Explore 149 Linguistics Collections - Atlas Obscura
Places near me Random place

149 Items Tagged

Linguistics

Share
Canada Day items on sale in Nova Scotia.
language

Why Do Canadians Say 'Eh'?

The story behind Canada’s most distinctive verbal tic.
Dan Nosowitz January 10, 2017
Dr. Evil's one wish: "..sharks with frickin laser beams attached".
language

Whether You Say Freakin', Friggin', Or Frickin' Depends On Where You’re From

F-word substitutes vary by region.
Dan Nosowitz December 15, 2016
Madonna, who has been known to adopt a British accent.
linguistics

Are 'Semester Abroad Accents' Real or Fake?

That suspicious new London lilt may not be as put-on as it seems.
Dan Nosowitz November 29, 2016
Justin Timberlake performs with N'Sync in 2000.
music

Why Justin Timberlake Sings 'May' Instead of 'Me'

Linguistics and vocal styling converge in this late '90s pop trend.
Dan Nosowitz November 10, 2016
Brookline, Massachusetts

Last Known Whereabouts of Barbara Newhall Follett

The 1920s child prodigy author was last seen here at her Brookline home before vanishing at age 25.
Korean War aces in 1950, probably razzing each other.
war history

The First People to Push the Panic Button Were Korean War Pilots

What started as a last-ditch safety tool became a way for soldiers to make fun of each other.
Cara Giaimo November 4, 2016
Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in the film <em>The Philadelphia Story</em>.
film

How a Fake British Accent Took Old Hollywood By Storm

The story behind the strange way Katharine Hepburn (and others) spoke.
Dan Nosowitz October 27, 2016
Abraham Russell's schoolboy navigation notebook, illustrated with a woggin.
animals

What’s A Woggin? A Bird, a Word, and a Linguistic Mystery

Whalers wrote about woggins all the time. What in the world were they?
Cara Giaimo October 26, 2016
linguistics

Y’all, You’uns, Yinz, Youse: How Regional Dialects Are Fixing Standard English

The real enemy? "You guys."
Dan Nosowitz October 13, 2016
jewish

Why Linguists Are Fascinated by the American Jewish Accent

The linguistic field of prosody, the story of melody, pitch, and other hard-to-study verbal traits, is suddenly hot.
Dan Nosowitz September 26, 2016
sounds

Across Human Language, Some Basic Vocabulary Words Sound the Same

A massive analysis of two-thirds of the world's languages found some words are associated with specific sounds.
Sarah Laskow September 15, 2016
news

Do You Know the New York Accent Better Than a New Yorker?

There's a quiz.
Eric Grundhauser September 12, 2016
linguistics

Why Northerners Think All Southerners Have One Accent

A small North Carolina island shows how different the Southern accent can be.
Dan Nosowitz September 1, 2016
linguistics

Is There a Place in America Where People Speak With Neutral Accents?

Newscasters and Stephen Colbert seem to think the standard American accent exists.
Dan Nosowitz August 23, 2016
australia

How to Tell an Australian From a New Zealander

Bloody hell, mate, don't get it wrong.
Ella Morton August 9, 2016
literature

The Linguistic Turf Wars Over the Singular 'They'

It could be close to mainstream acceptance.
Ernie Smith August 8, 2016
mathematics

The Strangely Perplexing Problem of Communicating Numbers Out Loud

Eight-six-seven-five-three-oh...something.
Uri Bram August 2, 2016
science

The 17th-Century Language that Divided Everything in the Universe into 40 Categories

So much effort. Such little payoff.
David Doochin July 28, 2016