7 brilliant Japanese words we need in English

Ever wanted to describe precisely how crummy you feel after a bad haircut?

  • English is a phenomenal language, but there are circumstances where words seem to fail us.
  • Often, other languages have already found a solution to expressing the complicated ideas that can't be succinctly conveyed in English.
  • If you've ever wanted to describe the anguish of a bad haircut, the pleasure of walking in the woods, or the satisfaction of finding your life's purpose, read on.
Keep reading
asia philosophy speech work world cultures spoken word grammar language

Ancient Atomic Logic Shows Reality Is Relational, Not Objective.

Loop quantum gravity gets the ancient atomist back into the loop, showing how black holes might explode, and that the Big Bang might be a Big Bounce. 

 

Illustration by Julia Suits, The New Yorker cartoonist & author of The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions

Keep reading
Carlo Rovelli Democritus Black Holes Grammar physics plato Reality Is Not What It Seems Big Bang Big Bounce Zeno's paradox

This is Your Brain on Shakespeare

Why do Shakespeare's plays have such a dramatic impact on readers and audiences? Philip Davis shows how Shakespeare's use of language creates heightened brain activity, or what he calls "a theater of the brain."

The theatre of the brain

Shakespeare's literary career, which spanned a quarter century roughly between the years 1587 and 1612, came at a time when the English language was at a powerful stage of development. The great fluidity of Early Modern English gave Shakespeare an enormous amount of room to innovate. 

Keep reading
Philip Davis shakespeare University of Liverpool grammar invention