The English idiom tongue-tied describes someone who is speechless. Originally coined by Shakespeare, the expression is still commonly used today. There are many reasons that people sometimes feel tongue-tied, and being a native English speaker or an English student has nothing to do with it. Embarrassment, nervousness, surprise, or just plain old shyness are some of the psychological causes for feeling tongue-tied.
A Language Dies Every Two Weeks But Not This One
When Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquez had a falling out, it became international news. No one remembers what started it. Some say it was because they disagreed on the proper way to speak their own language. Their feud was widely reported around the world because there was much more than their friendship at stake.
Can Translating Animal Languages Save the World?
Climate change is speeding up. According to some research, the earth is losing 200 species of plants, insects and animals a day. Britt Selvitelle and Aza Raskin believe that understanding non-human language can save the world. They are neither linguists nor environmental scientists. They do have impressive resumes in the field of technology.
Animal Laughter
Aristotle once questioned what separates humans from animals. He decided it’s not language or reason. It’s laughter. Aristotle wrote that the moment when a baby first laughs is when the child becomes fully human. According to historian Barry Sanders, Aristotle believed that “At that point, the creature moves from being a human into a human being.”
Dog Whisperer
In the 1920s, a circus clown and a scientist conducted a series of psychic experiments on telepathy. The results were intriguing. Vladimir Durov was Russia’s most famous animal trainer. He was also a popular circus clown who claimed he could communicate with dogs via “mental suggestion.”
The Blind And Deaf Child Who Was Liberated By Language
If you are blind you still have the window of your ears, and if you are deaf you can listen through your eyes. Helen Keller could neither see nor hear. Yet miraculously she found her salvation through language. Keller was the first deaf and blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree. Her autobiography, The Story of My Life, was once on the reading list of most American schools. She earned renown as an activist for women’s suffrage, socialism, and antimilitarism.
Father Speaks To His Son In Klingon For Three Years
The original science fiction TV show, Star Trek, was only on the air for three years, but it was just the beginning. Over the past 50 years, there have been many Star Trek TV shows and movies loved by Star Trek super fans, called Trekkies. Dr. d’Armond Speers says that he is not a Trekkie, but some people don’t buy it. For the first three years of his child’s life, he only spoke to his son using Klingon, an alien language invented for the TV show.
Hoarding
When Alison Minami left for college, she practically dug herself out of her parents’ house. They had so much stuff it was almost impossible to walk through the home. Her parents were hoarders. Every surface was covered with junk. There was a car in the driveway that didn’t run. Shelves were full of garbage. Her parents refused to throw anything away. Yet they accumulated more and more.