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You might be wondering why young people are calling each other a type of women’s underwear.But “brah,” is really a version of “bro,” a term with which… -
Metaphorical language is powerful.We use it to make the unfamiliar familiar and to make us see the familiar in a different light.A reporter may speak of…
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The term “confirmation bias” has come to the fore recently, describing everything from the publication of scientific papers to polls of public opinion.… -
Conspiracy theories have been around a long time—from speculations about what happened to the children of the Russian royal family after the revolution to… -
A few terms we have to protect from the unstable landscape of language, and I nominate “slippery slope” as one of them.Pundits, news analysts, and… -
As language users, we reserve the right to make up words.There’s nothing wrong with this, as long as those with whom we are communicating understand what… -
Among the many things Millennials are supposed to have killed is the word “adult.”For evidence of this, their critics look no further than the word… -
As a writer and a teacher of writing, I worry constantly about the death of writing, and I worry that emoji are leading the charge.The smartphone has… -
The word “tech” has become ubiquitous.It’s a descriptor: high tech, tech geeks, tech jobs—all these refer to that which revolves around microchips and the… -
“AI” is a term that crops up with increasing frequency as automated systems perform functions once squarely in the realm of human thought and control.An… -
The word “regulation” takes on different meanings depending on where you stand.Libertarians tend to bemoan it. Environmentalists are likely on board.They… -
I started worrying about the word “idiot” while discussing whether or not our smartphones are making us stupid.The word “idiot” shares its roots with…
