The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “language”

To Do: Gertrude Stein’s Posthumous Alphabet Book
To Do: Gertrude Stein’s Posthumous Alphabet Book

“Don’t bother about the commas which aren’t there, read the words. Don’t worry about the sense that is there, read the words faster.”

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Animated Anatomy of Shakespearean Slurs
Animated Anatomy of Shakespearean Slurs

Heartless hinds, fishmongers, and lots of thumb-biting.

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Vowels: A Cinematic Homage to the Beauty of Language and Life
Vowels: A Cinematic Homage to the Beauty of Language and Life

A, E, I, O, U.

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Sparkle and Spin: A Clever 1957 Children’s Book About Words Illustrated by Iconic Designer Paul Rand
Sparkle and Spin: A Clever 1957 Children’s Book About Words Illustrated by Iconic Designer Paul Rand

A mid-century lens on the relationship between language and image, shape and sound, thought and expression.

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The Bomb and the General: Umberto Eco’s Vintage Semiotic Children’s Book About Peace and Environmental Wakefulness
The Bomb and the General: Umberto Eco’s Vintage Semiotic Children’s Book About Peace and Environmental Wakefulness

How symbols become symbols, or what keeping atoms in harmony has to do with language acquisition.

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Hippopposites: A Minimalist Lesson in Opposites and Aesthetics for Little Designers
Hippopposites: A Minimalist Lesson in Opposites and Aesthetics for Little Designers

Navigating the complex web of simple terms with the help of a red hippo.

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Ounce Dice Trice: Exploring the Whimsy of Words in Extraordinary Names for Ordinary Things
Ounce Dice Trice: Exploring the Whimsy of Words in Extraordinary Names for Ordinary Things

Cartography for the land of linguistic imagination.

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How Famous Words Originated, According to the Historical Oxford English Dictionary
How Famous Words Originated, According to the Historical Oxford English Dictionary

Hunting down five centuries of linguistic innovation.

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Wired for Culture: How Language Enabled “Visual Theft,” Sparked Innovation, and Helped Us Evolve
Wired for Culture: How Language Enabled “Visual Theft,” Sparked Innovation, and Helped Us Evolve

Why remix culture and collaborative creativity are an evolutionary advantage.

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E. B. White on Why Brevity Is Not the Gold Standard for Style
E. B. White on Why Brevity Is Not the Gold Standard for Style

“Writing is not an exercise in excision, it’s a journey into sound.”

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