold turkey,’ the centerpiece to many Thanksgiving dinners has lent its name to many things. But it also borrowed its name from elsewhere.Jack Lynch, Professor of English, Rutgers University - NewarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1704952021-11-01T12:25:11Z2021-11-01T12:25:11ZCliches may grate like nails on a chalkboard, but one person’s cliche is another’s sliced bread<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429175/original/file-20211028-21-jhlhpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1538%2C5137%2C3068&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When overrused phrases reach the point of aggravation, they become cliches.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/displeased-malaysian-woman-royalty-free-image/960720308">yongyuan/iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If some words are shovel-ready for a conversation, but using them could lead to accusations that you’re not giving 110%, then should you stick a pin in them? Or perhaps you could read the room better and send thoughts and prayers to redeem these words. Are we adulting now?</p>
<p>Overused phrases seem to bother people – even professional word nerds like us, a <a href="https://english.wvu.edu/faculty-and-staff/faculty-directory/kirk-hazen?">linguist</a> and a <a href="https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/jlovejoy">folklorist</a>. When it reaches the point of aggravation, they are called cliches (with or without the accute accent).</p>
<p>As Nov. 3 is National Cliche Day, what better time to clear up some confusion about “clicheness.” What makes a cliche a cliche? And why do we find ourselves rolling our eyes when we hear certain ones?</p>
<h2>Idioms, slang, cliches</h2>
<p>When it comes to identifying what these words and phrases are, there are three terms that bump into one another a lot: idiom, slang and cliche. </p>
<p>An idiom is a word or phrase that has a meaning different from the composition of its parts, like “kick the bucket.” </p>
<p>Slang is different. Slang is a word or phrase that is a synonym for another but that is also used to reference a social group. “<a href="https://www.thecut.com/2021/05/cheugy-is-hard-to-define-but-easy-to-identify.html">Cheugy</a>,” for example, is Generation Z slang for “out of date,” especially for things that used to be trendy.</p>
<p>A cliche, similar to slang and idioms, has an audience-focused definition, as it is a word or phrase used so often that it annoys the audience. As the <a href="https://www.oed.com/">Oxford English Dictionary writes</a>, a cliche is a phrase “regarded as unoriginal or trite due to overuse.” </p>
<p>Borrowed from French, cliche comes from the printing process when a metal plate was used to physically transfer ink to paper. The term echoes the imitative sound of the plate coming off the page and was a way to represent an image again and again in nearly identical form. The dictionary notes that the earliest recorded use of the word with its current meaning was in an 1881 complaint about “the constant and facile clichés of diction.” Even the early printing usage sometimes fits well with the language sense today: From 1854, “When we … are pressed for time, we employ clichee moulds.”</p>
<p>Words are words, until they get used together and their sum total meaning is different from what it would be as just added-up parts. Let’s go back to the “kick the bucket” idiom, which means “to die” for many people and not actually to strike a container with your foot. There are thousands of idioms in English, and some of those become cliches. Yet even cliches can have longevity: “Red-letter day,” “baker’s dozen” and “devil’s advocate” have been <a href="https://www.medievalists.net/2015/09/10-phrases-that-originated-in-the-middle-ages/">around for centuries</a>.</p>
<h2>Peeling back the layers of the cliche</h2>
<p>If you are hearing a combination of words for <a href="https://xkcd.com/1053/">the first time</a>, it cannot be a cliche for you, no matter how often other people have heard it. However, if you hear that combo of words over and over again, like a popular song on the radio, it might dip into the cliche category, especially if you are tired of hearing it. </p>
<p>For some audiences, “adulting” has become a cliche. Here, we have a noun shifted to a new word as a verb: to adult. When that verb then takes on an -ing suffix, it means “carrying out tasks as a responsible grown-up.” Now it’s an idiom. Its new usage is socially tied to millennials, who experience that transitional phase into adulthood at different – <a href="https://www.rockethq.com/learn/personal-finances/millennials-are-changing-the-face-of-adulthood">usually later</a> – stages than past generations. Therefore, it is also a slang term and can be used to show off millennial status. Because of its sudden popularity, some folks, like Gen Zers, may feel it is being used too much. Its overuse would make it a cliche for that audience.</p>
<p>Still, there are layers of meaning to different combinations of words, and those layers often depend on who is speaking and who is listening. </p>
<p>Take “devil’s advocate,” for example. This idiom has been around for centuries, but its usage has more recently dipped pointedly into cliche for many women and minorities who recognize it as a rhetorical move – often used by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/03/magazine/why-have-we-soured-on-the-devils-advocate.html">people with more privilege</a> – to deny or downplay <a href="https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/09/playing-devils-advocate">personal experiences of discrimination</a>. </p>
<p>The speaker may not identify “devil’s advocate” as a cliche, but those listeners who are frustrated by its harmful overuse certainly do. </p>
<p>Slang works similarly. Older generations may become annoyed when younger speakers constantly develop and overuse new slang terms. Remember “<a href="https://www.howtogeek.com/436783/what-does-yeet-mean-and-how-do-you-use-it/">yeet</a>”? It was popular with Gen Z speakers, but even they may now roll their eyes at those who use such outdated cliches.</p>
<iframe name="ngram_chart" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=read+the+room%2C+adulting%2C+thoughts+and+prayers%2C+touch+base&year_start=1900&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cread+the+room%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cadulting%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cthoughts+and+prayers%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ctouch+base%3B%2Cc0" width="100%" height="250" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" hspace="5" vspace="5" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
<figure><figcaption><span class="caption">Google Ngram showing percentage of sample books (y-axis) that contain selected cliches since 1900.</span></figcaption></figure>
<h2>Why do people use cliches?</h2>
<p>People typically don’t intend to use a cliche. They are going with a trusted tool in their lexical toolbox, and certain ones frame their conversations. </p>
<p>Particular words may be a cliche for small groups. If you are part of a regular meeting where that one guy always jumps in with “The fact of the matter is …,” you may cringe at that phrase. But it’s not the phrase’s fault; it’s that guy’s fault for overusing it in that context. Whether or not they are the best tools to use in conversation, cliches are the most accessible.</p>
<p>Conversations are like road trips. We often steer them in certain directions and away from others. We use certain words to alert listeners to turns in the conversation. In driving, we find stop signs in many places, but it would be silly to call a stop sign a cliche: Its predictable shape and color make it immediately recognizable. Words can be used the same way. Signposts like “First,” “Second,” “So,” and “Overall” are used – and used extremely frequently – to help audiences, and most of them are harmless. </p>
<p>Many things that have become cliche were once popular. So people may use cliches to fit in with others, to identify or differentiate their social groups or just to connect with people through familiar language use. Once these cliches are overused, the hippest or most socially aware among us begin to steer the conversation in a different direction. The rest of us usually follow along. </p>
<p>If you are already aggravated with someone who is talking, especially in frustrating contexts, one of the most human things you can do is identify something wrong with their language. If they lean in with a harmless cliche like “To be honest,” you may roll your eyes. But a bit of empathy might allow you to skip the banal words and focus on the intended meaning that follows.</p>
<p>Likewise, if you find yourself using cliches with a hurtful impact – like condescendingly trying to correct someone with a “Well, actually …” – you might skip those words and their intended meaning altogether. </p>
<p>But for National Cliche Day, let’s celebrate how useful cliches can be, as a ready tool for conversation or a starting point for new phrases – which may well become future cliches.</p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170495/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kirk Hazen receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordan Lovejoy receives funding from the American Council of Learned Societies. </span></em></p>National Cliche Day is Nov. 3. So what makes a cliche a cliche? And why do we find ourselves rolling our eyes when we hear certain ones?Kirk Hazen, Professor of Linguistics, West Virginia UniversityJordan Lovejoy, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of MinnesotaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1642712021-07-11T20:41:03Z2021-07-11T20:41:03ZZaila Avant-garde – 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee champ – stands where Black children were once kept out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410646/original/file-20210709-19-1m3nlh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6048%2C4001&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Zaila Avant-garde is the first Black American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/zaila-avant-garde-competes-in-the-first-round-of-the-the-news-photo/1233881199?adppopup=true">Jim Watson/POOL/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>When <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/us/zaila-avant-garde-spelling-bee-winner.html">Zaila Avant-garde</a>, 14, won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee on July 8, 2021, she became the first Black American to win in the competition’s history. Shalini Shankar, a scholar of spelling bees, breaks down the importance of this historical moment.</em></p>
<h2>Why is it news that an African American won this championship?</h2>
<p>It’s significant because not so long ago, Black children would have faced a lot of obstacles just to compete in this spelling bee.</p>
<p>In fact, Black children were <a href="https://longreads.com/2017/06/05/the-word-is-nemesis-the-fight-to-integrate-the-national-spelling-bee/">routinely sidelined from participating on the national stage</a> until well after the passage of the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam/civil-rights-center/statutes/civil-rights-act-of-1964">1964 Civil Rights Act</a>. Even after schools were ordered to racially integrate in the late 1950s, spelling bees were largely all-white affairs, thanks to regional organizers who routinely found ways to <a href="https://longreads.com/2017/06/05/the-word-is-nemesis-the-fight-to-integrate-the-national-spelling-bee/">keep interested Black children from advancing in the contest</a>.</p>
<p>Avant-garde’s victory is also significant because, like with any sport, people love to celebrate new records. This one is especially welcome because with the exception of Jamaican <a href="https://theathletic.com/news/zaila-avant-garde-wins-scripps-national-spelling-bee/fNKfPD1mAZSw">Jody-Anne Maxwell’s win in 1998</a>, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has never had a Black winner.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals Winning Moment.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This can be attributed to decades of disadvantage in which <a href="https://www.oah.org/tah/issues/2017/february/the-troubled-history-of-american-education-after-the-brown-decision/">Black schools had far fewer resources</a> to help support and train students for activities like spelling bees. It may seem surprising, but specialized <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/05/17/brain-sports-are-gaining-momentum/4C4KN7hCA7LZxvP5fzDP1H/story.html#The%20Boston%20Globe">brain sports</a> like the bee – and so many other kid contests today – require a great deal of <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-shankar-national-spelling-bee-indian-americans-20190530-story.html">expertise</a>, such as spelling coaches.</p>
<h2>What does it take to be a spelling bee champ?</h2>
<p>Becoming a spelling bee champion requires several stars to align. First and foremost, one needs a love of the English language, especially <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/philology">philology</a> – that’s the historical development of language – and <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/etymology">etymology</a> – the study of word origins and roots. Winners need an ability to build vast knowledge in these areas and summon it on demand in a competitive setting. Without this interest, the task of studying thousands of words per day, as elite spellers do, would be onerous at best.</p>
<p>Equally important, as I learned when researching my book “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13322">Beeline: What Spelling Bees Reveal about Generation Z’s New Path to Success,”</a> is the parental support an aspirational speller receives in terms of day-to-day studying, expert coaching and access to commercial word lists and resources, such as those designed by coaching companies. The Scripps National Spelling Bee also distributes word lists. However, champions have told me that these are not extensive enough to address the increasing difficulty of the bee. </p>
<p>Zaila Avant-garde’s father realized her aptitude for spelling when she was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/us/zaila-avant-garde-spelling-bee-winner.html">around 10</a>, which is relatively late for a contest in which eligibility ends after eighth grade, when most spellers are 14. Spellers I studied started competing as early as 6 or 7, making them far more comfortable with the format of the contest by age 10. Still, Zaila made astounding progress from her <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/us/zaila-avant-garde-spelling-bee-winner.html">third-round elimination in 2019</a> which I witnessed in National Harbor, Maryland, when she misspelled the word “vagaries,” to winning it all in 2021. That kind of transformation suggests a tremendous work ethic, extraordinary aptitude and a whole lot of parental investment and support. </p>
<h2>What will it take to see more bee champs from diverse backgrounds in the future?</h2>
<p>The against-all-odds success story featured in the 2006 fictional film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437800/">Akeelah and the Bee</a>” underscores how vital the role of adult support and resources are to success. Now we have Zaila and the bee, which will hopefully attract a new generation of Black talent.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aFqlaPLvkw8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Akeelah wins the national spelling competition.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An actual win – versus fictionalized win – should serve as real inspiration to younger people, because until now aspiring Black children had no trailblazer. I believe Zaila will be very inspirational, like Venus and Serena Williams have been to a new generation of Black women tennis champions. </p>
<p>What’s especially interesting about Zaila’s path to the bee was that her father observed how fantastic her skills were when they <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/us/zaila-avant-garde-spelling-bee-winner.html">watched the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee together</a>. This raw talent got her to the national contest but kept her far from the final rounds – until she and her father learned about commercial word lists.</p>
<p>In her post-win interview, she noted using commercial word lists from a company called “<a href="https://spellpundit.com/">Spell-Pundit</a>,” created by former elite spellers, which according to them allowed her to study 13,000 words per day. This is the kind of edge that one needs to win a bee today, and it is fantastic that she was able to acquire these products to aid in her successful preparation. Ensuring that others with raw talent like hers have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/03/style/spelling-bee-south-asian-americans.html">access to paid coaching resources</a> is vital to continued diversity in this field.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shalini Shankar has received funding from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. She is affiliated with the American Anthropological Association, the Association for American Studies, and the Association for Asian American Studies. </span></em></p>A scholar of spelling bees explains why Zaila Avant-garde’s victory at the National Scripps Spelling Bee is significant from a historical perspective.Shalini Shankar, Professor of Anthropology and Asian American Studies, Northwestern UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1629902021-07-04T11:28:27Z2021-07-04T11:28:27ZIndian Residential School tragic discoveries see calls for action, but words can make a difference too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409547/original/file-20210704-35953-l3e14c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C7%2C4955%2C3128&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters wave a flag at Parliament Hill in Ottawa at a "Cancel Canada Day" protest in response to the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at Indian Residential Schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent discoveries of remains at the sites of former Indian Residential Schools in <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-longer-the-disappeared-mourning-the-215-children-found-in-graves-at-kamloops-indian-residential-school-161782">Kamloops, B.C.</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/team-investigating-brandon-former-residential-school-help-model-follow-1.6073118">Brandon, Man.,</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/cowessess-marieval-indian-residential-school-news-1.6078375">Cowessess, Sask.,</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCAlerts/status/1410265038808563718?s=20">Cranbrook B.C.</a> have forced many Canadians to confront the horrors of brutal mistreatment and the ongoing oppression of Indigenous people. </p>
<p>The reactions to this discovery have ranged from <a href="https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/bishop-responds-with-shock-grief-and-compassion-over-kamloops-215-3837698">expressions of shock and grief</a> to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/northern-ontario-residential-schools-kamloops-discovery-1.6047162">resignation and even cynicism</a>. The sad and painful truth is these are <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/cowessess-marieval-indian-residential-school-news-1.6078375">not the first, nor will they be the last of such discoveries</a>.</p>
<p>As a communications scholar and white settler in Canada, my privileged place requires that I assume a responsibility to critically interrogate a pattern that appears in the aftermath of these discoveries. It is a pattern we continually see.</p>
<p>People from communities impacted by these events, along with advocates and politicians from all sides, call for action. Almost invariably, that call will also decry the emptiness of “more words.” </p>
<h2>Words are actions</h2>
<p>Following the discovery in Kamloops, <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/canadian-party-leaders-call-out-the-liberals-for-inaction-on-residential-schools/">NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said</a>, “I want us to move on from symbolic gestures and nice words that the Liberal government has done again and again. We need concrete action.”</p>
<p>These statements suggest that words and action are separate things and that one must replace the other. This idea is a danger to our democratic response to violence and oppression. Because words, images and symbols are how we share experiences. They’re how we learn to live with those who have different beliefs than us. They give us a way to resolve those differences not through violence, but through a shared language.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Group of people wearing orange stand in front of steps covered with childrens shoes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408963/original/file-20210629-11592-qasq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408963/original/file-20210629-11592-qasq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408963/original/file-20210629-11592-qasq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408963/original/file-20210629-11592-qasq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408963/original/file-20210629-11592-qasq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408963/original/file-20210629-11592-qasq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408963/original/file-20210629-11592-qasq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous people sing and drum during a ceremony and vigil on Indigenous Peoples Day for the children whose remains were found at the former Indian Residential Schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote, democratic power works “<a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo29137972.html">only where word and deed have not parted company</a>.” Words are the fundamental building blocks of our laws and policies. Actions shape the world, as do words. In this sense, words are actions. Suggesting that words pale in comparison to action is building an apathy and cynicism that is infecting Canadian democracy.</p>
<h2>How to do things about oppression</h2>
<p>The old playground adage about sticks and stones has been proven time and again to be patently false. Words can hurt us. </p>
<p>People from marginalized communities are particularly aware the power words have and the damage they can do - so much so that we have <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/lynn-beyak-who-defended-good-of-residential-schools-retires-early-from-the-senate/">rightly censured people in power who wield words to inflict violence</a>. </p>
<p>Philosophers of language like J.L. Austin have theorized the ways these <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674411524">words “do things</a>.” In other words, they don’t only represent or describe things but create and enact things — they are what theorists call a “performative.”</p>
<p>Austin uses the example of “I do” at a wedding ceremony. Saying those words, he argues, at the appropriate time and in the proper context, creates a marriage, with all the rights and responsibilities, legal and social, that attends to that union.</p>
<p>Austin’s work has been critiqued and elaborated on by many, including feminist legal and rhetorical scholar Judith Butler. In her groundbreaking work <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Gender-Trouble-Feminism-and-the-Subversion-of-Identity/Butler/p/book/9780415389556"><em>Gender Trouble</em></a>, Butler argues that performativity is much more present than we think, even in supposedly constative statements (something that is either true or false). </p>
<p>She says that a doctor’s declaration, “it’s a boy,” during the birth of a child would appear to be a description of the child’s gender. But really gender itself is a performance, an array of social and political behaviours that can be subverted and challenged. </p>
<p>“It’s a boy” does not lock a human into a described social existence, but rather places certain expectations onto the child about how they will behave, expectations which that child may later challenge.</p>
<h2>Separating words from actions</h2>
<p>Marianne Constable, a professor of rhetoric at Berkeley, employs Butler’s ideas in her critique of former U.S. president Donald Trump. Constable <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/10418385-4208415">explains how Trump’s refusal to name his order to “ban”</a> travel from majority-Muslim countries a “ban,” made it difficult for media and advocates to challenge this speech act. </p>
<p>By tweeting “Call it what you will,” and then ordering his press secretary to advise reporters not to call his order a “ban,” he divorced the word from its meaning. The resulting actions on borders and at airports were confusing and sometimes violent, as well as being hard to challenge in court. </p>
<p>Constable writes that separating words and actions is “problematic because the actions of Trump, as head of state, are matters of law that are done, more often than not, precisely through words.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman holds a sign that reads 'end white silence'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408965/original/file-20210629-21-168q2u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408965/original/file-20210629-21-168q2u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408965/original/file-20210629-21-168q2u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408965/original/file-20210629-21-168q2u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408965/original/file-20210629-21-168q2u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408965/original/file-20210629-21-168q2u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408965/original/file-20210629-21-168q2u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Words as actions can also have positive impacts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Mike Von/Unsplash)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Words can do harm but also heal</h2>
<p>These are the dangers of performative words, but words as actions can also have positive impacts. </p>
<p>In the wake of these tragic discoveries by Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc and Cowessess First Nation, many words were spoken and symbolic actions taken. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/canada-9707e8f0c4746a6bb0512c0d01729832">Flags were lowered</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn1pwRV7XG4">debates occurred in the House of Commons</a>, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7980719/residential-schools-trudeau-apology-cowessess-751-unmarked-graves/">apologies were offered</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cancel-canada-day-canadian-voices-1.6076022">celebrations are being reconsidered</a>. </p>
<p>While some may decry these words and symbolic acts as “performative,” we need to ensure it is not as a dismissal of the actions altogether, but part of a way forward that is possible through sharing words. </p>
<p>An apology by a prime minister, an admission of culpability in words, may have legal consequences that lead to redress and compensation.</p>
<p>As Angela White, director of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, said <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/indian-residential-school-survivors-society-calls-for-action-1.6045448">in response to statements from the government and the Church</a>: “Reconciliation does not mean anything if there is no action to those words.”</p>
<p>While acknowledging that reconciliation itself is a performative word, White is saying that coupled with action it can lead to ongoing changes to laws, funding, relationships and knowledge.</p>
<p>Just a few days after the discoveries in Kamloops, <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/indigenous-people-can-now-reclaim-traditional-names-on-their-passports-and-other-id">a law was passed allowing First Nations people to reclaim their traditional names on Canadian passports and other official documents</a>. Names —powerful words of identity, family, culture, and belonging that were stripped from Indigenous people — are being returned to them through law. </p>
<p>Austin acknowledges that <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674411524">even performative words can be lies</a>, promises can be broken and marriages can be dissolved. But <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/689583/pdf">as Constable writes</a>, “If words promise to reveal the world, then law, one might say, insists that the promise be kept.” Laws can be the words that enshrine our promises to one another, bringing about the actions we seek to promote and protect a common good. </p>
<p>There is still a lot of work needed on the path to reconciliation, but if we accept and encourage instances like these as actions that are part of that important process, we will strengthen our democracy. </p>
<p>Words can challenge the forces of cynicism and apathy that come from the cries that we cannot <em>just keep talking</em>. Talking is what we must do because words are actions and we need them now more than ever.</p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162990/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lowell Gasoi has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Fonds de recherche
du Québec - Société et culture, and Carleton University.</span></em></p>People often decry words and call for action after tragic events. But words are action and they’re fundamental to Canadian democracy.Lowell Gasoi, Instructor in communication studies, performativity, and arts advocacy, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1611432021-06-28T12:13:31Z2021-06-28T12:13:31ZDanish children struggle to learn their vowel-filled language – and this changes how adult Danes interact<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408207/original/file-20210624-21-169i9pi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1169%2C420&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The way Danes speak makes it much harder for Danish children to learn the language. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fabio Trecca</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Denmark is a rich country with an extensive welfare system and strong education. Yet surprisingly, Danish children have trouble learning their mother tongue. Compared to Norwegian children, who are learning a very similar language, Danish kids on average know <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12450">30% fewer words</a> at 15 months and take nearly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01690965.2010.515107">two years longer to learn the past tense</a>. In “<a href="https://archive.org/details/hamletsh00shak">Hamlet</a>,” William Shakespeare famously wrote that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark,” but he might as well have been talking about the Danish language.</p>
<p>We are a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=_0jbd88AAAAJ">cognitive scientist</a> and <a href="https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/persons/fabio-trecca(76079e3a-3860-4424-8829-899ab5fa5243).html">language scientist</a> from the <a href="https://projects.au.dk/the-puzzle-of-danish/">Puzzle of Danish</a> group at Aarhus University and Cornell. Through <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12450">our research</a>, we have found that the uniquely peculiar way that Danes speak seems to make it difficult for Danish children to learn their native language – and this challenges some central tenets of the science of language.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408210/original/file-20210624-15-1ytzcfy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two spectrograms with the one for Danish a nearly continuous bar and the one for Norwegian shows sharp breaks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408210/original/file-20210624-15-1ytzcfy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408210/original/file-20210624-15-1ytzcfy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408210/original/file-20210624-15-1ytzcfy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408210/original/file-20210624-15-1ytzcfy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408210/original/file-20210624-15-1ytzcfy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408210/original/file-20210624-15-1ytzcfy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408210/original/file-20210624-15-1ytzcfy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A visual depiction of the words for ‘smoked trout’ spoken out loud in Danish (top) and Norwegian (bottom). Note how in Danish the two words completely melt into each other.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fabio Trecca</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why is Danish so hard?</h2>
<p>There are three main reasons why Danish is so complicated. First, with about 40 different vowel sounds – compared to between 13 and 15 vowels in English depending on dialect – Danish has one of the largest vowel inventories in the world. On top of that, Danes often turn consonants into vowel-like sounds when they speak. And finally, Danes also like to “swallow” the ends of words and omit, on average, about a quarter of all syllables. They do this not only in casual speech but also when reading aloud from written text.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s-mOy8VUEBk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The difficulty of Danish is no secret in Scandinavia, as seen in this clip from a Norwegian comedy TV show.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other languages might incorporate one of these factors, but it seems that <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-phonology-of-danish-9780198242680?cc=us&lang=en&#">Danish may be unique in combining all three</a>. The result is that Danish ends up with an abundance of sound sequences with few consonants. Because consonants play an important role in helping listeners figure out where words begin and end, the preponderance of vowel-like sounds in Danish <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12325">appears to make it difficult to understand and learn</a>. It isn’t clear why or how Danish ended up with these strange quirks, but the upshot seems to be, as the German author <a href="http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Tucholsky,+Kurt/Werke/1927/Eine+sch%C3%B6ne+D%C3%A4nin">Kurt Tucholsky quipped</a>, that “the Danish language is not suitable for speaking … everything sounds like a single word.”</p>
<h2>Kids learn later, adults process differently</h2>
<p>Before we could study the way Danish children learn their native language, we needed to figure out whether the peculiarities of Danish speech affected their ability to understand it. </p>
<p>To do this, our team sat Danish two-year-olds in front of a screen showing two objects, such as a car and a monkey. We then used an eye tracker to trace where the kids were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0023830919893390">looking while listening to Danish sentences</a>.</p>
<p>When the children heard the consonant-rich “Find bilen!” – which sounds like “Fin beelen!” when spoken and means “Find the car!” – the toddlers would look at the car quite quickly.</p>
<p>However, when they heard the vowel-rich “Her er aben!” – which sounds like “heer-ahben!” and means “Here’s the monkey!” – it took the kids nearly half a second longer to look at the monkey. In this vowel-laden sentence, the boundaries between words become blurry and make it harder for the toddlers to understand what is being said. Half a second may not seem like much, but in the world of speech it is a very long time. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408215/original/file-20210624-15-2t427r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman speaking to her young child." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408215/original/file-20210624-15-2t427r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408215/original/file-20210624-15-2t427r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408215/original/file-20210624-15-2t427r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408215/original/file-20210624-15-2t427r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408215/original/file-20210624-15-2t427r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408215/original/file-20210624-15-2t427r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408215/original/file-20210624-15-2t427r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children learn language by listening to people speak, but the quirks of Danish make this a harder process compared to other languages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/small-boy-talking-to-his-mother-royalty-free-image/163870038?adppopup=true">Thanasis Zovoilis/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But does the abundance of vowels in Danish also make it more difficult for children to learn their native language? It turns out that it does. In another study, we found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.10.011">toddlers struggle to learn new words</a> when these words are sandwiched between a lot of vowels.</p>
<p>Danish children do, of course, eventually learn their native tongue. However, our group has found that the effects of the opaque Danish sound structure don’t go away when children grow up: Instead, they seem to shape the way adult Danes process their language. Denmark and Norway are closely related historically, culturally, economically and educationally. The two languages also have similar grammars, past tense systems and vocabulary. Unlike Danes, though, Norwegians actually pronounce their consonants.</p>
<p>In several experiments, we asked Danes and Norwegians to listen to sentences in which either a word was deliberately created to sound ambiguous (like a word halfway between “tent” and “dent”) or the meaning of the whole sentence was unusual (such as “The goldfish bought a boy for his sister”). We found that because Danish speech is so ambiguous, Danes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12450">rely much more on context</a> – including what was said in the conversation before, what people know about each other and general background knowledge – to figure out what somebody is saying compared to adult Norwegians. </p>
<p>Together, these results indicate that the way people interpret language is not static, but dynamically adapts to the challenges posed by the specific language or languages they speak.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408219/original/file-20210624-17-w0hjl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man motioning with his hands as he explains something to another person." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408219/original/file-20210624-17-w0hjl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408219/original/file-20210624-17-w0hjl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408219/original/file-20210624-17-w0hjl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408219/original/file-20210624-17-w0hjl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408219/original/file-20210624-17-w0hjl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408219/original/file-20210624-17-w0hjl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408219/original/file-20210624-17-w0hjl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adults who speak Danish rely more on contextual clues – like what they talked about earlier and what they know about the other person – than speakers of other languages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/businessman-discussing-project-with-coworker-royalty-free-image/596367015?adppopup=true">Thomas Barwick/Stone via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not all languages are the same</h2>
<p>There has been a longstanding debate within the language sciences about whether all languages are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.39.2-3.08jos">similarly complex</a> and whether this might affect how people’s brains learn and process language. Our discovery about Danish challenges the idea that all native languages are equally easy to learn and use. Indeed, learning different languages from birth may lead to distinct and separate ways of processing those languages.</p>
<p>Our results also have important practical implications for people who are struggling with language – whether because of a single traumatic event like a stroke or due to genetic and other long-term factors. Many current interventions meant to support language recovery are based on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02687030903437682">studies in one language, usually English</a>. Researchers assume that these interventions would apply in the same way to individuals speaking other languages. However, if languages vary substantially in the way they’re learned and processed, an intervention that might work for one language might not work as well for another.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/myth-of-language-universals-language-diversity-and-its-importance-for-cognitive-science/25D362A6566FCA4F51054D1C41104654">Linguists have looked at differences between languages before</a>, but few have been concerned with the possible impact that such differences may have on the kind of processing machinery that develops during language learning. Instead, much of the focus has been on searching for universal linguistic patterns that hold across all or most languages. However, our research suggest that linguistic diversity may result in variation in the way we learn and process language. And if a garden-variety language like Danish has such hidden depths, who knows what we’ll find when we look more closely at the rest of the <a href="http://langscape.umd.edu/map.php">world’s approximately 7,000 languages</a>?</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161143/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Puzzle of Danish project is supported by the Danish Council for Independent Research (FKK Grant DFF-7013-00074 to MHC).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fabio Trecca receives funding from the TrygFonden foundation of Denmark. </span></em></p>Recent research on Danish shows that not only is it hard for Danish children to learn their mother tongue, but adult Danes use their native language differently than speakers of other languages.Morten H. Christiansen, The William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Psychology, Cornell UniversityFabio Trecca, Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science of Language, Aarhus UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1597592021-06-02T16:17:15Z2021-06-02T16:17:15ZFrom ‘deadly enemy’ to ‘covidiots’: Words matter when talking about COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401965/original/file-20210520-13-1sbxn74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C0%2C2657%2C3348&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Man holds sign reading 'wer ist hier der COVIDIOT' which means 'who is the COVIDIOT here?' at a protest against pandemic restrictions in March, 2021. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kajetan Sumila/Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>So much has been said and written about the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve been flooded with metaphors, idioms, symbols, neologisms, memes and tweets. Some have referred to this deluge of words as an <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/words-were-watching-infodemic-meaning">infodemic</a>.</p>
<p>And the words we use matter. To paraphrase the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein: <a href="https://medium.com/the-philosophers-stone/the-limits-of-language-1c9febe85350">the limits of our language are the limits of our world</a>. Words place parameters around our thoughts. </p>
<p>These parameters are the lenses we look through. According to literary theorist Kenneth Burke, “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25655306">terministic screens</a>”
are defined as the language through which we perceive our reality. The screen creates meaning for us, shaping our perspective of the world and our actions within it. The language acting as a screen then determines what our mind selects and what it deflects. </p>
<p>This selective action has the capacity to enrage us or engage us. It can unite us or divide us, like it has during COVID-19. </p>
<h2>Metaphors shape our understanding</h2>
<p>Think about the effect of seeing COVID-19 through the terministic screen of war. Using this <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/17/enemy-deadly-boris-johnson-invokes-wartime-language-coronavirus">military metaphor</a>, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has described COVID-19 as an “enemy to be beaten.” He asserts that this “enemy can be deadly,” but the “fight must be won.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/war-metaphors-used-for-covid-19-are-compelling-but-also-dangerous-135406">War metaphors used for COVID-19 are compelling but also dangerous</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The effect of this military language conflicts with the perpetuated myth that “we are all in this together.” But rather, it invokes aggressive combat against an enemy. It signals an us-versus-them divide, promoting the creation of a villain through <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201312/the-psychology-scapegoating">scapegoating</a> and <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/fauci-says-pandemic-exposed-undeniable-effects-of-racism-1.5430128">racist attitudes</a>. Naming COVID-19 as the “China virus,” “Wuhan virus” or “Kung Flu” places the blame directly on China and increases racism. Attacks <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/reports-of-anti-asian-hate-crimes-are-surging-in-canada-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-1.5351481">against Asian people</a> have dramatically increased globally.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-atlanta-attacks-were-not-just-racist-and-misogynist-they-painfully-reflect-the-society-we-live-in-157389">The Atlanta attacks were not just racist and misogynist, they painfully reflect the society we live in</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Conversely, what would be the effect of a replacing the terministic screen of war with a tsunami? A metaphor that encourages “waiting out the storm?” Or working to help a neighbour? What would be the effect if the metaphor of “soldiers” were replaced with “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1844989">fire fighters</a>?” This could increase our perception of working together. Re-framing COVID-19 in this way has the capacity to convince us that we actually are “all in this together.”</p>
<p>An inspiring initiative, <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/reframecovid/initiative?authuser=0">#ReframeCovid</a>, is an open collective intended to promote alternative metaphors to describe COVID-19. The profound effect of altering the language is clear – to reduce division and generate unity.</p>
<h2>Taking away our critical thinking</h2>
<p>In a blog post, linquist Brigitte Nerlich compiled <a href="https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2020/03/17/metaphors-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/">a list of metaphors used during the pandemic</a>.</p>
<p>Although the metaphors of war and battle are foremost, others include bullet trains, an evil trickster, a petri dish, a hockey game, a football match, Whack-a-mole and even a grey rhino. Then there is the omnipresent <em>light at the end of the tunnel</em>.</p>
<p>And while they offer a way to re-frame our reality, helping the unfamiliar become familiar and rationalize our perceptions, there is danger lurking. Metaphors can substitute for <a href="https://hermelindabranchgree.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/process-form-and-substance-a-rhetoric-for-advanced-writers-2nd-edition-by-richard-m-coe.pdf">critical thinking</a> by offering easy answers to complex issues. Ideas can remain unchallenged if glossed over, falling prey to the <a href="https://www.harvard.com/book/the_divine_within_selected_writings_on_enlightenment_ps/">trap of metaphors</a>.</p>
<p>But metaphors also have the capacity to augment insight and understanding. They can foster critical thinking. One such example is the <a href="https://tomaspueyo.medium.com/coronavirus-the-hammer-and-the-dance-be9337092b56">dance metaphor</a>. It has been effectively used to describe the longer term effort and evolving global collaboration needed to keep COVID-19 controlled until vaccines are widely distributed.</p>
<h2>COVID-19 buzzwords</h2>
<p>Besides metaphors, other linguistic structures act as our terministic screens as well. Buzzwords related to the current pandemic have also increased. </p>
<p>We grimace or laugh at <a href="https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/what-does-covidiot-mean">covidiot</a>, <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/stuck-for-something-to-do-during-coronavirus-lockdown-have-a-covideoparty-tonight-1.4204352">covideo party</a> and <a href="https://www.gransnet.com/forums/coronavirus/a1277257-Covexit-how-would-YOU-manage-it">covexit</a>. Then there is <a href="https://lithub.com/days-without-name-on-time-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/">Blursday</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52392084">zoom-bombing</a> and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/17/us/quaranteam-coronavirus-wellness-trnd/index.html">quaran-teams</a>. </p>
<p>According to a British language consultant, the pandemic has fostered <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-april-22-2020-1.5540906/covidiots-quarantinis-linguist-explains-how-covid-19-has-infected-our-language-1.5540914">more than 1,000 new words</a>.</p>
<p>Why has this happened? According to a socio-linguistic analysis, new words can bond us like “<a href="https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/new-normal-how-creating-new-words-helps-us-cope-coronavirus-148976">a lexical social glue</a>.” Language can unite us in a common struggle of expressing our anxiety and facing the chaos. Common linguistic expressions decrease isolation and increase our engagement with others.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Sign that reads 'today's drink special is the quarantini, its like a regular martini but you drink it alone'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401964/original/file-20210520-17-w05erz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C0%2C3717%2C2808&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401964/original/file-20210520-17-w05erz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401964/original/file-20210520-17-w05erz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401964/original/file-20210520-17-w05erz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401964/original/file-20210520-17-w05erz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401964/original/file-20210520-17-w05erz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401964/original/file-20210520-17-w05erz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rustic wooden sign with a daily drink special listed as ‘Quarantini.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a similar way, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1460989">memes</a> can reduce the space between us and foster social engagement. Most often sarcastic or ironic, memes about COVID-19 have been plentiful. Like metaphors, these buzzwords, puns and images embody symbols that invoke responses and motivate social action.</p>
<p>More recently, <a href="https://medium.com/the-interlude/so-were-in-a-panini-now-12ce989fae16">resisters of COVID language</a> have flooded social media sites. Frustrated with the never-ending ordeal, online contributors refuse to name the pandemic. Instead they use absurd “pan-words”; calling it a panini, a pantheon, a pajama or even a pasta dish. These ludicrous words frolic with the terministic screen of “pandemic,” deconstructing the word to expose the bizarre meaningless nature of the virus and the heightened frustration with it.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-cope-with-pandemic-fatigue-by-imagining-metaphors-152878">How to cope with pandemic fatigue by imagining metaphors</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The language used in relation to COVID-19 matters. As the effects of the pandemic intensify, so does the importance of the choice of language. Words, as terministic screens, can enable our perceptions in remarkable ways – they can unite us or divide us, enrage us or engage us, all while moving us to action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159759/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth Derksen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the effects of the pandemic intensify, so does the importance of the choice of language.Ruth Derksen, PhD, Philosophy of Language, Faculty of Applied Science, Emeritus, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1578572021-04-05T14:49:59Z2021-04-05T14:49:59ZCurious Kids: How are languages formed?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393162/original/file-20210401-15-4ng2q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C6%2C4545%2C3035&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Humans are constantly changing our languages in terms of sounds, words, meanings, and grammar, so much so that it becomes increasingly difficult to understand our own distant relatives across time and space.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash/Lucrezia Carnelos)</span></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. Have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidscanada@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsCanada@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<blockquote>
<p>How are languages formed? — Pearl, 12, Regina, Sask.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Easily! In fact, you can create a new language right now. </p>
<p>Simply choose some sounds, like “f,” “m,” and “e,” and invent words with them: <em>fme</em> could mean “shrimp,” <em>em</em> could mean “eat,” <em>e</em> “it,” and <em>ef</em> “is.” Next, organize these words into sentences — and feel free to use a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/12/hmmmmm/420798/">wonky word order (like Yoda)</a>:</p>
<ol>
<li><em>e fme ef</em> “it’s a shrimp” (literally: it shrimp is)</li>
<li><em>e em fme ef</em> “it is eating shrimp” (literally: it eat shrimp is)</li>
<li><em>e fme em</em> “it ate shrimp” (literally: it shrimp eat)</li>
<li><em>fme em e</em> “shrimp ate it” (literally: shrimp ate it)</li>
</ol>
<p>By the way, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/science/weird-science/zombie-shrimp-heres-what-turns-animals-cannibals-n326016">shrimp really do eat shrimp sometimes</a>!</p>
<p>This is the genius of human language. We can create and learn thousands of words by pairing meanings with arbitrary strings of meaningless sounds (or signs). We can also generate and understand an infinity of sentences according to the language’s grammar — <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/language-unlimited-9780198828099?cc=us&lang=en&">the rules for ordering words</a>.</p>
<h2>Over 7,000 languages</h2>
<p>Today, our world <a href="https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/how-many-languages">has over 7,000 languages</a>, each with its own words and particular grammar. These languages are so mindbogglingly different that you might think, “anything goes!” But in reality, there are countless possibilities in <a href="https://enunciate.arts.ubc.ca/linguistics/world-sounds/">sound patterns</a> and grammars that never occur.</p>
<p>For example, our invented sentences above involve a grammar that has not been found in any human languages, including past ones! </p>
<ul>
<li><p>In <a href="https://public.oed.com/blog/old-english-an-overview/">Old English, which was spoken a thousand years ago</a>, the meaning of <em>e em fme ef</em> could be expressed with the equivalent of “it shrimp eat is,” or “it is shrimp eat,” or “it shrimp is eat.”</p></li>
<li><p>Similarly, the meaning of <em>e fme em</em> could be expressed with the equivalent of “it shrimp ate” in Old English, and the meaning of <em>fme em e</em> could be expressed with “shrimp it ate,” but apparently no speakers of Old English — or any other language — would insist on saying both “it shrimp ate” and “shrimp ate it,” as in <em>e fme em</em> and <em>fme em e</em>.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Pink magnet letters on a table" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393175/original/file-20210401-23-ao9ida.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393175/original/file-20210401-23-ao9ida.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393175/original/file-20210401-23-ao9ida.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393175/original/file-20210401-23-ao9ida.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393175/original/file-20210401-23-ao9ida.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393175/original/file-20210401-23-ao9ida.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393175/original/file-20210401-23-ao9ida.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The genius of human language is that we can create and learn thousands of words by pairing meanings with arbitrary strings of meaningless sounds (or signs).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash/Jason Leung)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, if we taught our newly invented language to children, chances are they would <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6953750/">change its grammar to make it more like other human languages</a>. What’s possible in a human language <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/ca/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/applied-linguistics-and-second-language-acquisition/bilingual-children-guide-parents?format=PB&isbn=9781316632611">may be shaped by the way children acquire language</a> and by the way language works in our human brains. This is why the famous linguist Noam Chomsky claims that <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/childrens-health/chomsky-theory">all humans uniquely share a “language acquisition device” and a “universal grammar.”</a></p>
<h2>Universal Grammar</h2>
<p>As a very general example of universal grammar, we humans do not simply string words together in sentences, but rather we organize words into “chunks” called phrases. This chunking allows us to create and make sense of complex sentences like “shrimp shrimp eat eat shrimp,” meaning “the shrimp that other shrimp eat also eat shrimp.”</p>
<p>More generally, humans are <a href="https://youtu.be/iWDKsHm6gTA">constantly changing our languages</a> in terms of sounds, words, meanings and grammar, so much so that it becomes increasingly difficult to understand our own distant relatives across time and space. In effect, we come to speak different languages!</p>
<p>So that’s how new languages are formed, but to be honest, linguists aren’t sure why languages change in the first place. We don’t know why speakers of Old English shifted their grammar to “it is eating shrimp” from earlier “it shrimp eating is” or “it is shrimp eating.”</p>
<p>The older word order survives to this day in forming nouns: “shrimp-eating.”</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidscanada@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsCanada@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em>
<em>And since curiosity has no age limit — adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157857/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Darin Flynn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A young reader asks: How are languages formed?Darin Flynn, Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.