Language & Culture

Null Ciphers: The Message in the Noise

A null cipher is a clever form of steganography where a secret is hidden within an ordinary-looking text. Instead of…

3 weeks ago

The Acrostic’s Secret History

Hiding a message in plain sight is the art of steganography, and the acrostic is its most literary tool. From…

3 weeks ago

Your Voice as Currency: Linguistic Capital

Ever feel like you're being judged not on what you say, but *how* you say it? You're not imagining it.…

3 weeks ago

France’s Base-20 Math Problem

Why do the French say 'four-twenties' for 80? This linguistic quirk is a fascinating relic from a base-20 counting system…

3 weeks ago

The Grammar of Haiku: More Than Just 5-7-5

Many writers know the 5-7-5 syllable count of haiku, but this is merely the surface. The true grammar of the…

3 weeks ago

Eggcorns: The Brain’s Creative Errors

Ever heard someone say "for all intensive purposes" or describe a "doggy-dog world"? These aren't just random mistakes; they're "eggcorns"—logically…

3 weeks ago

The Vai Script: A Dreamed-Up Alphabet

In the 1830s, an illiterate Vai man in West Africa named Momolu Duwalu Bukele had a vivid dream where he…

3 weeks ago

The Verbal Compass: How Rivers Define Direction

Forget North and South. For speakers of some languages, the entire world is oriented not by a magnetic pole, but…

3 weeks ago

The Language of Avoidance: In-Law Tongues

Imagine having to learn a completely separate vocabulary just to be in the same room as your mother-in-law. For speakers…

3 weeks ago

The Dictionary’s Phantom: Hunting for Mountweazels

What if some of the words in your dictionary were complete fabrications, planted by clever editors as copyright traps? These…

3 weeks ago

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