Monthly Archives: September 2009
Nasty speech in the Netherlands, bitter truths in South Africa, and goofy government speech in Denmark
After Joe Wilson’s “you lie!”, after Kanye West at the MTV awards, after Serena Williams’ outburst at the US Open, you may think: enough already with nasty speech! Well, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet. This week, a report on a … Continue reading
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Russia’s national lyricist, Canada’s language laws, and the rehabilitation of a code-breaker
This week, a look back at the career of the late Sergei Mikhalkov, who has died aged 96. During World War Two, Mikhalkov wrote the lyrics to the Soviet national anthem. After Stalin died, he rewrote the lyrics, expunging all … Continue reading
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Israel’s street sign vigilantes, learning Hindi, and your brain on language
This week, a mom-and-pop effort to restore Arabic script to street signs in Israel. Earlier this year, Israel’s new transport minister Israel Katz proposed an overhaul to his country’s road signs. So far they’ve been trilingual: Hebrew, Arabic and English. … Continue reading
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