218 Items Tagged

Language

The famed Koshihikari rice is sticky and chewy.

White Rice Is Bland? These Japanese Researchers Beg to Differ

Japan's food world is eagerly awaiting an upcoming "flavor dictionary."

Kenji Hall April 23, 2024

Both speed of speech and information density have an impact on how "fast" a language can be.

What's the Fastest Language in the World?

Theansweriscomplicated.

Dan Nosowitz April 2, 2024

Some European languages are harder than you might think.

The U.S. Thinks It’s Harder to Learn Polish or Greek Than Swahili or Malay

Here are the difficulty levels of most European languages for Americans.

Frank Jacobs, Big Think March 29, 2024

Balderdash takes on Mad Libs in our contest of word game supremacy.

Atlas Obscura’s Ultimate Word Game Tournament

From Password to Mad Libs to Wordle, we pit our favorite lexical pastimes head to head.

Adrienne Raphel March 29, 2024

All illustrations: John Mata for Atlas Obscura

The Atlas Obscura Crossword: Mapmaking

AO Puzzles February 19, 2024

The Rongorongo tablets may be older than previously thought.

Mysterious Writing System From Easter Island May Be Completely Unique

New radiocarbon dating reveals astonishing insights.

Colleen Kelly February 15, 2024

Travel to Miami, and you might hear people say "get down from the car" instead of "get out of the car."

'Make a Party' as a New English Dialect Emerges in South Florida

A linguist explains how loanwords and direct translations known as calques are reshaping the sound of Miami and beyond.

Phillip M. Carter February 5, 2024

The Singapore Stone

An undeciphered text is inscribed on a mysterious stone slab.

A postcard from 1945 illustrates numerous delights to be found in a mid-century Nevada, but offers no advice on pronunciation.

Why Do Nevadans Pronounce Their State's Name So Strangely?

How you say it certainly says something about who you are.

Dan Nosowitz January 26, 2024

Chicken clucks give humans a window into the bird's emotions.

Do You Speak Chicken?

A new study shows most people can tune into how chickens are feeling based on their clucks alone.

Roxanne Hoorn January 9, 2024

The Northern bald ibis, 'waldrapp' in German, seen in 2018.

Wonder Is Everywhere: Silk Dress Secret, the Last Lightkeeper, and More From Around the Web

Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now.

April White January 5, 2024

It's possible temperatures affect how easy it is to say and hear sounds.

People May Speak More Loudly or Quietly Depending on the Climate

Places that are usually hot or cold developed languages differently.

Hannah Seo December 14, 2023

The flirtatious red golden pheasant is a dinosaur.

We’re Surrounded by Dinosaurs, at Least We Were for a Month or So

A subtle, if temporary, change to one of the world’s biggest websites underscored a modern triumph of paleontology, and how we understand life on Earth.

Michael Greshko December 4, 2023

The flavor is everywhere, though for years people didn't have a specific word for it.

Why We Couldn’t Describe a Flavor We Taste Every Day

The human tongue detected it long before it could say it.

Frank Jacobs, Big Think November 24, 2023

'Metaforkirkegården' ('The Cemetery of Metaphors')

A small artistic "graveyard" where clichéd expressions have been buried.

In this 1873 watercolor, artist Frank Dicksee shows Viking raiders heading for land.

The Muddled Origins of the Word ‘Viking’

The now common term wasn't used to describe medieval Scandinavians until the 19th century.

Martyn Whittock November 16, 2023

These boxes represent just a portion of Madeline Kripke's dictionary collection—around 10,000 volumes and counting.

objects of intrigue

The Low Down on the Greatest Dictionary Collection in the World

From "unabridged" to "slanguage," Madeline Kripke's library is a logophile's heaven (or hell).

April White November 14, 2023

Arrrrr!

The ‘Crispy R’ and Why R Is the Weirdest Letter

I made a bunch of linguists listen to this social media phenomenon and tell me what’s going on.

Dan Nosowitz November 2, 2023