Calling football “soccer” originated in Britain 200 years ago. It wasn’t until the 1980s that Britain began to phase out the name because it was “too American”.
The Italian words widely used in New Jersey…
The Italian words widely used in New Jersey differ greatly from mainstream Italian today not because of bad “copying” but because the words came from people speaking an Italian dialect that subsequently died out in Italy.
Louisiana French is in decline. One million people spoke…
Louisiana French is in decline. One million people spoke it in 1968, now only 150k-200k speak it.
Women are responsible for 90% of modern language…
Women are responsible for 90% of modern language changes, with teenage girls historically having been the linguistic innovators.
Louisiana has its own version of French called…
Louisiana has its own version of French called “Creole French” which only 70’000 people can speak. It varies so much from standard French that native French speakers cannot understand it.
In 1923 the State of Illinois passed an act declaring “American”…
In 1923 the State of Illinois passed an act declaring “American” (as opposed to “English”) to be the state’s official language. The act was proposed by Senator Frank J. Ryan of Chicago who was “fed up” with American being called English. Ryan, in turn, got the idea from Montana Congressman Washington McCormick, who had tried, […]
The German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt in South…
The German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt in South America in 1800 encountered a very old parrot that was the sole speaker of a dead Indian language, the original tribe having gone extinct.
A man memorized the French dictionary to win the French…
A man memorized the French dictionary to win the French Scrabble Championship, he does not speak French.
A 21-year old Sacramento college student boarded the wrong plane…
A 21-year old Sacramento college student boarded the wrong plane in Los Angeles and found himself en route to Aukland, New Zealand instead of Oakland, CA. The accents of the airline staff resulted in the word “Aukland” being pronounced as “Oakland” which confused the flyer.
Multilinguals who speak two or more languages change…
Multilinguals who speak two or more languages change their personality when they change language.