Linguistics

Reappraisal of Cecilia Giménez’s work | In praise of quarter-zips | When nothing happened in Isle Abbotts | Time traveller’s plaque | At sixes and sevensI was intrigued by the similarity between two paintings recently featured in the Guardian: the Ecce Homo as restored by Cecilia Giménez (Cecilia Giménez, famed for ‘Monkey Christ’ mural mishap, dies at 94, 30 December) and Tête de Femme by Pablo Picasso (€1m Picasso portrait up for grabs for €100 in charity raffle, 31 December). Perhaps Cecilia’s work is in need of a reappraisal.Steve ShearsmithBeverley, East Yorkshire• I am delighted that, at the age of 88, I am finally at the forefront of fashion (Why the quarter-zip tr..

Alexsandro Pinzon thinks playfulness and shared silliness are essential parts of human interaction and growth. Plus letters from Mike Hine, Torran Turner and Ted WatsonI respectfully disagree with the suggestion that the use of “six-seven” represents a decline in logic or understanding among pupils (Letters, 29 December). From a developmental perspective, this kind of behaviour is a normal and even healthy part of growing up. Children and young people often adopt shared phrases, jokes or nonsensical trends as a way of belonging to a group. The meaning is not always the point; participation is.As a teacher, understanding and acknowledging this behaviour helps me connect with pupils’ liv..

Analysis shows obscure and barely used choices, drawn from online slang, do not stand the test of timeIf you have seen a news story declaring 2025’s chosen “word of the year” in recent weeks, you might be forgiven for asking yourself: what, another one?Depending on which dictionary you turn to, the chosen term this year was either Collins’s “vibe coding”, “parasocial” from Cambridge Dictionaries or their Oxford University Press rival’s “rage bait” – with many other selections besides. Continue reading...

Primary school teacher Marlon Minty says none of the children he asked understood where the ‘craze’ comes from or why it is funnyI am writing to object to Coco Khan’s suggestion that “six‑seven” could be “the most hopeful word of 2025” (Each year, word of the year gets darker. ‘Six-seven’ may be annoying – but it’s bucked that trend, 20 December). As a primary school teacher and promoter of logic and understanding, I was intrigued to find out the root of this so-called “craze”.Rather than a sinister cult, as promoted by scaremongers in the US, or some kind of secret code that only children understand, I discover the root of the “phenomenon” to be the..

Some might regard it as ‘brain rot’, but the first word of the year just for tweens and teenagers could be the most hopeful development of 2025What connects the word “vape”, the crying-laughing emoji and the phrase “squeezed middle”? No, it’s not just a biting crossword clue for “millennial”: they have all previously been crowned word of the year. Admittedly, there are now so many “words of the year” that, if they were physical objects, they could make a decent-sized museum collection. Which, as it happens, is exactly how I like to imagine them – artefacts of their time, telling a story of a changing society.This year’s winners – from “parasocial” (Cambridge D..

From ‘all at sea’ to ‘by and large’, windy weather has had quite an impact on the English languageSome everyday expressions have an obvious nautical origin such as “all at sea” and “an even keel”. But plenty of others have slipped into the language unnoticed, including a number derived from how sailors talked about the wind.Surprisingly, “overbearing” was originally a nautical term, meaning having an advantage over another ship by carrying more canvas safely and so being able to sail faster. The expression came to be used metaphorically to describe an approaching storm or anything else that could not be outrun. Similarly to “bear down” on something was to approach for..

British teachers report hearing more and more schoolchildren using US terms such as ‘candy’ and ‘diaper’ – and even speaking in an American accent. What’s going on?Name: Americanism.Age: 246, although when the word first appeared back in 1779 it meant something else. Continue reading...

Older generations are demanding explanations of the viral phrase – but slang doesn’t have to make logical senseA linguistic panic has swept America in recent months, corrupting our youth, annoying our teachers and leaving countless adults hopelessly confused. The question that has sparked the uproar: what, exactly, does it mean when an otherwise upstanding young person blurts out the phrase “six-seven”?As you probably know by now if you read, listen to or watch major media outlets from across the political spectrum, the answer is: it doesn’t really mean anything. Continue reading...

Conundrums for the crossword connoisseurToday’s teasers come from pub quiz legend, Only Connect champion, and wizard of wordplay Frank Paul.One of his fortes is puzzles based on letter or word patterns, such as the ones below. Continue reading...

Entries include Welsh language names for fields and hills in move to ensure preservation of stories and legendsDozens of placenames in Welsh, some hinting at ancient legends, others telling rich stories of how people used to live, have been submitted to a project designed to make sure they are preserved.The Welsh government appealed for people to add historical names that may be missing from online maps so they could be saved for future generations. Within two weeks, about 200 submissions were received, including local Welsh language names for fields, hills and areas.Dôl y Tylwyth Teg (Fairy Folk Meadow/Fairies’ Meadow) in Aberfan, south Wales. The person who sent the suggestion said the ..

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhat is the most common word in the world, apart from brand names and the like? And how does the frequency vary across different languages, or across writing/speaking/signing? Roland, via emailSend new questions to nq@theguardian.com. Continue reading...

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhat is the most common word in the world, apart from brand names and the like? And how does the frequency vary across different languages, or across writing/speaking/signing? Roland, via emailPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published next Sunday. Continue reading...

The late Kenyan novelist and activist believed erasing language was the most lasting weapon of oppression. Here, Aminatta Forna recalls the man and introduces his essay on decolonisationBy Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o with introduction by Aminatta Forna. Read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and Aminatta Forna Continue reading...

Gregorio Kohon looks at why we accept superficial slogans, pseudoscientific claims and comforting myths from our leaders, and Vaughan Dean writes about ‘Trumpery’As part of my academic paper How Could I Have Been So Stupid?, I argue that, throughout history, human stupidity has always been a relevant issue, with enormous political consequences (A critique of pure stupidity: understanding Trump 2.0, 2 October). Much of what we believe to be “rational” is shaped by delusion: we cling to simplified explanations, even when evidence proves them false.Human beings have always lived with a psychological structural stupidity, a kind of symbolic impoverishment contained within our intelligent..

Dialects are powerful identifiers, especially when you’re from an ethnic minority• Don’t get The Long Wave delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThere are times on The Long Wave desk when a conversation sparks a sort of group therapy session. A few weeks ago, Jason came back from a reporting trip to Barbados and made a comment about how some Bajans thought he was from the Caribbean, because his accent changed when he was there. This was fascinating to me. The ensuing discussion made me realise that all of us had shifted our accents at various times, which got me thinking about all the unconscious ways in which we “code switch”, alternating between different identities. Continue read..

Sympathy Tower Tokyo attracted controversy for being partly written using AI. Does its author think the technology could write a better novel than a human?“I don’t feel particularly unhappy about my work being used to train AI,” says Japanese novelist Rie Qudan. “Even if it is copied, I feel confident there’s a part of me that will remain, which nobody can copy.”The 34-year old author is talking to me via Zoom from her home near Tokyo, ahead of the publication of the English-language translation of her fourth novel, Sympathy Tower Tokyo. The book attracted controversy in Japan when it won a prestigious prize, despite being partly written by ChatGPT. Continue readin..

The late Kenyan novelist and activist believed erasing language was the most lasting weapon of oppression. Here, Aminatta Forna recalls the man and introduces his essay on decolonisationIn the 1930s, it was common for British missionaries to change the names of African school pupils to biblical names. The change wasn’t “just for school” – it was intended to be for ever. So Ngũgĩ became James and my father, Mohamed, became Moses. While many students retained their new names throughout their lives, Ngũgĩ and my father changed theirs back, though you can still find early editions of Ngũgĩ’s first book, Weep Not, Child, under the name of “James Ngugi”. With the novel, Ngũgĩ..

Leeds MP Mark Sewards has launched a digital assistant, but the results of my chat show MPs’ aides have nowt to worry aboutAs anyone with even a trace of a regional dialect who has had to pay a parking fine can attest, voice recognition services struggle with accents. Now, people in Mark Sewards’ constituency in Leeds are likely to find the same problem with his AI variant.A chatbot billed as the first AI version of an MP responds in Sewards’ voice with advice, support or by offering to pass on a message to his team – but only if it understands you. Continue reading...

Blaring for Rod | Criticising Glastonbury | Green behind the ears | This, that or the other violin | Cherry-bun breastsYour review of Rod Stewart at Glastonbury said that the great man was heralded on stage by the “blare of bagpipes” (29 June). Call me pedantic but surely you could have come up with a less pejorative term to describe the stirring sound of the pipes? Mike PenderCardiff• If the UK government put as much effort into stopping Israel’s violence against the Palestinian people as they do into condemning stage acts at Glastonbury, there might be some grounds for hope (Streeting condemns anti-IDF chants at Glastonbury but says ‘Israel should get its own house in order’, 2..

Aids crisis | Compulsory reading | Defence spending | Perfectly clear | Re-doubleI enjoyed Eric Homberger’s obituary of Edmund White (4 June), but take exception to his claim, of the Aids crisis, that Ed’s “lack of response seemed a manifest failure of his nerve as a writer”. Ed co-authored a superb collection of stories with Adam Mars-Jones, The Darker Proof, which was a bracing comfort to those of us then losing friends as though in a war the rest of the country was ignoring. It was a totemic work for those of us who had yet to find the courage or words to write about Aids in our novels. Patrick Gale Penzance, Cornwall• Thank you for Monday’..

Cherrypicking | Traybakes for all | Bigger cars | To giftRe Adrian Chiles’ article (Who could deny a hot, tired delivery driver the fruit from their cherry tree?, 12 June), as a teacher in west London in the 90s and noughties, I taught numerous recently arrived refugee children. Among these were Kosovans and Albanians, many unaccompanied. Everything was strange for them. Outside our tech block stood three tall morello cherry trees whose fruit generally lay squashed, staining the concrete with their juice. That all changed with the Kosovans. As the fruit ripened, they climbed and harvested the treasure, later coming to lesson with stained shirts and faces. It was a delight to see them happi..

Foreign Office staff | Children’s books | Persnicketiness | Present participles | Pure tennis poetry | Shag carpetThree hundred Foreign Office staff with consciences, and concerns about UK policy on Gaza that they raised in a letter to the foreign secretary, should not be told by their Whitehall superiors that “an honourable course” is to resign from the civil service (Report, 10 June). No. The honourable course for the government is to act on these informed concerns and on our complicity, so far, in Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity.Laura ConynghamCrediton, Devon• While I bemoan the fall in the number of children’s books featuring ethnic-minority main characters ..

Art review | ‘Worser’ in Shakespeare | Youth hostelling | Driverless taxis | Egregious Americanism | Outage outrageJonathan Jones, in his review of the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition (Letters, 10 June), describes Tracey Emin’s The Crucifixion as a “masterpiece … the greatest new painting that’s been seen since Lucian Freud died”. Spare us this spurious hyperbole! The art critic Robert Hughes will be turning in his grave. Or as Jim, the grumpy philosopher in The Royle Family, would say: “Masterpiece my arse!’John RattiganDoveridge, Derbyshire• Re Iain Fenton’s racked brain (Letters, 9 June), yes, Shakespeare did use “worser”, multiple times in a dozen diffe..

Readers share their views on the evolution of the English language, in response to an article by Elisabeth Ribbans on the use of ‘gotten’The continual expansion of the English language is inevitable and welcome. But while Elisabeth Ribbans is right that “it would be a mistake to regard language as a fortress”, it is not unreasonable to lament the effect of some invasive species whose proliferation is so rapid that native alternatives face possible extinction (How the use of a word in the Guardian has gotten some readers upset, 4 June).“Gotten” may be an innocuous, if inelegant, English word making a return journey from the US, but some other US variants are more problematic...

Sex offenders | Punctuation pedant | Colons | Semicolons | Kiwi clueMedical experts say they’ll refuse to implement mandatory chemical castration, and one states: “Doctors are not agents of social control. It would be ethically unsound to use medication to reduce risk rather than to treat a medical condition” (Report, 22 May). Yet in psychiatry, social control is routinely exercised, and drugs are often prescribed not to alleviate suffering, but primarily to manage perceived risk. Sex offenders should not be given more ethical consideration and bodily autonomy than psychiatric patients.Jacqui DillonLondon• I must take issue with Marilyn Rowley over the use of the semicolon (Letters, ..

Philadelphia’s Speling Reform Asoshiashun wasn’t the only group to demand a simpler way of putting things in printYou may be familiar with the ghoti, the shiny animal with fins that lives in the water; perhaps you even have your own ghoti tank. Ghotis evolved long ago, but they didn’t get their name until the 19th century, when jokesters noted that, thanks to the weirdness of English spelling, the word “fish” might be written with a “gh”, as in “rough”, an “o”, as in “women”, and a “ti”, as in “lotion”.The idea of the ghoti is often attributed to George Bernard Shaw, but there’s no evidence that he coined it. He was, however, a proponent of simplified..

Researchers have catalogued the British words and phrases most used in US conversation, sparking delight and frustrationThe Americani(s)zation of British English is often described as a linguistic disaster – frustrations over imported words or usages, from “awesome” to “ATM”, are well-documented.But in recent years, there’s been growing interest in the opposite phenomenon: Britishisms that have made their way into American English. These days, it’s not uncommon to hear Americans describing a single event as a “one-off” or noting that a perfect assessment is “spot on”.Amongst (rather than “among”), whose use has nearly quadrupled in the US over the past four decadesQ..

Singer Miriana Conte told to change title and lyrics owing to suggestive play on Maltese word for ‘singing’ Malta’s contestant at this year’s Eurovision contest will have to change the title and lyrics of her song owing to the phonetic resemblance between the Maltese word for “singing” and the C-word, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has ruled.Miriana Conte, 23, will represent Malta at the five-day music event in Basel, Switzerland, on 13 to 17 May after winning the Maltese song contest last month with her song Kant. Continue reading...

The Finnish concept of collective resilience in adversity also exists in Estonia, writes Ilvi Jõe-Cannon. Plus a letter from Michael DjupsjöbackaRe the Finnish concept of sisu (Why we all need sisu – the Finnish concept of action and creativity in hard times, 10 February), Estonian, one of the Finno-Ugric languages, has the same word. In Estonian, sisu means something that is inside – as in a box, jar, luggage, or a letter, book, or in a fruit or vegetable.With regard to humans, it is a quality or a characteristic, or even the absence of meaning to life if a person seems to be lacking sisu. In Estonian folklore, sisu is a source of strength. When living in Estonia recent..

Laundry v washing | His and hers baskets | A geographical divide | Sounding sincere | Morning postLetters about washing versus laundry (11 February) reminded me that when I researched the public washhouses of Manchester, the public called them “washhouses”, but the men who worked there on the machinery called them “laundries”. The original council committee of the 1870s was the Wash House Committee, but by the mid-20th century this had changed to Laundries. I have a washhouse at my home, which a passing architect called a laundry, but the builder and I called it a washhouse. It must be a class thing.Frances WorsleyWhaley Bridge, Derbyshire• Sorry to disappoint you, Michael Rob..