‘Literally’ Is Literally Old News

Staff / Truthdig Aug 21, 2013 The Oxford English Dictionary now includes a common yet incorrect usage of the word "literally." The entry states the word can be employed “for emphasis rather than being actually true.” Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Capitalism Is Changing Our Language

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Aug 12, 2013 Researchers at UCLA put 1.5 million English-language books into a tool that catalogs phrase usage and found that "over the last 200 years there has been an ever-increasing use of particularly acquisitive words: 'get', 'unique', 'individual', 'self', 'choose'; while over the same period 'give' and 'obliged' decreased," Owen Hatherley writes at The Guardian. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Death of a Language

Randall Enos, Cagle Cartoons Jun 25, 2013 Dig deeper

Prairie Dog Language Translated: They Think We’re Fat

Peter Z. Scheer / Truthdig Jun 5, 2013 Using a "Rosetta Stone" technique, Dr. Con Slobodchikoff and his students have deciphered the language of prairie dogs and discovered that they can say things like, "there's a fat human coming and he's wearing green." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Our Words Are Our Weapons

By Rebecca Solnit, TomDispatch Oct 30, 2012 We often speak as though the source of so many of our problems is complex and even mysterious. I'm not sure it is. You can blame it all on greed: the refusal to do anything about climate change, the attempts by the .01% to destroy our democracy, the constant robbing of the poor, the resultant starving children, the war against most of what is beautiful on this Earth. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

War on Women, From Political to Literal

Staff / Truthdig Aug 28, 2012 In this edition of Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: Ms magazine Executive Editor Kathy Spillar on Todd Akin and friends; Pussy Riot; Syria; keeping native languages alive; and the enduring impact of war on womencom/avbooth/category/truthdig_radio/" title="Truthdig Radio">Truthdig Radio: Ms. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

War on Women, From Political to Literal

Staff / Truthdig Aug 28, 2012 In this edition of Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: Ms. magazine Executive Editor Kathy Spillar on Todd Akin and friends; Pussy Riot; keeping native languages alive; and the enduring impact of war on women. Dig deeper

Like, Get Over It

Staff / Truthdig Jan 10, 2012 According to journalism prof Ted Gup, the prevalence of the word "like" in youth-speak is evidence that teachers have "condemned children to a common cluster of mediocrity." But as linguist Geoffrey Nunberg pointed out a decade ago, "like" isn't a tic or filler, it's "a word with a point of view." (more) Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Recognizing the Language of Tyranny

Chris Hedges / Truthdig Feb 7, 2011 The corporate state does not have a Politburo or raving dictator, but it shares one aspect with despotic regimes and the collapsed empires that have plagued human history. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

A Crisis Economy of Language

Staff / Truthdig Dec 27, 2010 With the world economy still wallowing in crisis and social services being cut across poor and rich nations alike, it’s not surprising that the winner of Merriam-Webster’s annual “Top Ten Words of the Year” for 2010 is … austerity. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Computer Nerd Barbie

Staff / Truthdig Oct 14, 2010 On today's list: Speaking more than one language can delay Alzheimer's, literary tattoos, why they hate us (hint: it's not our freedom), and Barbie goes geek. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

‘A’ Is for Afghanistan

BLANK Sep 14, 2010 Today on the list: Afghanistan on life support, obsessing over punctuation, and how the Supreme Court (kind of) legalized bribery. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )