language

GIF Officially 2012 Word Of The Year

I think I’m going to puke a Tumblr’s worth of emotions because GIF has been named the Oxford American Dictionary’s 2012 word of the year. ZOMG!


Microsoft Can Convert Your Voice Into Another Language

It’s unlikely that you speak Mandarin, but that doesn’t mean you won’t need to at some point. Now, Microsoft has created software that can analyse your speech, translate it and then spit out a new recording of your very own voice speaking in a different language.


The Wacky Words That Are Now In The Oxford Dictionaries Online

Dictionaries exist in between a rock and a hard place: jump on new words too late and they look like a dinosaur, add in words too early and they’re made into a mockery. Words are hard, yes, but some words don’t exactly need defining like some of these just added to the Oxford Dictionaries Online.


The Evolution Of English Language Over The Last 500 Years

Unsurprisingly, a lot’s changed since the 1500s, not least of all language. But now a physicist has crunched through 5.2 million books published over five centuries in order to analyse the way the English language has changed over time.


Why The Knotted Language Of DNA Sounds Like Music

Knot theory hasn’t been the only unexpected maths to pop up during DNA research. Scientists have used Venn diagrams to study DNA, and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. The architecture of DNA shows traces of the “golden ratio” of length to width found in classical edifices like the Parthenon.


What It’s Like To Judge The Turing Test

“What are your favourite sci-fi movies?” “I like Star Wars and The Matrix,” comes the typed reply.


The Sound-Word Index Helps You Express Yourself Online

Communicating in plain text can be really tough — it just doesn’t allow the subtlety, nuance and level of emotion that humans need to understand conversations properly. If you struggle with it, the Sound-Word Index might be able to help you out.


Why Do Some Programming Languages Live And Others Die?

Google wants to change the way the world writes software. In recent years, the search giant has unveiled two new programming languages that seek to improve on some of the most widely used languages on the planet.


Use Google Images To Create A Language Of Pictures

The Image Language, a new site that you’re about to waste the rest of your afternoon on, strings together images instead of words to make visual sentences. Type whatever you want into the box, and each word is instantly replaced by the first result of a Google Images search. Totally pointless, totally fun.


Can You Decode This Probably Made-Up Text Lingo?

Teens today! What are they even saying on those new-fangled computer phones? LOL, amirite? Parents just can’t keep up with all those crazy indecipherable abbreviations swift-thumbed kids are tapping at every hour of the day. Good thing this handy primer of 92 commonly text terms exists. If only it weren’t packed with phrases no one’s ever heard of.


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