Our language is a wonderful tool. We use it to communicate our innermost thoughts and feelings. Writers in particular love to seek out words that add nuance and layers to their work. But in doing so, they can sometimes pick commonly misused words. It can be tempting to pop that…
Our language is full of weird words that look as if they mean one thing but actually imply something completely different. For example, take the word bucolic. If you didn’t already know what this word meant, you might surmise that it was a medical word connected to an illness of…
Some words are so intrinsically embedded into our unconscious that we don’t even realise they are foreign words. Take the internationally-known distress call of ‘May Day!’ for example. It derives from the French verb for help – 'aider'. In the 1920s, people were getting used to new international radio communications.…
There is no doubt that our language is a powerful tool. As is the internet. So how does internet slang affect us? We spend a great deal of time on the internet. As such, the internet has seen some significant changes in our lives. And so does internet slang. Posting…
Today, we all use the slang language in our daily lives. But have you ever wondered how it affects your perception? When I returned from Germany the second time at age 18, I was running around the streets of Portland Oregon. On the way back from the skate park one…
Metaphors enrich our language and allow us to make a deeper contextual connection. But did you know that metaphors and their hidden meaning can also influence language and behaviour? So what is the meaning of metaphors? Metaphors are imaginative ways of describing something with the same characteristics but in a…
We know how powerful language can be, but what about our names? Just how important are name meanings? Can they reveal anything about our identities? Our names are an important part of our identity. It's one of the first things people notice about us. Whether we like it or not,…
Sanskrit words represent the secret language of Yoga. This language transforms how you think about day to day concepts. The guiding principles of life could only be best understood with the use of Sanskrit words. Sanskrit, the original language of Hinduism, was first used as early as 1696. In modern…
