This post contains a selection of links related to recent language and words in the news. These can be items from the latest news, blog posts or interesting websites related to global English, language change, education in general, and language learning and teaching in particular.
Feel free to contact us if you would like to submit a link for us to include, or just add a comment to the post, with the link(s) you’d like to share.
Global English
Spelling mistakes ‘cost millions’ in lost online sales
An online entrepreneur says that poor spelling is costing the UK millions of pounds in lost revenue for internet businesses.
Language change and slang
Far Out: The Hippie Dialect
I would define the countercultural era (so to speak) as being between 1966-1974, since that’s when the bulk of “classic boomers” (born 1943-1957) were of college age. … The slang of this period is well-known, symptomatic of what might be called “hippie English.”
Language resources
Idiomizer
Idiomizer is an idiom comparison site currently incorporating over 40 languages. It is a translation, interpretation and exchange site, since underlying meanings often require a completely different phrase in any given language.
Improve your English
A Few Words About Finding the Right Word
Near synonyms and almost-right words, like temporary bridges, let us move on to the next sentence before a deadline arrives. Nonetheless, converting inexact words to precise ones remains a critical part of revising our drafts–a process that can’t be reduced to a single method or a clever trick.
Books, words, science and the history of language
Interaction Is Critical for the Evolution of the Language
An international research group … has concluded that collaboration and interaction are essential elements in the evolution of language. They also have shown that the most effective forms of communication can propagate in a community in a similar way to a virus.
Portmanthology
An accumulation of portmanteau words from the past year and a half: from jeggings to lapformer.
Infographic of the week
The Art of Naming a Startup
From choosing acronyms to coining new terms for your company this infographic will dive into the art of naming a business and what it takes to ultimately decide on the winner.
Video of the week
English-Speaking Union Lecture: Professor David Crystal (55:50)
In the elegant surroundings of the English-Speaking Union, Professor David Crystal delivered a fascinating lecture about the relationship between the King James Bible and the ways in which aspects of the English language have evolved over the 400 years since 1611.
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