Language, Wharfianism, Diplomacy, and [Arrival]

Arrival is a movie about language- its importance and how it impacts those who use it. Most of the movie is based on a linguistic field of study popularized by Benjamin Lee Whorf (and named after him) called Whorfianism or an updated version called Neo-Whorfianism. Whorfianism is even mentioned in the film. The gist of the

Shadow Tongue: A Pseudo-Language [The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth]

The Wake should be in every classroom in America, not read in every classroom in America, but at least sitting on the shelf. Then, when kids complain about having to read “Old English” with a copy of Othello open before them, the teacher can be all sly and grab The Wake and be like, “I’ll make you a deal.” As they waggle

Slang Dictionary [Mad Max: Fury Road]

One of the many amazing aspects of Mad Max: Fury Road is its storytelling through absorption. There is no leading dialogue that hints at what happened to the world, no text before the movie begins that catches us up on details of the setting, no scenes for the sake of cluing us in on character’s