The phrase “Cat’s in the cradle” is most popularly used in reference to Harry Chapin’s 1974 song of the same name. The song is about a father and son’s broken relationship, and is popularly interpreted as a warning against not investing enough time in one’s family. The song’s chorus references a series of children’s stories. …
English
A wise man once said that to truly learn a language, we must always learn two: The formal, written one, and the informal, spoken one. Of course, this is an oversimplification. The point stands, however, that language is a living thing. You can spend as many hours as you want in a library in front …
Have you ever seen a dainty-looking ant walking along carrying a huge insect carcass on its back? Whether they have a scrunched-up spider or a long, rigid centipede on their backs, ants are the world’s most adept weightlifters. Even though they have tiny, thin legs, slim waists, and disjointed, node-like torsos, ants can carry over …
There are very few words in the English language that feature three consecutive vowels. Lieu is an exception in this regard and stands out quite starkly on the page because of it. “Ieu,” is not a commonly occurring sequence of letters, and many people struggle to pronounce the word “lieu” as a result. So why …
Sometimes, it seems like the English language goes out of its way to be contradictory and strange. In part, this is due to the tendency of English to borrow from as many other languages as it can. Other reasons include the gradual shift in language over time. To make things worse, technology like the internet …
Psychologists have long known that people like to put things into categories. We recognize similarities in the things we see and experience, and then consider things that are alike to be part of the same class. Classifying things in this way is one of our most basic cognitive functions. It is a valuable tool that …
You are well aware that titles have to be capitalized because it is, well, the most important part of any given textual data. But at the same time, you also wonder how exactly capitalization rules work, which is apparently why you’ve found our post today. If you were to ask writers, editors, and publishers, there’s …
Receiving an invitation to an interview is the very first thing that makes us jump for joy when we are in search of greener pastures in the occupational world. Well, why not? Getting invited to an interview makes us feel that the tedious job application processes we had to endure for days, or even weeks, …
Have you encountered the expression “to dance with the devil” somewhere and wondered what it meant? If you enjoy dancing, you might have thought to yourself that that part sounds like fun. On the other hand, maybe doing anything with the devil isn’t the best idea. The phrase “to dance with the devil” is an …