Tag Archives: Soviet Union
The butcher, the baker, and the cabbage gelder
As far as tedium goes, nothing competes with filling out a government form. How best to relieve the tedium? Invent stuff. Not out-and-out lie, just get a bit creative (OK, sometimes out-an-out lie: if I were to identify myself as … Continue reading
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A language speed-dater gets serious, and a cross-dressing, cross-linguistic singer
A language-learning marathon is over, as the author of a blog called 37 Languages decides which language to learn for real. The first time I talked to Keith Brooks he’d speed-dated 13 languages: he read up on each one, learned … 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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Jokes from near and far, and how one Finnish word sparked a global movement
The language of humor: is German humor really an oxymoron? Of course not, unless you don’t get the jokes. Germans are trying to break out of their unamusing — and unamused — past. They’re even making fun of the Nazis. On the subject … Continue reading
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