Category Archives: social context of language

Glass, Bamboo, Curry

Posted on April 4, 2012 by achouston

I was intrigued by a recent question posted at Quora about whether there is a bamboo ceiling in American corporate culture, parallel to the idea of a glass ceiling, but with reference to the experience of Asians’ efforts to become promoted to … Continue reading →

Posted in Meaning Change, metonymy, social context of language, Word Usage | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Word Purge

Posted on August 22, 2011 by achouston

There is an online post at the British newspaper Guardian reporting on words to be excluded from new editions of dictionaries. The post invites readers to list their own choices for words they’d like removed from the English language. My … Continue reading →

Posted in Semantics, social context of language, Word Usage | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Reading the Signs

Posted on June 13, 2011 by achouston

If you examine the wording on cautionary road signs, you’ll realize they aren’t wholly consistent.  Yet as native speakers of English (or with working fluency of English) we usually have no trouble interpreting the intended meaning.  The basic semantic task … Continue reading →

Posted in Semantics, social context of language, symbols | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Sweet as Sugar

Posted on September 30, 2010 by achouston

My sister Alexandra reports that her linguist friend once told her that, of the two dozen languages he knew, the word for sugar appears to have the same root in all of them. Here are the terms for sugar in … Continue reading →

Posted in etymology, social context of language, word borrowing | 2 Comments

Place Names

Posted on September 14, 2010 by achouston

It has long been observed that the words for places tend to survive a long time; even when much of the lexicon of a language has otherwise changed or been replaced. Even when one group of people conquers another, the … Continue reading →

Posted in names, social context of language | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Among and Amongst

Posted on August 4, 2010 by achouston

English usage seems to be getting hipper and leaner.  We’ve nearly lost our subjunctive mood (how many American English speakers even recognize this construction on the printed page?)  and whom should certainly be on the List of Endangered Words. (Is … Continue reading →

Posted in history of language, language change, social context of language | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

FTW or WTF?

Posted on August 3, 2010 by achouston

We’ve all gotten used to abbreviations in email, text messages and Twitter. Today at Silicon Alley Insider a list of such abbreviations was compiled and presented. The list is obviously not complete and was not offered as such, and commentators … Continue reading →

Posted in Abbreviations, social context of language, syntax and new media | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

What’s a Disney Ride?

Posted on July 27, 2010 by achouston

Recently some friends were out sailing with us in Boston Harbor; as we sailed homeward we approached an extremely dark cloud — just one all by itself.  The light was dramatic behind it and under it the sea and outlines … Continue reading →

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The Allure of Color Terms

Posted on July 21, 2010 by achouston

I’m a little fascinated by the specific names for colors that are chosen in clothing and home furnishing catalogs (both online and paper). It would be fun to collect some of these catalogs over the past fifty years and see … Continue reading →

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