Big Think
A very short history of the F-word
6 min · · The oldest unambiguous use of the F-word comes from De Officiis, a treatise on moral conduct by Cicero. No, the Roman philosopher didn’t gift English its soon-to-be favorite obscenity. Rather, in… · Shared by 904, including Rick Powell
Oxford University Press
Language history and we: the case of "like"
5 min · · The Oxford Etymologist considers "like" as discussed in Valerie Fridland's "Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English." · Shared by 123, including Rick Powell
History Today
Explicit Content
3 min · · Scene from The New Art and Mystery of Gossiping, Being a Genuine Account of All the Women’s Clubs in and about the City and Suburbs of London, c.1760. British Library Board. *** What follows will be… · Shared by 2946, including Tactical Tech, Dr Ellie Murray, ScD, Howard Getson, Rick Powell, Jane, Beate Jordaan
3quarksdaily.com
Friday Poem
· the poem requires A long time ago A brilliant woman once told me “The poem requires what the poem requires.” I carried it with me Trying to write the shackles off my wrists Loosen the gag from my… · Shared by 4, including Rick Powell
Aeon+Psyche
The allure of cosmopolitan languages to courtiers and pop fans
6 min · · The song Despacito tells a truth about cosmopolitan language, or the ‘mistress tongue’ – we desire it before we know it · Shared by 34, including Mariella Petrigni 🌍 Translator, Rick Powell
Literary Hub
How the World’s Languages Evolved Over Time
· Shared by 75, including Mariella Petrigni 🌍 Translator, Rick Powell
The New York Times
Opinion | How the N-Word Became Unsayable
10 min · · The evolution of the slur's use — and the taboo around it — tells a story about what our culture values. · Shared by 82, including Christina Hoff Sommers, Rick Powell, Glenn Greenwald, Michael Shermer, cecile noemie, Steven Pinker, Mathew Ingram
3quarksdaily.com
Sunday Poem
1 min · · You begin You begin this way: this is your hand, this is your eye, this is a fish, blue and flat on the paper, almost the shape of an eye This is your mouth, this is an O or a moon, whichever you… · Shared by 5, including Rick Powell
The Guardian
‘I don’t care’: text shows modern poetry began much earlier than believed
3 min · · Academic finds that lines widely reproduced in the eastern Roman empire are ‘stressed’ in a way that laid the foundations for what we recognise as poetry · Shared by 40, including Ada Limón, David Owen, Ian D. Morris, Rick Powell, Ailish Hopper
Aeon+Psyche
Mental disorders are brain disorders
8 min · · The most vital quandary of mental health disorders and therapies today is not whether they change the brain but how · Shared by 570, including Ceferino Díaz, Dr. Andy, Tim, Rick Powell
The Believer
Word: Jugaad
5 min · · FEATUREs: Originally from Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, and Urdu Definition in the Oxford English Dictionary: “a flexible approach to problem-solving that uses limited resources in an innovative… · Shared by 8, including Rick Powell
literaryreview.co.uk
Thomas Blaikie - WTF is Grammar?
· For People Who Devour Books Subscribe Today! Sign In Register Help Saturday 21st December, 2019 · Shared by 4, including Rick Powell
The Guardian
'Would you be willing?': words to turn a conversation around (and those to avoid)
9 min · · Choose your words carefully and you can get someone to change their mind, or see you in a new light · Shared by 141, including Jacob du Toit, Rachel Miller | #InfluencerMarketing, Nir Eyal, @mainec@fromm.social, Thomas Wong, Rick Powell, Matthias «Delay» Göbel
3quarksdaily.com
Home away from home
5 min · · by Brooks Riley A long time ago, on a mountainside in Liechtenstein, I tuned my transistor radio to the Deutschlandfunk, one of neighboring Germany’s state radio stations whose broadcast range leaked… · Shared by 4, including Rick Powell
literaryreview.co.uk
Peter Stothard - Not in Decent Use
· For People Who Devour Books Subscribe Today! Sign In Register Help Thursday 21st November, 2019 · Shared by 5, including Rick Powell
Literary Hub
What Was It Like to Be Edited by Barack Obama?
6 min · · After the 2008 election, the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza reported that Obama had told his incoming political director, Patrick Gaspard, “I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I … · Shared by 8, including Rick Powell