The Layman's Linguist The military etymological connections of 'encampment' are also the military etymological connections of 'campus' …

'Yeah, Spain couldn't kill our 100+ languages. But this shows how much power the US had on us, right? Only 30+ years of colonization and then this happened?'

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is called an 'intifada' in Arabic. It's the Arabic word for 'uprising'.

Don't make me tap the 'that's not how etymology works' sign again

No one should have to explain this, but Muhammad is a very popular Arabic name. In fact, it’s famously the most popular name on earth!

Also, like in the west and other cultures across the globe, Palestinians often name children after their parents or grandparents!

Original ⏰ video featuring Hurrian Hymn #6 and a lot of confused cat owners:
tiktok.com/t/ZTLHT1N2m/

I've gotten dozens of comments from cat owners over on the clock app saying their cats snap to attention as soon as the world's first (known) song starts.

Finally someone used the song to record just that and I'm really hoping this trend continues.

An <expat> is a white immigrant who thinks <immigrant> is a dirty word

Oh hey that's the same naming process I used in college!

The Layman's Linguist in the words of famous pop scientist steven pinker “I’m not actually a linguist”

The Layman's Linguist I remember hearing a thing about how Babylonians had all these lewd jokes about lettuce

The O'odham people of central
and southern Arizona memorialized special
events via oral tradition and annotated that history on their calendar stick <Oos:hikbine>, translated literally as 'stick cuts upon.'

This is a Pima calendar translated into English alongside known events:

A 4000-year-old bar joke follows a familiar format:
'A dog walks into a bar and says, ‘I cannot see a thing. I’ll open this one.’”

The oldest joke we know is about farts:
'Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap.'

This reminds me of ancient jokes: we know they're jokes but we don't get the punchlines. It's like when your parents ask you to explain a meme that's caked in 17 layers of irony and callbacks to other memes they don't know so it's futile.

The two ancient Sumerian jokes I love ⤵️

If you're a musically-inclined linguisticky person, you will also love the earliest complete written piece of music yet discovered!

Here's an interpretation of the popular Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal, with cuneiform lyrics inscribed into clay tablets alongside the melody's notation:

The tldr for every Pinker text

Happy National BSL Day!