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Articles in the Language Facts category

This article centers around a delightfully nerdy episode from Crash Course Linguistics, hosted by the ever-expressive Taylor. The video in question is all about pragmatics—aka the fine art of reading between the lines, catching sarcasm without blinking, and realizing that “Can you close the window?” probably isn’t a question about arm strength. If you’ve ever …

Read More about The Art of Not Saying What You Mean (But Still Meaning It) — Pragmatics

Scottish English is English… sort of. It’s like the language popped up north, grabbed a can of Irn-Bru, and decided the rules were optional. If you’ve ever heard someone say “Ach, I’m fair scunnered” and your brain quietly gave up—that’s normal. The accent’s just the warm-up. It’s the phrases that really mess with you. They’re …

Read More about 7 Wild Scottish Phrases and What They (Probably) Mean

Let’s talk about one of the biggest influencers in linguistic history. No, not Shakespeare. Not Confucius. Not whoever runs Duolingo’s TikTok account. We’re talking about Cyril. A monk. A missionary. A man with a quill, a mission, and frankly, zero chill. And while you’ve probably never heard of him, over 250 million people still use …

Read More about He Changed Language Forever—But No One Talks About Him

Let’s take a look at a few words that are, for lack of a better term, basically indestructible. These aren’t just old words. These are words that have survived everything. Empires, floods, conquests, printing presses, bad etymologies, worse etymologists. And they’re still here. Still rolling off your tongue every single day. Linguists trace many of …

Read More about These 7 Words Are Practically Immortal — And You’re Still Using Them

I was just trying to learn some languages, okay? Just minding my own business. Spanish, French, maybe a little Japanese on the side. But then Archi showed up. This language has 82 consonants. Eighty-two. I didn’t even know there were 82 consonant sounds on this cursed Earth. And don’t even get me started on the …

Read More about 15 Reasons Archi Is the Final Boss of Human Language

When we think about writing, most of us picture neat lines marching from left to right across the page. But not every language follows the same path. Some scripts race right to left, others cascade down the page, and a few even zigzag like an ox plowing a field. The direction a language takes isn’t …

Read More about You’ve Been Reading Wrong (According to Half the World)