Posts tagged language
In this Sunday’s Boston Globe, I take a look at how hashtagging has become the perfect vehicle for self-directed sarcasm, used by celebrities and common folk alike. Take a look at how a pro does it: the tech-savvy actor Wil Wheaton (who began earning geek cred back when he played Ensign Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation) recently tried to link to pictures of himself on the set of The Big Bang Theory. After he gave the wrong link, he tweeted, “I love that I’m trying to be all clever, and then I epic fail at basic linking. #lessonsinhumility #facepalm #hashtag.” (If his use of “epic fail” seems unusual, check out my On Language column and Word Routes followup on recent transformations of fail.) Wheaton uses the self-effacing “#lessonsinhumility” hashtag, followed by “#facepalm” (“the act of bringing one’s palm to one’s face to indicate embarrassment, exasperation, or despair,” says Wordspy), capped off by a meta-ironic touch, a “#hashtag” hashtag.
The rest of this article is fascinating reading for language & infosci geeks like myself, and the mention of Wil Wheaton didn’t hurt.
“Our findings demonstrate that sexist humor is not simply benign amusement. For men who have sexist attitudes it can create a perceived social norm of tolerance of discrimination against women, and as a result, increase personal tolerance of discrimination against women and even increase willingness to engage in sexist behavior without fears of disapproval.”
While there is no precise count, some experts believe New York is home to as many as 800 languages — far more than the 176 spoken by students in the city’s public schools or the 138 that residents of Queens, New York’s most diverse borough, listed on their 2000 Census forms.
via nytimes.com
In an alternate universe, where I chose the Linguist skill tree instead of the Librarian skill tree, I travel to New York and learn all the lullabies.
