Language is squishy and imprecise. Does “I think France will win the World Cup” mean you are near certain they will win, or does it…
THE META MEME
The world’s biggest meme is the word “meme” itself
The world is really into memes. Reddit has its own meme economy, a community that appraises new formats as if they were stocks. The World…
CHUM JETZE!
A graphical replay of the greatest tennis match ever played, 10 years later
Every sport has moments that, when mentioned, bring fans into a haze of dreamy nostalgia. Two people will, even if they are strangers, reminisce as…
IDENTITY-NEUTRAL
What Belgium’s World Cup team says about the spread of English across Europe
Linguistically, Belgium is complicated. The country is wedged between France, The Netherlands, and Germany. And so Belgians speak versions of French, Dutch, and German, depending…
PERDRE DU TERRAIN
UK students are slowly ditching French and German in favor of Spanish and Chinese
For a Brit trying to decide which foreign language to learn, French has long been an obvious choice. France is just across the English Channel,…
TAKE NO RISK
US border agents hacked their “risk assessment” system to recommend detention 100% of the time
US border agents use a computerized system to help make decisions about immigrants facing deportation. Given information about an immigrant—their criminal history, work status, likelihood…
MULTILINGUAL
The real language barrier between migrant children and the Americans detaining them
The US Department of Homeland Security has tried to assure the public that the migrant children it is detaining are well taken care of. “We…
NEWSPEAK
Immigrants are changing the way native Kansans speak English
The town of Liberal, population 20,000, lies on the southern edge of Kansas, right where your thumb would be if you grabbed Oklahoma by its…
SCHADENFREUDE FOR MEXICO
Luckily, the Germans have a word for “loss in an opening game”
Germany is dealing with the national shame of Auftaktniederlage. Or “loss in the first game of a competition,” that is. Germany’s first match of this…
ALL ABOUT THE O'HOOLIGANS
How soccer helped an ethnic slur take over Europe
The word “hooligan” is one of those that sounds oddly like the concept it describes. Just as “glitter” sounds shiny and “lump” sounds lumpy, “hooligan”…
WILLFUL SELF-DEALING
Read the NY attorney general’s corruption lawsuit against the Trump Foundation
“For more than a decade, the Donald J. Trump foundation has operated in persistent violation of state and federal law governing New York State charities.”…
SOUTH CHINA TEE
Buy now: Quartz’s “Indisputable Map of Southeast Asia” t-shirt
T-shirts in Asia are politically fraught. Last month, Gap, the US retailer, apologized to China for making a t-shirt with a map that didn’t include…
