As of this writing, much of the world is forced to stay at home, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With no easy access to barbershops and hairstylists, many of us are contemplating […]
A Word for Self-Inflicted Haircuts
A Word for Book Collectors
Do you have a tendency to collect books but never get around to reading them? The Japanese have a word for you: tsundoku. Read more words we need. Read more fun facts about […]
Would You Use These Weirdly Named Products?
In marketing, deciding product’s name is the first big step to letting the world know why it needs that particular item. Unfortunately, the language barrier sometimes presents its own obstacles and sends […]
Did One Wrong Word Cause the Hiroshima Bombing?
Readers of Commonplace will not be surprised to learn that one little mistranslation from one language to another can be embarrassing. Whether it is one misplaced letter when cheering General Douglas MacArthur, an incompetent […]
Japanese, Finnish or Chinese? The 10 Hardest Languages for English Speakers to Learn
Reposted from Unbabel Blog Learning a new language is never an easy thing to do, but there are ways to make it easier. There are also ways to make it more […]
More Words We Need in English
As rich as the English language is, there are plenty of words in other languages that English has not yet adopted. In addition to these that have already appeared on these […]
One Little Letter Makes All the Difference
Japanese speakers frequently have difficulty differentiating between the English letters “L” and “R”. This was particularly evident in 1950 when supporters of General Douglas MacArthur (then serving as military governor of Japan […]
Commonplace Fun Facts 