A New York City man who grew up speaking both English and Tagalog reports an experience common to bilinguals: his behavior and emotions tend to shift when he’s speaking one language as opposed to the other. Two good books on the topic: Life...
It’s tough to say what generation was best at sarcasm and snark, but the 1950s made a good case with I Love Lucy. Charmed, I’m sure, one of those sugarcoated jabs used when meeting someone you’re dubious about, was one of Ethel’s memorable lines...
A while back we talked about what English sounds like to those who don’t speak it. Martha shares an evocative excerpt from Richard Rodriguez’s memoir Hunger of Memory, where he describes the “high nasal notes of middle-class...