Thought you knew how to pronounce Adidas? Think again. Here’s a List of some of the most commonly mispronounced iconic brand names. You’re welcome.Via Book Of Joe

When I was a child, the alphabet was simple. I knew all my letters from A to Z, the latter being Zed. Life was simpler then. We had only one television station, and that was the CBC, so American influence on our language was nil. It wasn’t until later …

Arviat Part 2 What did I learn in Arviat ~ By Trevor In my second take on my trip up north, I would like to share with you about 3 more things I am thankful for.  Of course being up north you learn about the things you miss from the south, but there a…

To judge a risk more clearly, it may help to consider it in a foreign language: A series of experiments on more than 300 people from the U.S. and Korea found that thinking in a second language reduced deep-seated, misleading biases that unduly influence how risks and benefits are perceived.

The foundations of complex language have been found in colonies of unusual furry animals called hyraxes.

Stress can’t begin to describe how it feels to cope with being unemployed. In today’s economy, with soaring unemployment rates, cut-backs, massive lay-offs and a consumerist culture shouts “buy, buy, buy,” it’s devastating to be jobless. Furthermore, our cultural values are out of sync – how we value ourselves and our mental and emotional health versus [...]

CBC is asking the question, “Should we use gender-neutral pronouns instead of ‘he’ and ‘she’?“  Citing Sweden’s addition of a gender-neutral pronoun to the National Encyclopedia and a news story last year abou…

Maybe there’s hope for me… In today’s New York Times, the lead article in the Sunday Review is titled Where Have All the Neurotics Gone? by health reporter Benedict Carey. Where are neurotics today? It seems they’ve become a thing of the past. An old, dying breed. According to Carey, “For a generation of postwar middle-class Americans, being neurotic [...]

There’s a mysterious, somewhat strange-sounding convention in psychiatry, I think. I’m not sure. I’ve never imagined it would apply to me, so I’ve never bothered to investigate it. I’ve steered far away from. It scares me. Leaving therapy… Here’s how it was explained to me at the Eating Disorders Outpatient program I just completed. And remember, an [...]

Figurative language helps writers appeal to the senses. Similes in particular can be great fun to write. When done well they can read like poetry. When done poorly, they can be unintentionally hilarious. (Gad: A slender, flexible twig used like a rope …

As anyone acquainted with me and this blog knows, I see a psychiatrist regularly for my mood disorder. We started seeing each other in 1991. He’s an unusual psychiatrist… Dr. Bob is not a psychoanalyst like my first psychotherapist back in 1960. She was Jungian and probably one of the only therapists to treat children [...]

No. Don’t worry. I’m not getting into self-flagellation or abuse. Quite the contrary. Here’s the story… Back in 1977 when I joined the racy, irreverent tabloid Toronto Sun fresh out of broadsheet-biased journalism school (as all journalism schools were and probably still are) I had to learn to “punch up my copy.” Make it grabby. Make it [...]

While it is assumed that linguicide died with the closure of the last residential school in 1996, in truth it continues as a covert policy into the present. As Roland Chrisjohn stated, “residential schools never ceased operation; they merely changed…

I wasn’t there. I cannot attest to the factual accuracy of what I’m about to share with you. But according to a very close relative with whom I visited this weekend, I was given “everything” ~ all the love and attention in the world ~ but “there was something wrong with me.” “From birth,” the [...]

Only in this nation can you be summoned to a police station to renew your paper work that allows you to live here, AND where you are told it is imperative to show up on time with all your proper … Continue reading →

By Richard K. Barry If you go online and look for a definition of the term “not for nothin’,” you’ll come up with a pretty broad range of opinions. About the only agreement, I think, is that it’s generally thought to originate in the Northeastern …

We’ve reached an interesting moment in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict:read more

A keyboard’s arrangement could have a small but significant impact to how we perceive the meaning of words we type.

Its not 4 the reasonz u thynk

Bottlenose dolphins have a knack for language, but humans are just beginning to understand dolphin language as more than just a cacophony of clicks, pulses and whistles. The dolphins might use unique calls, known as signature whistles, to introduce themselves to others when meeting at sea.