Tag Archives

Language

It Takes Two (Hemispheres), Baby: Neuroscience and self-reporting in market research

Julie W.S.

Brace yourself: I’ve declared it Neuroscience Thursday here on Verbatim.

In Mindsight, psychiatrist Dan Sigel notes that, “When we explain … we are relying heavily on the left hemisphere. When we describe … we are bringing the experientially rich side into collaboration with the word-smithing left hemisphere.”
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A Murmuration of Starlings

Pete C.

While even native English speakers can have trouble keeping track of the language’s grammatical rules (“don’t end a sentence in a preposition”?), it’s even more difficult for non-native speakers to wrap their heads around our expressions, idioms, and seemingly random rules. I recall a friend who was teaching ESL abroad a few years ago telling me that most of the questions his students came up with stumped him every time …MORE…

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Excuse me, but you’re Techno-Babbling

Jack C.

“Techno-babble” is a term used to describe the fantastic way a storyteller can string together technical words and phrases to create a fictional (and usually ridiculous) explanation to provide entertainment (or more likely, to plug plot holes). As a science fiction enthusiast (geek), I enjoy listening to it explain the unexplainable. Whether it was the chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise “re-routing primary power relays to boost warp gain” or CTU’s Chloe O’Brian “opening an IP socket to a secure volume on a node cluster in a server farm,” techno-babble could help you pretend the impossible was possible.MORE…

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American Pants vs. British Trousers: The importance of speaking the "same language"

Jennifer A.

George Bernard Shaw once said that “England and America are two countries separated by the same language.” Before I moved to London in September of 2008, I would have scoffed at such a sentiment: how can speaking the same language be divisive? Surely, of all the ways an American might need to adjust to living in a new country, speaking English would be the least hindrance.MORE…

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The Swear Jar

Rocky P.

“Only I didn’t say ‘Fudge.’ I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the ‘F-dash-dash-dash’ word!”

Researchers from the school of psychology at Britain’s Keele University recanted generations of grade school lessons this week as they unveiled findings on famous four-letter words (along with other nefarious notables); as it turns out, invoking profanities provides genuine physical relief from pain.MORE…

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Making Meaning: Listening in the age of a million words

Karen B.

Did you know there’s a word for that witty retort you wish you made at the time, but thought of after the moment had passed? There is. It’s “tintiddle” Great word, but I don’t know anyone who uses it.
On Wednesday, June 10th, the Global Language Monitor announced that the English language had reached its one-millionth word. Congratulations English, you’re complicated, hard to learn, and rife with potential misunderstanding.MORE…

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Creativity and Innovation: Embracing Happy Accidents

Manila A.

Do limitations enhance or dampen creativity?

This question, first posed to me by a college admission board, is one that I have returned to many times—toiling over a printing press as an art student, exploring social barriers to organizational learning in my doctoral work, and in my current role at Communispace.MORE…

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Please Ask Responsibly

Rocky P.

Communispace is in the business of listening; it’s what we do. The answers we get, and consequently give our clients aren’t always the answers they hoped for – but they are answers. Here’s the tricky (and at times sticky) part: ensuring a question is asked for an answer, not just a confirmation of a pre-existing thought. True listening means being brave enough to listen to the last thing you wanted to hear; no small task.
The converse of this phenomenon was exemplified (and amplified) by the 2009 Miss USA pageant. The typically benign ball reached a raucous level when a single question, offered by celebrity blogger and pageant judge Perez Hilton, sparked a national controversy.MORE…

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