Why do Japanese arigatō and Portuguese obrigado sound so similar? While it's tempting to invent a story of ancient contact,…
We've all heard humorous tales of language mix-ups, but so-called "false friends" can have consequences far beyond embarrassment. From derailing…
While many words degrade, some do the opposite in a process called amelioration. This post explores the linguistic glow-up of…
We trust our maps to tell us the truth, but what if they're lying? From Greenland's icy shores named to…
Every word has a family tree, but what about the "orphan words"—linguistic mysteries like *dog*, *bad*, and *quiz*—that appear in…
Stylometry is the statistical analysis of literary style, a fascinating field that uncovers a writer's unique "fingerprint" hidden within their…
Long before digital encryption, the ancient Spartans secured their military secrets with a simple but ingenious device: the Scytale. This…
A null cipher is a clever form of steganography where a secret is hidden within an ordinary-looking text. Instead of…
The male/female silhouette on a bathroom door and the Wi-Fi symbol on a café window are part of a global,…
Animal communication isn't always honest. By viewing the natural world through the lens of cryptography, we can see how species…
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