We’ve talked about football kits and the anthems you’ll hear at the World Cup, but those aren’t 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, you’ll see the entire stadium rise for the national anthems of the countries taking part. What you might notice is the differences in approach: South Africa’s 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? There’s the energy of the crowd, sure, but there’s something else, too: the feeling of wearing your team’s colors loud and proud among so many others just like you. Football jerseys are symbolic and immediately recognizable, and this is [...]
If you have been following along with our selfie series, you already know that selfies have changed significantly over time, and the word itself has seen changes over many years, too. Nowadays, a “selfie” is an image taken of at least the head and shoulders, typically with the arm extended in frame as the person captures themselves. This [...]
In our previous article on the history of the selfie, we traced humanity's journey from its first unconscious self-representation to the modern concept of self-portraiture. But the form of the selfie is not the only thing that has changed over that time. In fact, the word “selfie” itself is a very modern adjustment, and it reflects how language [...]
If you read an autobiography or a personal journal, you likely assume that you are reading the words as the author intended them. If the work has been translated, surely the content sticks as close as possible to the original, right? You may be surprised. Translation comes with risks, and one of the most salient is the threat [...]
Selfies are a nearly ubiquitous part of modern society. Even if you spend time in tiny coffee shops and less-used public streets, you likely won’t have to go far to find someone in that characteristic pose: arm stretched in front of them, smiling for the camera in their hand. Images of ourselves have always been a way [...]
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 series’ 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 [...]
You’ve probably heard the old trope that uncultured people don’t like watching films with subtitles. Or that only seasoned film aficionados can truly enjoy celebrated foreign films like the 1960s Italian classic La Dolce Vita or Japan’s 1954 epic Seven Samurai. It’s no secret that films made in American English culturally dominate the global film industry, with over [...]
English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with over half a billion people using it as their first language and nearly two billion more who consider themselves fluent speakers. This can make it surprisingly easy for Americans to pinpoint a destination where learning a new language isn’t a must. Still, not every country or [...]
