language and power

Reclaiming the Slur: The Linguistics of Reappropriation

How does a word forged in hate become a banner of pride? The process, known as reappropriation, is a powerful…

3 weeks ago

When English Met French

The Norman Conquest of 1066 wasn't just a military victory; it was a linguistic collision that created a centuries-long class…

3 weeks ago

The Grammar of Propaganda: How Language Builds Tyranny

Long before "fake news," propagandists mastered linguistic manipulation, weaponizing the very structure of language to build consensus and justify atrocity.…

3 weeks ago

The Press That Froze Language

The invention of the printing press was a revolution not just for knowledge, but for language itself. Before Gutenberg, language…

3 weeks ago

The Last Words of Old Prussian: How a Language Was Erased by the Sword

The death of a language is usually a slow fade, but Old Prussian was not so lucky. It was systematically…

3 weeks ago

Glib, Glim, and Grunt: A Secret History of Thieves’ Cant, the Anti-Language of the Underworld

In the shadowy corners of Renaissance England, a secret language was born out of desperation and defiance. Known as Thieves'…

3 weeks ago

Who Owns Slang? The Complexities of Linguistic Gentrification in the Digital Age

From "on fleek" to "slay," words born in specific communities—particularly AAVE—often travel into the mainstream, where they're adopted by brands…

3 weeks ago

A Word to Name the Unspeakable: Raphael Lemkin and the Creation of “Genocide”

Discover the powerful story of Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-Jewish lawyer who witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust and created a…

3 weeks ago

Famous Mistranslations: The “Let Them Eat Cake” of the East

Just as the West has its infamous mistranslation of Marie Antoinette's "Let them eat cake", the East too has seen…

2 years ago

Famous Mistranslations: “Let Them Eat Cake!”

The phrase "Let them eat cake" is one of the most notorious remarks attributed to a historical figure. This sentence…

2 years ago

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