Expectlabs

LATEST ARTICLES ( 401 )

• Expect Labs at TV of Tomorrow

  Expect Labs’ CEO will be discussing natural user interfaces at the TV of Tomorrow Show, a conference that explores the interactive television experience across... Read more

  Posted on 26 June 2013 LANGUAGES, TECH

• A Vintage Vision of Sound

  

  Take a trip back in time with Age of Power and Wonder, a set of collectible infographics that were inserted into cigarette packs in the thirties. Read more

  Posted on 25 June 2013 LANGUAGES, TECH

• How Teens Hack Language

  

  Recent research from Pew’s Internet American Life Project says that 58% of teenage Facebook users dupe their authority figures through language laced with... Read more

  Posted on 24 June 2013 LANGUAGES, TECH

• The Great "Geek" Vs. "Nerd" Debate

  

  What is the true difference between a “geek” and a “nerd?” Both terms are associated with a deep obsession with a subject, but there are subtle differences... Read more

  Posted on 21 June 2013 LANGUAGES, TECH

• Do All Seagulls Look Like Emmas?

  

  Do all words have an innate connection to certain images and ideas? In the 1920s, Gestalt psychologist Wolfgang Köhler read a poem by Christian Morgenstern... Read more

  Posted on 20 June 2013 LANGUAGES, TECH

• 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 SCIENCE

• 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 ENTERTAINMENT, TV & VIDEO

• 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 FOOD & DRINK, HUMOR

• 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 SCIENCE

• 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 LANGUAGES

• 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 LANGUAGES

• 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