Let’s be honest, we all use abbreviations,  “intentional misspellings, such as Xmas, thanx, boooring or overused punctuation marks... Maybe not with everyone and every context but sometimes they do come in handy to express what you are thinking when you are not directly in front of the other person. But has this “internet language” changed, or even ruined the English language? If you are interested in expert opinions, watch this excellent short documentary on English in the age of global communication.

- Kornelia Lasluisa

 

As a linguist, I have always been intrigued by words and their origin and one of my favorite birthday gifts was a etymology dictionary I got from my parents a long long time ago. Since my mother tongue is a one-of-a-kind language which was influenced by many occupying nations’ language throughout the centuries, I always question the origin of words but I am no longer surprised by the strange and exciting similarities between seemingly distant languages. Check out these maps to learn the origins of some popular words.