Within a year, rebel slaves had taken over a third of Hispaniola. Ten years of brutal fighting later, Haiti became the first independent nation in Latin America and the only nation ever successfully founded by a slave rebellion.
An exonym is a name given to people, places, or languages by an outside source. A clear example is the Berber people of Africa, who were named after “barbaria,” which is the Greek word for “land of the barbarians” and referred to all non-Greek nations.
You have likely heard the term “saving face” in regards to maintaining some sort of dignity or reputation following a negative event. The sociologist Erving Goffman borrowed from the previously informal phrase for […]
Have you ever felt bulldozed by someone who kept interrupting with a story that only vaguely relates to the one you were just trying to tell? Or maybe you feel like you’re always trying to get your co-worker to tell you about their weekend but it feels like pulling teeth, and you think, “Okay, they just don’t want to talk to me.”
“I always enjoyed watching Bill Clinton dial up his southern-fried accent as needed for a barbecue or down for a speech to the United Nations. But I cringed just as much watching Hillary Clinton try to do the same.”
The Layman's Linguist 