What Is Jargon? Jargon is a type of language microcosm; its own linguistic choices are tied directly to a particular group. Jargon does not need to reference complex issues (although it can). It must only encapsulate niche-specific ideas in words that most people outside this niche do not understand. The medical field, for instance, is ripe with jargon. Have [...]
When people think of sailing today, they often think of iconic franchises such as the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Jack Sparrow's irreverent and smarmy portrayal contributes to the image of sailors as little more than uneducated laborers, but their language belies something more: a specificity that can only come from carefully crafted jargon that keeps a ship functioning [...]
In-Groups and Out-Groups When people think of the pronouns us, them, and you, they tend to think of basic conversations: did you go to the store? Do you want to come with us? While itโs true that many uses of these words crop up in everyday conversation, they hold more power than you might think. Studies repeatedly show that [...]
Kitchen staff need to be able to communicate not just about who is doing what but also how the clientele are behaving. Because language adapts to its speakersโ needs, this has resulted in a vocabulary tailored toward obscuring meaning from those not familiar with the culinary environment. In this way, restaurant workers can convey valuable information without stirring up [...]
Understanding the Babble Hypothesis While the concept of the babble hypothesis has been around for decades, it was not until the late 2010s and early 2020s that the concept truly gained traction for further study. The babble hypothesis posits that when a group is missing a leader, the person who speaks the most is also the most likely to [...]
The kitchen is a place of community and contentmentโso itโs no surprise that throughout history, itโs also been a haven for tomfoolery. While much of todayโs kitchen slang has arisen as a response to the stressful working conditions back of house and the potential problems guests cause in the front, some remnants of this comical side of the culinary [...]
Social media intro: Have you ever watched a man sweep a woman off her feet, taking her completely by surprise as he proclaims that he โcanโt help himselfโ? Or perhaps youโve heard a girl tell her boyfriend that her life would be meaningless without him by her side. While these utterances can be signs of affection and love, they [...]
If one thing is certain about language, itโs that it changes. As people develop new ways of expressing themselves, explaining phenomena, and crafting ideas, language must be malleable enough to adapt to these needs. Within this microcosm of change sits slangโoften informal linguistic niches that are primarily constrained to specific groups or contexts. Believe it or not, the kitchen [...]
What does laughter sound like? If your answer is that it goes, โHahaha,โ then youโre very likely an English speaker (oh the horror). But why would that be the case? Doesnโt laughter sound the same across the world? Sure, in a certain way it does. Human beings always know when another person is laughing, regardless of their cultural or [...]
Writing systems, or scripts, are tools that humans developed to document and transmit ideas that came to us using language. As it turns out, the scripts that weโve developed are quite versatile and can be used to transcribe a variety of languages. Consider, conveniently, the example of this article that youโre reading. Itโs written in the Latin script, which [...]
