Planet Word Museum https://planetwordmuseum.org/ The museum where language comes to life Wed, 20 Mar 2024 19:36:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://planetwordmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/cropped-PW_Logo_BLUE_circle-2-1-32x32.png Planet Word Museum https://planetwordmuseum.org/ 32 32 From the Andes to the Big Apple, Keeping an Indigenous Language Alive: Q&A with the Quechua Collective https://planetwordmuseum.org/from-the-andes-to-the-big-apple-keeping-an-indigenous-language-alive-qa-with-the-quechua-collective/ Wed, 06 Mar 2024 15:57:34 +0000 https://planetwordmuseum.org/?p=8182 With up to about 10 million speakers, Quechua (also known as Runasimi, or “people’s language”) is the most widely spoken Indigenous language of the Americas, and it is an official…

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]]> Choosing the 2023 Word of the Year: Q&A with Ben Zimmer and Kelly Wright https://planetwordmuseum.org/choosing-the-2023-word-of-the-year-qa-with-ben-zimmer-and-kelly-wright/ Thu, 18 Jan 2024 21:43:25 +0000 https://planetwordmuseum.org/?p=8015 Since 1990, the American Dialect Society has annually unveiled a Word of the Year — a newly prominent word that reflects significant events, societal shifts, and prevailing themes over the…

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]]> From the Founder: Losing Iowa https://planetwordmuseum.org/from-the-founder-losing-iowa/ Thu, 30 Nov 2023 21:17:19 +0000 https://planetwordmuseum.org/?p=7928 I’m from Iowa originally, and being a smallish, quiet state, there was never much to brag about — no professional sports teams, no especially big cities, no astounding geological spectacles…

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]]> From the Founder: Putting Aside Words as Weapons https://planetwordmuseum.org/from-the-founder-putting-aside-words-as-weapons/ Mon, 20 Nov 2023 19:02:50 +0000 https://planetwordmuseum.org/?p=7893 This has been an incredibly hard few weeks for people who care about people, who work for peace, who strive to promote tolerance and understanding…and for people who care about…

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]]> Singular “They” and Language Beyond the Gender Binary: Q&A with Kirby Conrod https://planetwordmuseum.org/singular-they-and-language-beyond-the-gender-binary-qa-with-kirby-conrod/ Wed, 01 Nov 2023 16:18:42 +0000 https://planetwordmuseum.org/?p=7782 With nonbinary and trans identities becoming more mainstream, pronouns have increasingly become a hot topic — particularly singular “they,” which is favored by many nonbinary people. While singular “they” has…

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]]> Language Changes…and So Does Everything Else https://planetwordmuseum.org/from-the-founder-language-changes-and-so-does-everything-else/ Tue, 05 Sep 2023 18:49:19 +0000 https://planetwordmuseum.org/?p=7547 One of the founding principles of Planet Word was that language, most notably English, is always changing, and that we should celebrate its vitality and not attempt to prevent its…

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