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Inventing a language from scratch might seem like an odd way to spend your time, but there are good reasons to do it. People create languages for scientific, cultural and artistic purposes: to test theories about how the brain works, to help people communicate, to ‘improve’ existing languages, or because they just need a new [...]

As writing goes, English is pretty straightforward. Sure, it has its weird parts: some of our letters combine to make new sounds, we have extra letters we don’t really need and there are spelling rules that only apply half the time. But on the whole, we have it easy. It’s not always like this. The [...]

It is estimated that we are exposed to thousands of commercial messages every day in one form or another. Most of them are boring as hell, but once in a while, a shocking ad makes us stop and wonder. ‘Shockvertising’ is like a sword with a double-edged blade. Do bold and controversial print ads incite [...]

Though you may not know it, the billboard has been around since 1867, but today it’s probably not what you think of when you hear the word advertisements. You probably think something more along the line of a pop-up or those annoying commercials that come on the radio. While many of them are still simply [...]

There are a huge number of communities online, and the range of conversation topics is limitless. Say you want to talk about sports—there are plenty of discussion forums out there for you. Interested in vacuum cleaners? There’s a site that has you covered. Looking to find people who love Japanese schoolgirls as much as you [...]

Think Star Trek is all about setting your lasers to stun and making out with hot alien chicks?  If you want to get with the aliens you are going to need to learn their language or else they won’t be able to tell you apart from the next humanoid that comes along.  Otherwise you can [...]

People like lists. You came to this website, didn’t you? Or perhaps you stumbled upon it. Either way, there’s an intangibly simple quality about a list. Ever since the beginning of time we have been prioritizing events, items and just about anything else you can think of on lists. Cavemen were believed to have created [...]

“English; A language that lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages, and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary.”  (Bumper Sticker) A humorous quote that is quite accurate, actually. Of 80,000 English words, roughly 28% originate from Latin, 28% from French, and 25% from Germanic languages (Pie Chart: Wikipedia). So, to honor those countries [...]