Google’s Doodle for the Mexico Vs Cameroon World Cup match unfortunately has the wrong flag! The two O’s in Google intend to portray Mexico (in a mexican wrestling mask) facing off against Cameroon sporting its national flag. Except the problem is the second O wears Ghana’s colors! Mexico Vs Cameroon, No Wait, Ghana? When you(…)
How Chinese Activists Communicate Under 25 Years of Censorship Over Tiananmen Square
Twenty five years ago today, the Chinese government deployed 200,000 troops to suppress pro-democracy demonstrators at Tiananmen Square, resulting in the massacre of an estimated 500 to 2,500 people, most of them young students. Tank Man Even if you are too young to remember the incident, you’ll probably recognize the iconic Tank Man photo, simultaneously(…)
British Vs. American English Pronunciation: Can Geographical Data Resolve a 200-Year-Old Debate?
Buying an ice cream in the American South was food for thought. Called out for “mispronunciation,” this Englishman turned to Harvard’s recent Dialect Survey for clues to an age-old dispute: who’s correct when it comes to pronouncing English nowadays, Americans or Brits? The most satisfying conclusion comes from an unlikely source.
GM’s 69 Banned Words Fail at Damage Control but Teach Valuable English Lesson
I caught this discussion on a new satirical news show on HBO when the presenter exclaimed, “How did they even come up with that list? Was it just word association… ?” Even for native English speakers, some of the phrases were so obscure that I had to clarify their exact meaning. By the end of(…)
