Interesting Characters: Why Doesn’t Everyone Adopt the Alphabet?About a decade ago, a Beijing newspaper published a campus “gotcha” video that went viral nationwide. A reporter, armed with a pen and…Feb 11Feb 11
Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays? Why Does It Matter?’Tis the season for many things. Friends and family, gifts and good cheer, and, unfortunately but inevitably, some amount of petty…Dec 24, 20248Dec 24, 20248
Why Don’t Egyptians Speak Egyptian?Three years ago, I published an article asking whether Arabic is truly one language, or a family of related dialects artificially joined…Nov 17, 20242Nov 17, 20242
Why Simple Rhetoric WorksThis is not a political blog. But, throughout this year, which has held more elections worldwide than any in human history, it has stricken…Nov 8, 2024Nov 8, 2024
The Importance of Accent in American PoliticsOver Labor Day weekend, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris gave speeches in the two key swing states of Michigan and…Oct 19, 202421Oct 19, 202421
Trade Names: How Geographic Mistakes Shaped Our VocabularyIt is easy to forget, in our age of global trade and intercontinental flights, that the world was once a vast and mysterious place. Leaving…Sep 19, 202414Sep 19, 202414
When Does a Dialect Become a Language?A popular linguistics quip observes that a language is a dialect with an army and a navy. It is tragically common for national disputes (by…Aug 21, 20243Aug 21, 20243
Common Speech: How China Invented Their National LanguageDo you speak Chinese? If you asked this question to the average person living in Beijing, Hong Kong, Fujian Province, or on the banks of…Aug 8, 20241Aug 8, 20241
Chillaxed Syntax: Is Language Becoming More Informal?I recently visited Paris, to enjoy some athletic events and a lot of polyglot crowds, and stayed in an area that is still known as the…Aug 5, 202412Aug 5, 202412