What are the reasons for and against constitutionally requiring a specific national language? [more inside]
posted on Aug 28, 2008 - 74 answers
Please help me with a fun multilingual translation? Quick and easy, all languages needed. [more inside]
posted on Aug 5, 2008 - 42 answers 
When did adults in Western countries decrease using man/woman when speaking about themselves, e.g. describing their gender? How came this to be? [more inside]
posted on Jul 20, 2008 - 18 answers
How do you fake American? [more inside]
posted on Apr 10, 2008 - 65 answers
Is Ooow Universal? If I kick a Masai warrior, Brazillian beach bum, an Eskimo or an Indonesian will the exclamation for pain be similar? What about Mmmmm? [more inside]
posted on Apr 9, 2008 - 23 answers
I am looking for writings on the infinity of definition. [more inside]
posted on Mar 13, 2008 - 32 answers
What is the origin and meaning of "I can has a cheeseburger?"
posted on Mar 10, 2008 - 8 answers
I am searching for examples of The Infinite, or the immeasurably large, in our mythologies and archetypes. I am also interested in the categories of Truth which came out of the emergence of Western, ontological thought. Does the trust in a rationally conceivable reality deny us the infinity of the mythological realm? By rooting ourselves in the present, and denying atemporal mythologies, do we also deny the infinite origins from where we came? [more inside]
posted on Nov 28, 2007 - 22 answers
What words do you know which have a strong dissonance between their form and meaning? [more inside]
posted on Nov 3, 2007 - 88 answers
Is there such a thing as a common Italian surname?
[more inside]
posted on Oct 11, 2007 - 29 answers
How is the English language regarded in Japanese culture? [more inside]
posted on Aug 25, 2007 - 16 answers
In languages which use different pronouns to distinguish 'you' (close, informal, equal) and 'you' (distant, formal, hierarchical), how is a shift between the two handled? [more inside]
posted on Jan 27, 2007 - 50 answers
Recently I've been fascinated with the way a good actor doing good voice acting can convey a very specific character in movies or video games. (This may seem dumb, but the Demonhunter Illidan in WarCraft III has a particularly memorable voice). What I'm really wondering about, though, is the fact that all the examples of really effective, specific voice acting seem to be English-based. [more inside]
posted on Dec 25, 2006 - 11 answers
Why the random English words used in asian language programming? [more inside]
posted on Nov 16, 2006 - 12 answers
LanguageArts: to the bilingual (or more) people in the hive... [more inside]
posted on Sep 5, 2006 - 24 answers
An op-ed piece argued that it feels right to avoid blasphemy in general conversation even while agreeing that our old blasphemy laws are a bad idea and unconstitutional. This was several years ago, in a secular publication, not written by clergy, and not specifically sectarian. It definitely did not focus on Islam. Any recollection of this? Thanks.
posted on Aug 22, 2006 - 3 answers
Albania - where to stay, what to do? [more inside]
posted on Jun 19, 2006 - 4 answers
How do I teach 10 or so Indonesian academics and postgraduate students how to "ace" their US Embassy visa interviews and "prep" for life in the US? Personal experiences with the US immigration process? What are some interview strategies you can pass on to my students? [more inside]
posted on Jun 2, 2006 - 2 answers
Does the re-purposing of the word "Nazi" in U.S. culture in recent years to mean generic-overzealous-rule-enforcement instead of Homicidal-Socialist-German-Workers-Party detract from the horror of the Holocaust and the other crimes perpetrated by actual Nazis?
Is the "Soup Nazi"-type usage of the word "Nazi" taking away the power of the word? If so, is that the right thing to do?
Is it causing greater estrangement in cultural relationships between the U.S. and Europeans?
How is the word "Nazi" used in your community/workplace/social circles? [more inside]
posted on Mar 11, 2006 - 33 answers
Are Americans really all that ignorant? [more inside]
posted on Nov 18, 2005 - 84 answers
It strikes me that English doesn't have any good words for genitalia. I attribute this to our repressed culture. Any words for our naughty parts are either porn words, schoolkid words, or clinical. Can anyone think of some good words for the privates?
(Obviously there will be some raw language inside this question.) [more inside]
posted on May 17, 2005 - 73 answers
Why are "aunt" and "uncle", emplyed in a nonfamilial sense, used as terms of endearment and honorifics in so many societies?
posted on Mar 31, 2005 - 17 answers
I'm looking for examples of language survival for many generations among small groups within a larger mono-linguistic society. [more inside]
posted on Feb 21, 2005 - 27 answers
What concepts do not exist in the English language? [mi]
posted on Sep 27, 2004 - 81 answers
