Number of Posts: 5
Posts 1 - 5
'Ha' Isn't a Laugh. Seriously?
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 8.7.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | abbreviations, emojis, Facebook, research/study, texting, word/writing
Summary | People express laughs in different ways when the text or otherwise communicate online. Some type a version of "haha", others write "LOL" or a similar abbreviation but none of these messages mean that one is actually laughing. Linguists who have analyzed thousands of texts claim that LOLs signal interlocutor involvement like an "uh-huh" on the phone.
Image Description | Cartoon of various people laughing with various noises.
Image Tags | male(s)
Erik Orsenna: «N'oublions jamais qu'une langue est un cadeau!»
(Erik Orsenna: "Let's never forget that a language is a gift!")
Newspaper | Le Monde
Date | 9.3.2017
Language | French
Country | France
Topic Tags | language threat, spelling, texting, word/writing
Summary | Writer Erik Orsenna talks about language and why it shapes us. He talks about the new French spelling reforms, the French Academy, the relationship between language and people's identity, rap music, useless anglicisms, and texting.
Image Description | Photograph of interviewee Erik Orsenna
Image Tags | male(s)
Jetzt wird endlich auch im Duden getindert
(Finally tindering will be in the dictionary )
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 24.6.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, online dating, word/writing
Summary | The new edition of the Duden dictionary is reflecting the ongoing digitalization. New additions to the dictionary include the verb "tindering" which means to use the online dating app Tinder, as well as "social bot" which reflects the advent of artificial intelligence in contemporary life.
Image Description | Picture alliance image of hands holding a smartphone showing a male profile on Tinder.
Image Tags | hand(s), male(s), smartphone, Tinder
Boaty McBoatface shows we shouldn’t always listen to the public, says Bank of England chief economist
Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 31.3.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | politics, word/writing
Summary | The public should not always be asked. In the public poll about the name for a new research ship the name Boaty McBoatface won with 80 per cent of the votes - this as an example of how internet crowds can develop "madness". Similarly, the public should not be allowed to vote on financial politics they do not understand. Bankers also have to learn to break down their language so that common people understand what they mean. "Prices and jobs" will resonate much better with the broad public than "inflation and employment". Also, the fewer adjectives and adverbs there are, the easier the message is to understand.
Image Description | Image of a ship, a banker, and an empty marmite shelf.
Image Tags | male(s)
How I Became Addicted to Online Word Games
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 18.3.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | addiction, game, language threat, spelling, word/writing
Summary | There are plenty of stories about the horrors of online game addiction. But being addicted to online word games mimicking Boggle or Scrabble does not only have the same addiction-related issues but also messes with your vocabulary. These games have no penalty for guessing a word that might not even be one, which is why one just begins to memorize all words that the app accepts without really knowing what they mean. This obsessive toying with words may have a negative impact on our linguistics abilities as well as spelling, and so on.
Image Description | Illustration of a man with Scrabble tiles on his tongue reminiscent of party pills.
Image Tags | game, male(s)
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