Humans have always written too slowly for thought. Cultures across history have solved this problem in their own unique ways: Tiroโs word endings in ancient Rome, Chinese draft script, Pitman's phonetic system, and Gabelsberger's cursive "speech-sign art,โ among many others. Nowadays, fast writing often comes down to text speak. But most people will admit that writing โuโ instead of [...]
Someone in Buenos Aires might sing a song that first became popular in Italy, then was adapted in the UK, and later rewritten in Spain. And yet despite these vast changes across cultures around the world, everyone knows the words immediately, no sheet music required. How does this happen? Football chants are unique among both music and speech in that [...]
Have you ever taken a moment to look at the money you use? The banknotes in your wallet have a complex story to tell, and every bill carries a history of choices about what should be represented on it. Colors, faces, symbols, and more are all part of the equation, and by looking at them more closely, you can [...]
Weโve talked about football kits and the anthems youโll hear at the World Cup, but those arenโt the only things you might notice. If you listen to the crowd, you may hear talk of tiki-taka or the G.O.A.T on the field, and you might not know what to make of these terms. Football is so popular worldwide that [...]
Before every World Cup match, youโll see the entire stadium rise for the national anthems of the countries taking part. What you might notice is the differences in approach: South Africaโs national anthem switches languages mid-song (from Xhosa to Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans, and then English). Conversely, Spanish people fall silent during their anthem (because it has no [...]
Have you ever wondered why going to a football game is more exciting than watching one at home? Thereโs the energy of the crowd, sure, but thereโs something else, too: the feeling of wearing your teamโs colors loud and proud among so many others just like you. Football jerseys are symbolic and immediately recognizable, and this is [...]
If you read our previous article on Leendert Hasenboschโs life, you likely know that things went poorly after his โtrialโ onboard the Dutch East India Companyโs ship. In fact, his punishment was so severe that he perished, stranded on an inhospitable island. So why would he confess in the first place? The reality is that people give false [...]
The terms used for money (and counting in general) are shaped by deep cultural, historical, and value-based influences across many regions of the world. We discussed this further in this seriesโ first entry on the linguistic origins of money terms. But did you know that the language of money goes even deeper? Think of the difference between ten [...]
If you have ever paid for something from another country or used currency conversion at the airport, you probably saw some terms youโre not familiar with. Lakh. Man. Yรฌ. You have a concept of how big a million is, but what about these other terms? They all describe a large quantity, but not in the same way. Even [...]
If youโre familiar with the story of Robin Hood, youโve probably heard of Nottingham. Likewise, sports fans will recognize Manchester, home of the Manchester United Football Club. While these town names may seem unrelated, they share one thing in common: an English suffix that reveals something about the placeโs history. In fact, many English town and city names [...]
