Controlled Natural Languages Seaspeak was created in 1985 to standardize how sailors and others on naval vessels communicated with each other. When a ship from an English-speaking location such as the United States would like to ask for assistance from a passing ship from, for instance, Brazil, the language barrier can quickly become a problem. Seaspeak allows these ships [...]
Cliches are the lynchpin of one particular linguistic maneuver that works in subtle but impactful ways. Thought termination, also called the thought-terminating cliche, can end conversations instantly and even keep people beholden to an ideology. How do these innocent phrases carry such an effect? It all comes down to how people relate to each other. What Is Thought Termination? [...]
What Is Jargon? Jargon is a type of language microcosm; its own linguistic choices are tied directly to a particular group. Jargon does not need to reference complex issues (although it can). It must only encapsulate niche-specific ideas in words that most people outside this niche do not understand. The medical field, for instance, is ripe with jargon. Have [...]
When people think of sailing today, they often think of iconic franchises such as the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Jack Sparrow's irreverent and smarmy portrayal contributes to the image of sailors as little more than uneducated laborers, but their language belies something more: a specificity that can only come from carefully crafted jargon that keeps a ship functioning [...]
The kitchen is a place of community and contentment—so it’s no surprise that throughout history, it’s also been a haven for tomfoolery. While much of today’s kitchen slang has arisen as a response to the stressful working conditions back of house and the potential problems guests cause in the front, some remnants of this comical side of the culinary landscape [...]
Social media intro: Have you ever watched a man sweep a woman off her feet, taking her completely by surprise as he proclaims that he “can’t help himself”? Or perhaps you’ve heard a girl tell her boyfriend that her life would be meaningless without him by her side. While these utterances can be signs of affection and love, they can [...]
If one thing is certain about language, it’s that it changes. As people develop new ways of expressing themselves, explaining phenomena, and crafting ideas, language must be malleable enough to adapt to these needs. Within this microcosm of change sits slang—often informal linguistic niches that are primarily constrained to specific groups or contexts. Believe it or not, the kitchen is [...]
Writing systems, or scripts, are tools that humans developed to document and transmit ideas that came to us using language. As it turns out, the scripts that we’ve developed are quite versatile and can be used to transcribe a variety of languages. Consider, conveniently, the example of this article that you’re reading. It’s written in the Latin script, which [...]
When people think of cults, it is often common to wonder how the participants ended up buying into the message. From the outside, the flaws of the cult may seem obvious or downright unbelievable. However, there is an often overlooked reason these groups are so compelling: language. Cult leaders who know how to leverage the spoken and written word [...]
Languages come in all shapes and sizes around the world—but if there’s one thing that languages share, it’s swearing. While the curse words (and phrases) of choice will vary based on geographic location, dialect, and more, world languages have a lot more in common than you might think when it comes to swearing. Swears originate with the universal experience [...]
