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11 votes
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Where does punctuation come from?!
15 votes -
English still rules the world, but that’s not necessarily OK. Is it time to curb its power?
23 votes -
Covert racism in AI: How language models are reinforcing outdated stereotypes
20 votes -
AI makes racist judgement calls when asked to evaluate speakers of African American vernacular English
23 votes -
Debunking the myth of Hollywood's "fake" transatlantic accent
35 votes -
A forgotten poem by Chronicles of Narnia author CS Lewis reveals details of friendships between fantasy writers and medievalists at the University of Leeds
15 votes -
Chef cooks from 720 year old cook book
15 votes -
The Canterbury Tales, or, how technology changes the way we speak
14 votes -
How do I fix my (stupid) use of excessive punctuation?
In online forums I use far too many punctuation marks. I especially use dashes - to separate clauses that don't need a dash (and sometimes I'll add brackets like this because, well, I dunno). And...
In online forums I use far too many punctuation marks. I especially use dashes - to separate clauses that don't need a dash (and sometimes I'll add brackets like this because, well, I dunno). And sometimes I'll start a sentence with "and" when it doesn't need to be there. My comma use is wild and uncontrolled, but I feel it's a bit more controlled than these other marks.
Importantly: I do not care how other people use punctuation.
But I would like to try to fix, or perhaps just improve, my punctuation use. Like the way I just start a new paragraph at random.
I feel like my posts are the same as those flyers that use 7 different fonts, with bolds and underlines and italics (and combinations of them), and with some words in red and some in green and some in black and there's no rhyme or reason to it.
I do like a casual tone but I feel that I go far too far in the informal direction. English is my first, and my only, language. (I love Europe, but I am a bad European. "Please look after our star" we said, and most of us said it in English because most of us who said it don't know other European languages)
Do you have any advice? I'd be interested to hear about books, or videos, or courses, or podcasts, or anything at all that can help. I'd even pay for this. But not Eats Shoots and Leaves please
29 votes -
The Anglosphere has an advantage on immigration – English-speaking countries generally do better at both attracting and integrating talent
13 votes -
Pittsburgh smokers more inclined to say jagoff than yinz
21 votes -
Writer, woman, playwright, spy: Aphra Behn, author of Oroonoko was the first known woman to be paid for writing in English
8 votes -
In the AI era, is translation already dead?
18 votes -
Does your Irish child speak with an American accent? The change may not last forever, linguistic expert says.
16 votes -
Why does the letter 'S' look like an 'F' in old manuscripts?
22 votes -
A brief history of the United States’ accents and dialects
12 votes -
Why are antidepressants so popular in Iceland? | Mindset
6 votes -
Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture?
58 votes -
There's a better English alphabet
8 votes -
If we shoot a 140lb draw weight English longbow from a five story medieval tower, how much further will the arrows go?
13 votes -
Why Indian universities are ditching English-only education
17 votes -
I've got my IELTS speaking test in a few hours. Is there anyone here who has taken the test and has some tips to share?
It's my first time appearing for the test and I could use some tips. Thanks.
15 votes -
Thunderplump: Ten weird and wonderful words with Susie Dent
5 votes -
The mysterious case of the "lost positive"
8 votes -
The Canterbury Tales Project collated the Canterbury Tales original manuscripts. It translates each line into modern English and reads it aloud into the way the text wold be read in its own time.
16 votes -
The surprisingly subtle ways Microsoft Word has changed the way we use language
38 votes -
Grammagram
12 votes -
How native English speakers can stop confusing everyone else
26 votes -
There’dn’t’ve
53 votes -
Why it’s time to stop worrying about the decline of the English language
40 votes -
Europe talks to itself in many languages. That’s why English is vital to its democracy
17 votes -
Much of the innovation in natural language processing comes from the US, resulting in an English language bias – Finland decided to change the game with a collective approach
12 votes -
What's a word from another language that you wish was a thing in English?
I think Sitzpinkler from german is really cool. It literally means "sunday emptiness", and refers to a feeling of emptiness/boredom on a sunday afternoon. Edit: I meant sitzprinkler lol
66 votes -
Historian finds evidence for use of y'all in London from 1600s
69 votes -
Where can I find translated Japanese light novels?
I have dug around the net for a little while now, and other than direct purchase from Japan I am having trouble finding light novels. Specifically for several anime series I liked and want to read...
I have dug around the net for a little while now, and other than direct purchase from Japan I am having trouble finding light novels. Specifically for several anime series I liked and want to read the originals for. Anyone know where I can find light novels in general for purchase or otherwise?
12 votes -
Medieval Myth Busting - Arrows vs Armour 2, using historically accurate reproductions from time of the Battle of Agincourt (1415)
ARROWS vs ARMOUR 2 - FULL MEDIEVAL ARMOUR TESTED Other extra videos in the series: ARROWS vs ARMOUR 2 - ARMOUR PLATE TESTS ARROWS vs ARMOUR 2 - MAIL TESTS ARROWS vs ARMOUR 2 - ARROWHEAD MATERIAL...
ARROWS vs ARMOUR 2 - FULL MEDIEVAL ARMOUR TESTED
Other extra videos in the series:
ARROWS vs ARMOUR 2 - ARMOUR PLATE TESTS
ARROWS vs ARMOUR 2 - MAIL TESTS
ARROWS vs ARMOUR 2 - ARROWHEAD MATERIAL TESTSAnd they have also created a website for the project now too:
https://todtodeschini.com/youtube-projects/arrows-v-armour-2/Previous series of tests from a few years ago:
https://tild.es/h3u6 votes -
Tuna chewing: Why some say "chube" and some say "toob"
19 votes -
A very interesting video on the phonetics of English regional accents, spoken by a polyglot in the accents
22 votes -
The art of translation
29 votes -
A brief overview of Shibboleths, including their use during WW2
9 votes -
Are you getting these phrases wrong too? ("Egg corns")
18 votes -
The hyper-regional chippy traditions of Britain and Ireland
28 votes -
The Initial Teaching Alphabet (ITA)
6 votes -
Ten words for other people's children
11 votes -
Accent diversity is fascinating
I committed an embarrassing gaffe today. I had ordered a keyboard online from a store from the Tyneside of north-eastern England: an area with a regional accent and dialect often referred to as...
I committed an embarrassing gaffe today. I had ordered a keyboard online from a store from the Tyneside of north-eastern England: an area with a regional accent and dialect often referred to as ‘Geordie’. I habitually speak in a ‘home counties’ accent, which is sometimes regarded as a contemporary variety of received pronunciation (RP), though it sounds quite different to historical and conservative varieties of that accent. A salesman called me earlier to inform me that the keyboard I wanted was out of stock, but that they would be happy to refund me if I didn’t want to wait for new inventory. Seemingly between the accent difference and the poor audio quality inherent to phone calls I misinterpreted ‘keyboard’ as ‘cable’, insisting with increasing urgency that I have USB-C cables in plenty and that they needn’t worry about supplying one with the order. We both went about in circles for a few minutes until it dawned on me what I was doing, at which point intense embarrassment flushed over me. Oops!
Accent diversity in Britain is rich and regional. It's not hard to place where someone grew up based on their accent. Would you consider your country to be diverse in accents? Even so, are there instances of accent discrimination?
45 votes -
Finland's vast network of tunnels 400m underground will soon begin operating as the world's first spent nuclear fuel disposal facility
9 votes -
The history of the boycott: How one Englishman’s name has ended up in every dictionary since 1888
8 votes -
Ox
8 votes -
The long history of the figurative 'literally'—and eight great writers who used it
2 votes