Bluer Rather Than Pinker Bluer Rather Than Pinker
How much does language tell us what to see, and hence what to think?
Sep 7, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
The Everyday Oblique The Everyday Oblique
How and why do we use things like codes, jokes and slang to mask our meanings?
Jun 22, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
Prolixities Docked Prolixities Docked
Revisiting an enduring guide to battered ornaments, elegant variations and Gr8 Db8s.
May 27, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
Reading on the Brain Reading on the Brain
In the history of reading, does progress hinge on the weird, obsolete or eccentric among us?
Apr 5, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
Superfluity and Bounty Superfluity and Bounty
The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary is a reserve set aside for thinking about the categorical inferiority of destruction to creation.
Mar 23, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
Borrower’s Remorse? Borrower’s Remorse?
Is bilingualism a sign of vitality, or the gradual takeover of one language by another?
Jan 19, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
Linguistic Currency Linguistic Currency
In an information economy, tiny asymmetries in language comprehension translate into vast profits--and large-scale collapses.
Nov 3, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
To Sleep, Perchance to ‘Sleep and Think’ To Sleep, Perchance to ‘Sleep and Think’
Conlangs often succeed only in stripping language of its surprise.
Sep 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
Lingo: Fopcorn Lingo: Fopcorn
Is the history of English really the history of adult learners of a second language?
Jun 16, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
Dirt Dogs and Jinegar: Baseball’s Slang Dirt Dogs and Jinegar: Baseball’s Slang
The richness of baseball's old, weird vernacular is pure, pointless creativity.
May 13, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Nick Stillman