Expectlabs

LATEST ARTICLES ( 118 )

• Why There is a "B" in Doubt

  

  What is the purpose of the silent “b” in doubt? Linguist Gina Cooke explains: “Doubt” comes from the Latin word, dubitare. Once it spread to French, it lost... Read more

  Posted on 19 June 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• Expect Labs at Future:Mobile 2013

  

  Today our CEO, Tim Tuttle, will be speaking on a panel about the future of search at Future:Mobile 2013, a conference sponsored by Rutberg & Company. Read more

  Posted on 18 June 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• A List of Esoteric Color Names

  

  If you ever felt like you lacked the words to describe a color, worry no more. We’ve collected a list of some obscure (yet very real) color names for use in... Read more

  Posted on 17 June 2013 INTERIOR DESIGN

• Arrested Development Wordplay

  

  Arrested Development has its own distinct language that most viewers can only fully comprehend with one finger constantly on the remote. Read more

  Posted on 14 June 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• A Joke About Avocados & Linguistics

  A wife asks her husband, “Could you please go shopping for me and buy one carton of milk, and if they have avocados, get 6.” A short time later the husband come... Read more

  Posted on 13 June 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• A Hierarchy of Disagreement

  

  In 2008, Paul Graham outlined a hierarchy of conversational elements to help people disagree more effectively online. The Internet has transformed... Read more

  Posted on 12 June 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• The Linguistic Secret to a Good Date

  What conversational behaviors lead to meaningful dates? According to a new study in the American Journal of Sociology, interrupt a lot but hold off on the... Read more

  Posted on 11 June 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• A Hella Interesting History of "Hella"

  

  “Hella” is one hella interesting part of California slang lore. The Oxford English Dictionary traces “hella” back to at least 1987, when the Toronto Star... Read more

  Posted on 10 June 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• Are You a Conversation Bore?

  

  Martine’s Hand-book of Etiquette, and Guide to True Politeness contains some timeless wisdom on social etiquette that is sometimes left by the wayside in today’... Read more

  Posted on 06 June 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• The Letters in Don Quixote

  

  Which pairs of letters are used the most in different languages? The above visualization shows the number of times each pair of letters appears in Cervantes’ Do... Read more

  Posted on 05 June 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• The Meme-ification of "Lean In"

  

  “Lean in” has leaned so far it’s nearly horizontal. It all started in Sheryl Sandberg’s 2010 TED talk, when she famously remarked that too many women were... Read more

  Posted on 04 June 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• Why Context Rules

  

  If someone said to you, “I saw the man on the hill with a telescope,” how would you interpret the sentence? I saw the man. The man was on the hill. The man had ... Read more

  Posted on 03 June 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• The Staying Power of Slang

  

  Is there a linguistic formula for how slang survives? Connie Eble is a linguist at the University of North Carolina who has been collecting slang from her... Read more

  Posted on 31 May 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• The United States of Autocomplete

  

  Renee DiResta was curious about what stereotypes Americans pinned on other states during last... Read more

  Posted on 30 May 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• Word Survival Skills

  

  In an effort to better understand why certain words remain after thousands of years, Mark Pagel from the University of Reading measured 200 words that shared a... Read more

  Posted on 29 May 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• How Typing Changes Language

  

  A few typing techniques mapped by Data Pointed. Click through for more. A keyboard’s asymmetrical layout may be influencing our feelings toward words. Read more

  Posted on 28 May 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• The Language of (New) Math

  

  New Math is a series created by Craig Damrauer that uses the language of math equations to make complex words and concepts simple. Read more

  Posted on 24 May 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• What People Talk About on Facebook

  

  It’s more than you ever wanted to know, but also, everything you ever wanted to know. Stephen Wolfram’s recent analysis of over a million people’s Facebook... Read more

  Posted on 23 May 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• Making Visual Sense of App Usage

  

  What remains after using an app? Fingerprints. George Kokkinidis of Design Language decided to take a unique look at UIs by examining the smudges left after... Read more

  Posted on 21 May 2013 COMPUTING, TECH

• The Language of Fantasy Worlds

  

  Dothraki is a real language created for a world of complete fantasy. Linguist David Peterson invented the language specifically to add texture to the Dothraki... Read more

  Posted on 20 May 2013 COMPUTING, TECH