Time-Travel, Subtitles, and the Great Linguistic Plot Hole
Why Shakespeare would sound like a stranger, and a Tang scholar might ask you to write instead.
-
-
The Evolution of Language III: Borrowed Tongues
A tale of theft, misappropriation, cheese graters, and consent. How words are borrowed, used, and abused
-
Separated at Birth: Welsh & Breton
Two languages, two shores, one ancient ancestor. Welsh and Breton split apart fifteen centuries ago and still sound uncannily alike when you’re asking for tea.
-
The Evolution of Language II: Mother Tongues and Family Trees
Have you tasted the delightful chaos of linguistic diversity? What is this obsession with Indo-European? Why is Korea furry? Why are platypuses Sui?
-
The Evolution of Language I: From Grunts to Grammar
Language is the crown jewel of human evolution — or at least the loudest one. From Neanderthal grunts to diplomatic double-speak, it’s the tool we use to share dreams, issue threats, tell jokes, invent gods, and argue about dinner.
-
Potato: A Deep-Rooted Word1
A humble tuber with a surprisingly complicated identity. The potato’s names — from pomme de terre to 馬鈴薯 — tell a story of empire, confusion, and one very embarrassing supermarket incident in Taipei.
-
Mummy? Maman? 媽媽?
Why does “mother” sound so similar across dozens of unrelated languages? The answer starts with the sounds babies make — and tells us something profound about language itself.
