Patrick Cox
Gangnam Wordplay and Tiananmen Poetry
An explanation of the pranksterish wordplay in Ai Weiwei’s take on Gangnam Style. And a conversation with the translator of Liu Xiaobo’s Tiananmen poems.
What Happened to Britain’s Stiff Upper Lip?
Britons used to impress the world with their displays of resilience and sangfroid. But recently, they express themselves as much by crying as by grinning and bearing it. Should the stiff upper lip be consigned to history? Plus, the origin of ‘Keep Calm and Carry On,’ and a Belgian take on that slogan.
The Many Personas of Stella Rimington
The former head of MI5 was fictionalizing aspects of her life long before she started writing spy novels.
Translating Birth, Love and Death
Translator and author Nataly Kelly talks about interpreting 911 calls and “cupid calls,” as well as translating poetry from a hybrid of Spanish and Shuar, a mainly Ecuadorian tribal language. Kelly has co-written a book on the translation industry called “Found in Translation”.
An Australian Dictionary Redefines Misogyny
After Australia’s prime minister accuses the opposition leader of misogyny, Australia’s leading dictionary says the word has changed its meaning.
The Origin of Bond Theme Music
We all think we know what the tune signifies: edgy, classy, secret, even dangerous, but Monty Norman composed it to suggest something very different.
Hinglish: A Case of Reverse Colonization?
English is something of an open-source language: the people who speak it shape it, and add to it. No one has the authority to exclude words. That affects how English is spoken by its hundreds of millions of native speakers; also, how it’s spoken by those who come to it as a second or third language. Those speakers are having a profound influence on English. Especially in country as large as India.
Should Americans Limit Their Speech for the Sake of the Arab Spring?
The First Amendment protects free speech. But who is protecting the future of the democracy in Arab Spring nations?
The Language of Disability Around the World
The BBC has issued linguistic guidelines for journalists covering the Paralympics. But as The World’s Patrick Cox reports, the guidelines are for English words only. Many BBC journalists work for foreign language programs, and are having trouble translating some of the terms.
Where Chinese and Arabic Calligraphy Meet
Chinese-born Haji Noor Deen is a master calligrapher whose script combines Chinese and Arabic– traditions that are “at once opposites and complements.”
Turbanology Unwraps Sikh Culture
The language of the Sikh turban: its meaning, its aesthetics, its music, and the Turban Rights Movement.
Africa’s Translation Gap
How more translation in a continent of 2,000 languages could save lives and create wealth.
India’s Female Boxers
If you drive south from downtown Calcutta, past scores of aging British colonial buildings, past roadside camps teeming with barefoot children, and past the Hindu Temple devoted to violent Goddess Kali, you will eventually reach the South Calcutta Physical Culture Association.
Boris Johnson on How London Made the English Language
A marathon of an Olympic podcast, with items on archery terminology, a new translation app for athletes and tourists, the feared Olympic Brand Police, and Boris Johnson’s linguistic London.
Are Norwegians Literally Born on Skis?
A celebration of the use and misuse of the word ‘literally.’
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