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 …
English
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 …
Sometimes, whether you’re a native speaker or learning a language, knowing the meaning of words in a sentence isn’t quite enough to fully understand what is conveyed. This can be the case with sayings or idioms, which are collections of words that have a specific meaning. For example, if you hear the phrase “boulevard of …
Sometimes, you might hear someone disdainfully comment about a nonstandard English word, “That’s just a made-up word.” You might then hear someone counter by saying, “All words are made up,” and this is true. Language does not operate based on scientific principles in the way that, for example, gravity does. However, the main purpose of …
Most of us have heard the phrase “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” It is often incorrectly attributed to Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple. While Jobs did use the phrase during a 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University, he was quoting from The Whole Earth Catalog (WEC). WEC was a science magazine that was published between …