Linguistics

More Than Mere Words: A Look at Appropriated Linguistic Harassment

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Last month, during the State of the Union address, a Georgia representative wore a shirt with the phrase “say her name” to illustrate her support of stronger border security, laws against undocumented immigrants in the US, and to push the false narrative that undocumented people are more of a threat than US citizens. However, we need to take a moment to call her actions out as what they are: appropriated linguistic harassment. A New Definition If you are saying to yourself, “I’ve never heard of that,” it’s because I made it up. It is the combination of “linguistic harassment” (the use of … Read more

Our Language Taught Us to Misinterpret the Bible: How English is a Theological Language

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One thing that post-Enlightenment Christianity has tried to defend is the idea that it is possible to come to a perfect understanding of the Bible, and thus God and theology. In many ways, this view has led to a plethora of issues that we face in western culture today as we, as a culture, often believe we are doing things the “correct” way. However, the unfortunate truth is, due to linguistics and linguistic psychology, it is virtually impossible for English-speaking Westerners to understand biblical concepts in their original meanings. The thing about English is that is has grown and changed … Read more