If you’ve ever watched the news in the United States of America, you’ve undoubtedly come across the expression “the tri-state area.” You might have heard it during a weather report, a crime report, or something that had to do with the elections. Moreover, “tri-state areas” have been mentioned in countless movies, TV shows, and radio …
Vocabulary
Language can tell us a lot about the culture surrounding it. This becomes all the more obvious when you look at words that are not translatable from one language to another. For instance, in Japan, there is an art called “kintsugi,” where broken pottery is fixed using powdered gold. At first glance, this may come …
There are certain words and expressions in the English language that don’t come by often, but when they do, they stick out from the rest and become memorable. What makes these words and expressions unique can be one of many things. Some of them sound pleasant, while others may make you cringe. After all, a …
In any language, there are unique and interesting expressions that sprout up from time to time. These expressions tend to originate in a certain area, and some of them end up spreading all over the globe. Additionally, some of these expressions are the basis for other new expressions in turn. “Catch these hands” is one …
Whenever you are talking to someone, you always want to tie everything you say together. It makes it easier for the listener to follow you. This is why you may find yourself using words like “however,” “so,” and “because.” Each one of these words hints at the relationship between what you are about …
Even though it is usually better to be concise, there are a lot of situations in English where you’ll find an expression can convey what you want to say better than a single word can. For instance, you can call a man “laconic,” or you can refer to him as “a man of few …
Every time we investigate a certain word, we invariably look at the culture that spawned it. For instance, the term “crow tit” forced us to take a closer look at Korean culture as well as the disparity between different generations. Lately, we have been fascinated by a particular online subculture, that of Twitch. Not only …
If you’ve been following my blog, then you’ve heard me talk about how language and culture intertwine. For instance, when discussing what the phrase “crow tit” meant, we delved into Korean culture, analyzed one of their proverbs, and saw how the culture of one generation influenced the culture of the next one. We even saw …
Language is an ever-changing, evolving creature; not only do grammatical rules change with time (just take a look at Shakespearean English to get an idea of how different things are today), but words also change meaning all the time. Some words that were known for their literal meaning develop a figurative meaning, one that becomes …