A nurse in Jacksonville, Florida, finds that, without even being aware of it, she takes on the accent of her patients, and she wonders whether that’s because she’s in a profession where she needs to make strong connections quickly with people who need her help. When trying to connect with a stranger or a group, it’s not uncommon to take on their accent or gestures. Pietro Bortone offers a helpful explanation of what’s called linguistic accommodation in Language and Nationality: Social Inferences, Cultural Differences, and Linguistic Misconceptions. This is part of a complete episode.
What happens when you de-pluralize a book title? As members of our Facebook group discovered, if you make the plurals in the name of a book singular, you can come up with some interesting plot lines. For example, John Steinbeck’s The...
Emily from New Orleans, Louisiana, wonders about the expression Holy cow! to indicate surprise or delight. It’s one of many minced oaths, in this case a replacement for the stronger exclamation, Holy Christ! These euphemistic expressions, such...
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