TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Mysteries of vernacular: X-ray - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel
The story of the word X-Ray is one of great thinkers. French philosopher Rene Descartes isolated the letters X, Y and Z to stand for unknowns, and centuries later, Wilhelm Rontgen discovered the X-ray, using the X for the unknown nature...
SciShow
Agriculture May Have Changed How People Speak | SciShow News
The development of agriculture was a huge game changer for human beings and it may have even changed the way we speak.
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How many verb tenses are there in English? - Anna Ananichuk
How many different verb tenses are there in a language like English? At first, the answer seems obvious - there's past, present, and future. But it isn't quite that simple. Anna Ananichuk explains how thanks to something called...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Mysteries of vernacular: Zero - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel
Though the first written number system can be dated back to 2500 years ago in Mesopotamia, a zero-like symbol did not appear until 7th century CE India. Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel track the evolution of zero from a dot to the symbol...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The language of lying - Noah Zandan
We hear anywhere from 10 to 200 lies a day. And although we've spent much of our history coming up with ways to detect these lies by tracking physiological changes in their tellers, these methods have proved unreliable. Is there a more...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: A brief history of plural words - John McWhorter
All it takes is a simple S to make most English words plural. But it hasn't always worked that way (and there are, of course, exceptions). John McWhorter looks back to the good old days when English was newly split from German -- and...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: One of the most difficult words to translate... - Krystian Aparta
As simple as it seems, it's often impossible to accurately translate the word you without knowing a lot more about the situation where it's being said. Krystian Aparta describes the specific reasons why it can be difficult, citing...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Mysteries of vernacular: Tuxedo - Jessica Oreck
How did tuxedo's roots extend from Native American history to black tie evening wear? Jessica Oreck reveals what the Delaware Indians and formal fashion have in common.
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The world's most mysterious book - Stephen Bax
Deep inside Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library lies a 240 page tome. Recently carbon dated to around 1420, its pages feature looping handwriting and hand drawn images seemingly stolen from a dream. It is called the Voynich...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Mysteries of vernacular: Inaugurate - Jessica Oreck
From avian omens to the beginning of a new policy or the reign of a new politician, Jessica Oreck follows the flight path of the word inaugurate.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How computers translate human language - Ioannis Papachimonas
Is a universal translator possible in real life? We already have many programs that claim to be able to take a word, sentence, or entire book in one language and translate it into almost any other. The reality, however, is a bit more...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Mysteries of vernacular: Jade - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel
Now known for its beauty and green hue, the stone jade was previously thought to espouse magical properties, such as kidney treatment. Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel explain the word's travels from 15th century to Spain to today (and why...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Mysteries of vernacular: Window - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel
Metaphoric compounds, like the combination of the words wind and eye to represent a window, populated Norse and Old English. Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel describe how this love of metaphor created the word window.
SciShow
What Whistled Speech Tells Us About How the Brain Interprets Language
You can find groups of people from all over the world who communicate full conversation by whistling. And neuroscientists found how our brain works with whistled language is mind-blowing.
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Mysteries of vernacular: Dynamite - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel
With an explosive meaning, the word dynamite's past is as historical as it is etymological. Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel describe how Alfred Nobel invented dynamite.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Mysteries of vernacular: Robot - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel
In 1920, Czech writer Karel _apek wrote a play about human-like machines, thereby inventing the term robot from the Central European word for forced labor. Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel explain how the science fiction staple earned its...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Birth of a nickname - John McWhorter
Where do nicknames come from? Why are Ellens called Nellie and Edwards Ned? It's all a big misunderstanding from the early days of the English language, a misunderstanding that even the word nickname itself derives from. John McWhorter...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Mysteries of vernacular: Sarcophagus - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel
Dating back to the early Roman Empire, the word sarcophagus originally referred to the limestone a coffin was made of, rather than the coffin itself. From flesh-eating stone to a stone coffin, Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel unbury the...
Crash Course
How Does Language Move? Crash Course Geography
While we can’t explore every cultural trait in the world, language is an important system of spoken, signed, or written symbols humans use to express themselves. It’s a major marker of identity that often unites members of the same...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Mysteries of vernacular: Odd - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel
Whether we're talking all things unusual or mathematical, the origins of the word odd point to the Indo-European root uzdho, which means pointing upwards. Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel explain the evolution from the term for a triangle...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Mysteries of vernacular: Venom - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel
How did venom get its poisonous meaning? Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel follow venom from something to desire to explicit reasons for avoiding a snake.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why is there a "b" in doubt? - Gina Cooke
Say the word "doubt" aloud. What is that "b" doing there? Does it have any purpose? Gina Cooke explains the long and winding history of "doubt" and why the spelling, though it seems random, is a wink to its storied past.
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Mysteries of vernacular: Keister - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel
Originally meaning a woven container, the word keister has roots all over the place. The devil's tool box? Sure. A safe? That too. So, how did it become associated with the buttochs? Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel get to the bottom of...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Mysteries of vernacular: Gorgeous - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel
From whirlpools and ravines to superlative beauty, what is the trajectory of the word gorgeous? Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel reveal the surprising variations in meaning (and what turtleneck-like fashion has to do with it).