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Language nerd explains why so many negative words seem to start with the letter 'n'

It doesn't only happen in the English language.

@humanteneleven/Instagram

Why do so many negative words begin with the letter "n"?

Learning about language—whether diving into newfangled phrases taking over the current zeitgeist, or examining the unexpected threads that tie seemingly unrelated languages together throughout history—is endlessly fascinating. All at once, clues about humanity’s past, present, and future are revealed.

For instance, why do so many words with a negative connotation begin with the letter “n”? Sure, there are obvious exceptions, like nice, nifty, neat, etc., but when you think about not, never, nothing, nihilistic, nought, and yes, even the word negative itself…seems like a lot. Is this just an English language thing? Does the letter “n” have an inherently negative quality in our collective psyche? If so…why?

This was a topic recently tackled by etymology enthusiast @humanteneleven. In a short-and-sweet video, he explains that in the days of Old English, the word “ne,” meaning “not,” was used to negate, or give the opposite meaning, of virtually anything. N + one + “none,” n + either + "neither," and so on.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Even with English words that were borrowed from Latin, as well as other non-English languages like French, German, Russian, and Sanskrit, we see this pattern. That’s because the Proto-Indo-European language, the mother of all these languages, also used the word “ne” to negate meaning.

However, just to complicate things a bit, we also see this in languages that did not originate from Proto-Indo-European, like Japanese and Vietnamese. This prompted a linguist by the name of Otto Jespersen in the late 1880s to theorize that there must be some primal association of negative feelings with the “n” sound. According to him, it was carried over from when ancient humans scrunch up their nose in contempt, and the sound would follow. “The biological reaction of disgust is inherently nasal,” explained @humanteneleven.

Over a hundred years later, researchers tested the theory, and found that this correlation was more of a coincidence. Except in the case of Indo-European languages, who share that common linguistic ancestor.

Obviously, the biggest takeaway from all this is a new level of appreciation for the Knights that say Ni!

Ni The Knights Who Say GIFfrom Ni GIFs

By the way, if you’re curious as to what Proto-Indo-European might have sounded like, this video aims to scratch that itch.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

And if you’re interested in even more language deep dives, @humanteneleven has all kinds of gems like these.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

- YouTube www.youtube.com

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Be sure to give @humanteneleven a follow for even more etymology fun.

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How soldiers and sports helped create the cringey corporate jargon we all despise

Nobody likes it. But nobody can stop using it.

Photo credit: Canva

Something you've never thought about, but makes total sense.

“Circle back.” “Looping in.” “Deep dive.” If just reading these words gives you a visceral ick, odds are you’ve had at least one corporate job in your lifetime.

Even if you haven’t worked a 9-5, there are plenty of television shows—from comedies like The Office to dramas like Severance—that make references to corporate culture, including its bizarre and cringey buzzwords. So it’s definitely in the general zeitgeist for better or for worse. But how exactly did this annoying yet inescapable lingo come to be? To answer that question, we’re gonna need you to “think outside the box” and “touch base” with some forgotten history.

In a highly entertaining video shared by Storied as part of its Otherwords series, we learn that much of our well-known office speak can be traced back to the end of WWII, when businesses began prospering again and veterans traded their war uniform for suits and ties at ever expanding corporate conglomerates.

Office lingo, corporate culture, linguistics, language, language history, historyDon Draper, from 'Mad Men'media3.giphy.com

These former soldiers brought a lot of military jargon with them, which later transformed into office jargon. This is especially apparent in phrases like “boots on the ground” and “all-hands meeting” host Dr. Erica Brozovsky notes. You can even see how the psychology of business was heavily influenced by the military (think “sales tactics” and “rising through the ranks”).

But corporations didn’t just borrow from the battlefield. Sports terminology also played a big role in office linguistics. Here, Brozovsky uses the examples of something being in a person’s “wheelhouse,” which originally referred to the zone in which a baseball player could hit a home run, which we all know is another big corporate buzzword. Again, we see how society’s views of business in general shaped the jargon that became popular. As Brozovsky mentions, the use of sports phrases reflects the way that business was heavily seen as a competition.

The passing of time and trends would only give us more influences (the glamour of 60’s advertising would give us “run it up the flagpole,” followed by the Wallstreet-centric 80’s era bringing “leverage” and “low-hanging fruit”).

Office lingo, corporate culture, linguistics, language, language history, historyTrevor, from the sitcom 'Ghosts'media.giphy.com

Interestingly enough, a major trait of modern day corporate jargon is to convolute potential negative messages with softer, more passive words. For example, instead of telling someone they’re fired, a boss might say “there’s been some restructuring.” Although, some companies seem to be on the opposite side of the spectrum with the word "termination," which to me always sounds like they’re going to actually murder you for lackluster KPIs.

As for why we can’t seem to refrain from using corporate jargon, even if we do loathe it, Brozovsky explains that it mostly has to do with trying to exude an air of belonging, or to show status. This helps illustrate that folks who are on the lower rung of the corporate ladder might be more likely to use this jargon more often than those who are more seasoned, as a means to “compensate for their lack of experience.”

However, being the ultimate pattern disruptors that they are, 60% of Gen Zers plan to “eliminate” corporate buzzwords, according to a 2023 Linkedin survey. Brozovsky theorizes that this may be due to diving into a workplace culture that primarily takes place digitally, and therefore has less inherent pressure to “conform to longstanding norms like corporate jargon.”

But for now, we’ll put a pin in that hypothesis and see if it aligns with our values later on down the line. Thankfully, the knowledge packed in this video yielded a fantastic ROI, wouldn’t you agree?

As always, our psychology is reflected in our language. Almost nothing is as telling a time-capsule as the words we use to navigate our everyday lives. Even the most seemingly insignificant turn of phrase acts as a mirror to key aspects of our humanity and that's a fascinating thing to think about.

Watch the full video below:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

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Language expert gives incredible speech to high school students using only Gen Alpha slang

"Keep cooking, stay goated, never be mid."

YouTube, Canva

Xiaomanyc gives a speech to Alpha Gen for Language Week

With nearly 10 million subscribers/followers—and over one billion views across social media platforms—you may know Xiaomanyc 小马在纽约. He's a linguist who is so curious and immersed in other languages, he finds meaning in being able to speak to different cultures with depth.

His given name is Arieh Smith, and he's a 30-something New Yorker with an astonishing gift for communication. In short, he's a polyglot. According to Euronews they describe the "polyglot" as, of course, some fluent in French, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese, but also "dabbles in Yoruba, Navajo, Fuzhounese, Wolof, and Hindi."

He also speaks Portuguese, Yiddish (he's of Jewish Ashkenazi descent), Tamil, and Telugu alongside other Chinese dialects at a "conversational level." He even shocked some Dubliners by speaking Gaeilge that some native Irish didn't understand.

In fact, here he is "surprising strangers in every language."

Xiaomanyc 小马在纽约www.youtube.com

In an interview with Euro News Travel, he shares why learning Mandarin at an early age meant so much to him:

“I think the reason why I continued studying it to the extent that I did was… I got very positive feedback from Chinese people, very early on.”

The idea that he is able to connect with so many worldwide is meaningful to him. But it's equally important to those with whom he's connecting—especially in cultures where a language might be dying out.

"I think people want their culture to be seen and heard. If you know how to say something in their language — or if you even know that their country, culture, and food exist — it’s a sign of respect and people really appreciate that.”

If one can cross cultural and linguistic boundaries, why not generational ones too? When asked to speak at Westtown High School, he was up for the challenge. From his YouTube description:

"I was invited… as a language expert about the importance of learning languages, in front of a full auditorium of high school and middle school students. But instead of just telling the students why language matters… I decided to show them."


Dressed as a "nerdy professor," complete with bowtie and horn-rimmed glasses, he begins while the enthusiastic middle and high school kids restlessly listen. "A huge W to be vibing here at Westtown High School for Languages Week. But Chat, Chat, let's lock in. Bro came prepared."

The students begin to erupt with laughter.

He continues, "Now I know it's giving delulu for this chewby goober to speak in such Skibidi brain rot."

Now the audience seems totally sold.

"But if you'll bear with me, I'll put the fries in the bag in just a second. I do actually have a message here." (And then under his breath, he adds, "Type s--t.")

"No cap, I was dead ass pressed about learning this language, but I had to absorb the drip so I wouldn't get aired by your generation. High key, people think Gen Alpha slang is just memes and brain rot. But on God, it's giving a linguistic glow-up core, happening IRL."

"Every time you drop a GYAT or 'it's giving,' you're legit patching the English language DLC with fresh updates. Literally shifting the English meta. Language evolves because you're constantly cooking new ways to pass the vibe check. And honestly, your memes finna hit as the textbook vocab of tomorrow. Bet."

alpha generation, slang, linguistics, words, languageA woman says "it's giving..."Giphy, CocoJuice GIF

"And this is exactly why learning language hits different. Just like your casual Pookie talk could soon be the dictionary definition, picking up another language gives you front-row seats to how people around the world give the deets. It's like unlocking infinite drip. Allowing you to catch dubs across cultures, connect deeper with the squad and stan new perspectives that would otherwise leave you ghosted.

Languages aren't just sus grammar rules, fam. They're the ultimate Rizz for becoming a real one everywhere you pull up. It’s the GigaChad energy for me.

So knowing languages isn't mid. But it's not just a flex either. It's an infinite money glitch that slaps. People finna get pressed saying languages are chopped or too hard. Don't listen, Bestie, they're just salty because their language game is dog water. Being multilingual is OD. Letting you stan cultures, vibe with international fam, and utterly Mog your career. No cap, speaking another language lets you go off, turning you into an absolute conversation Rizzler.

So yeah Chat, that's the sauce. Keep cooking, stay goated, never be mid. And FR, study hard and go Rizz up that knowledge."

rizz, gen alpha, slang, language, lingustics A penguin winks Giphy, GIF by Pudgy Penguins

The crowd applauds uproariously. Just as if they were a small, tribal group hanging on to their traditional and unique way of communication, these kids seemed to enjoy being seen and understood. Also, they got a huge laugh out of a seminar they might have otherwise found boring. Bet.

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Why Americans pronounce 'street' as 'shtreet.' The unnecessary 'H' we can't stop saying.

Turns out Rs are the real weirdos causing all the trouble.

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Why Americans pronounce 'street' as 'shtreet' or 'schreet'

There are some things Americans will concede are strictly American. One of those things os the pronunciation of certain words. No matter the accent, English words are generally pronounced the same, with a few exceptions. The inflection may be different but the mechanics are the same. This isn't the case for words like "street."

Really, any word that requires the "str" combination somehow gets the "sh" sound thrown in there. It's something that's so normal for Americans we don't hear it, so this may sound made up. But British linguist Dr. Geoff Lindsey breaks down why American speakers pronounce the "str" sound with an "sh." It's like "h" is an invisible letter instead of a silent one. The mispronunciation is not just an American thing though, it's an English speaker thing and doesn't really discriminate based on regional accents.

linguistics; pronunciation; American accent; English accent; word pronunciation; speakingA group of friends at a coffee shop. Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

It would seem the simplest answer is ease of speaking. There are a lot of words that get hurried or pronounced more like you're speaking in cursive rather than annunciating clear individual words. It's faster and easier to cut words short or start them with less annunciation, especially when casually speaking. But when it comes to the "str" sound, it doesn't seem to matter how slowly you're trying to say the word combination. That sneaky "h" keeps popping up between the "s" and "t." Why is that?

Turns out it has more to do with the letter "r" than any of the other letters. Dr. Lindsey explains, "in languages around the world the 'r' is often a tap of the tongue tip just behind the upper front teeth. But English 'r' turns things upside down, literally upside down from the perspective of the international phonetic alphabet, because this is actually the precise symbol for English 'r' and we can add an extra topping to show that it's often made with the lips rounded."

This rounding of the "r" and lack of contact with the back of the front teeth makes the distance between the "t" and "r" an uncomfortable distance for the tongue to travel. When people who speak English pronounce the letter "r," they pull their tongue back, away from their teeth and the roof of their mouth. It's almost as if the tongue is suspended in the air so it doesn't touch anything else in your mouth. This area that the tongue hangs out in for the letter "r" is the same area we use to make combination sounds like "ch" and "sh."

In a recent TikTok video, a young woman wonders if people have always pronounced "street" like "shtreet" after realizing her friend seemed to be adding the "sh" sound, only to realize she too adds the "sh" sound. In response, Yuval, a content creator who explores multiple different topics, attempts to breakdown why people make the "sh" sound when pronouncing words with the blended consonants "str."

linguistics; pronunciation; American accent; English accent; word pronunciation; speakingWomen sitting on swings. Photo by Bewakoof.com Official on Unsplash

"What this comes down to is the fact that English 'Rs' are what we like to call in linguistics, very weird. You'll notice that your tongue has to make all of these peculiar movements to make that sound. More specifically, your tongue is further back in your mouth when you make an 'r' than it is when you make an 's.' So instead of saying that 's' directly, you pull your tongue back a bit and make an 's h' because the distance between and 's' and and 'r' is too great of a distance for your tongue to travel," Yuval points out.

He continues, "Now, some of you might be sitting there and thinking to yourself wait a minute that can't make any sense because in a word like street, directly between the 's' and the 'r' there's a 't' where your tongue is gonna have to be at the top of your teeth anyways, except no it won't because you're not gonna be saying a 't' at all," arguing that words that have the blended "tr" sound often become the blended "ch" sound when speaking. He then gives several examples.

@yuvaltheterrible

Replying to @Thomas Jefferson123 so yes dry January is also alliterative #language #linguistics #english #pronunciation

So why do we say words like "street" and "strong" like "shtreet" and "shtrong?" Distance. That's it. There's no secret deeper than people tend to use what is easiest to communicate efficiently. Cutting off the distance the tongue has to travel between the mid-mouth and the teeth in preparation to go from the "st" sound to the "r" sound is just easier. Some people might call it laziness but others might call it efficiency. Either way, stay shtrong out there, the shtreets are tough.

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