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Interesting article on how reading books and embracing seemingly looked down upon majors like music, literature and such help when writing codes.

news and opinion interactive journal for teens and college students (high-quality)

This opinion piece explains all people have accents. Accents are based off many different factors but our society believes there is a "native" and "non-native" voice.

Hillary CLinton's change in body language has played an important role in her turnaround. That's something that women notice more than men. But, as research shows, men as well as women make split-second, and often long-lasting, judgments about others based on how they carry themselves -- before even hearing them speak.

I love the way this guy writes about math. I really understand math as a language because of him. I wish I'd had him as a teacher.

By Paul H. Thibodeau and Lera Boroditsky "In five experiments, we have explored how these metaphors influence the way that we reason about complex issues and forage for further information about them. We find that metaphors can have a powerful influence over how people attempt to solve complex problems and how they gather more information to make "well-informed" decisions.... [D]ifferent metaphorical frames created differences in opinion as big or bigger than those between Democrats and Republicans."

"With Twitter and other microblogging platforms, teachers from elementary schools to universities are setting up what is known as a "backchannel" in their classes. The real-time digital streams allow students to comment, pose questions (answered either by one another or the teacher) and shed inhibitions about voicing opinions. Perhaps most importantly, if they are texting on-task, they are less likely to be texting about something else."

Although an opinion piece, this New York Times article, written by Arthur C. Brooks, cites several studies talking about how actively practicing gratitude can positively bolster our mood and outlook.

Because of the role they play in our thought processes, the metaphors we choose to use can dramatically impact people's perceptions in ways that have real-world consequences. Metaphors may also reinforce culturally-ingrained stereotypes.

In my humble opinion? In my honest opinion? Alexis Madrigal, the author, suggests how the dueling dual definitions came to be: "I'd say that IMHO, which developed as a way to reduce miscommunication through the indication of a lighthearted, ironic tone, became itself a form of miscommunication, as those unfamiliar with the original meaning backed into one, inserting honesty where humility once stood. IMHO, there is no debate. But it's the internet, so of course there is a debate."

I thought this was an interesting take on how language will be used online to fight for political causes

This article explains Trinidad Creole English, or TCE, from the perspective of a native TCE speaker. Karel Mc Intosh demonstrates her passion for TCE along with the challenges that come with it. TCE speakers love their "broken English." It is a part of their culture and identity. Although it is a comfortable way of conversing with each other, TCE speakers are looked down upon by those who do not understand it and are not used to it. This causes many TCE speakers to code switch, which means speaking with an accent in relaxed settings and speaking proper English in more formal settings. Intosh describes her experiences as a TCE speaker and states her opinion on the negative perception that follows it.

This opinion article entails accents, and how they are interpreted. The author, a Spanish immigrant who works at Dartmouth as a language professor claims that accents are universal. He states that everyone has an accent, but here in the US people who don't have the "normal" or "regular" accent are viewed as different. He goes on to say that Americans tend to discriminate against people with accents different from their own more than in other countries. He wants to remind people that accents are irrelevant, and urges people to accept all accents no matter how different from their own.

Benefits of Bilingualism and associated studies are discussed.

"'Lexical Warfare' is a phrase that I like to use for battles over how a term is to be understood. ... Over the past few years we've watched a lexical warfare battle slowly unfold in the treatment of the term 'hacktivism.' ... We are not passive observers in this dispute. The meaning of words is determined by those of us who use language, and it has consequences."

SINGAPORE - Is the government's war on Singlish finally over? Our wacky, singsong creole may seem like the poor cousin to the island's four official languages, but years of state efforts to quash it have only made it flourish. Now even politicians and officials are using it.

Re " A Dreaded School Test in France Becomes a Tool of Integration " (Fontenay-sous-Bois Journal, May 12): Several factors contribute to the necessity of retaining the dreaded dictation ( dict ée) as an essential tool in teaching the French language.

Some of the most binding rules in English are things that native speakers know but don't know they know, even though they use them every day. Adjectives, writes Mark Forsyth, author of _The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase_, "absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that order in the slightest you'll sound like a maniac." Mixing up the above phrase does, as Forsyth writes, feel inexplicably wrong (a rectangular silver French old little lovely whittling green knife…), though nobody can say why. It's almost like secret knowledge we all share. Learn the language in a non-English-speaking country, however, and such "secrets" are taught in meticulous detail.