Download or read book A Million Words And Counting How Global English Is Rewriting The World written by Paul J.J. Payack and published by Kensington Publishing Corp.. This book was released on 2012-03-01 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Babel to Babble . . . Everyone is Speaking English In 2007, the English language passed the million-word mark. That shouldn't come as a surprise since over a billion Earthlings speak English (no one knows about other planets, but they probably speak it, too). That makes for a lot of word-coiners (neologists) out there. And where are all these new words coming from? Hollywood? Technology? The Internet? Corporate boardrooms? Youthspeak? How do world events--from tsunamis and hurricanes to political doublespeak and presidential linguistic bumbling--influence the words we use on a daily basis? What do e-mails, text messages, and emoticons contribute to the language? Let WordMan Paul J.J. Payack take you on a global tour of English-speaking worlds--virtual and otherwise: • From India, Singapore, and China, to Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. • From film, television, fashion, music, politics, sports, games, business, technology and science • From TV junkies, fashionistas and sports fans, to amateur historians and linguists • And from every other source that contributes to the global tapestry of English Get ready for a whirlwind tour of our increasingly global culture and how it becomes that way. A Million Words? Fundoo! Podcast, Chinglish, truthiness, crunk. Just a year or two ago, these words were gibberish to most English speakers. Today they pop up in everyday conversation worldwide, just four of the ten thousand new words added to the English language every year. Spurred by the universality of the Internet--where it is the de facto lingua franca--and the global reach of its media, English is growing at a rate unprecedented in its 1500-year history. Indeed, in the spring of 2007, the English word count surpassed a million--over ten times the number available in French. At the crest of this linguistic tsunami surfs Paul J.J. Payack, aka the WordMan. As president of the Global Language Monitor, he has tracked the latest developments--the fascinating hybrids, the bizarre etymologies, the lasting malapropisms--in the language shared by two billion of the Earth's citizens. Aided by a worldwide network of similarly obsessed "language mavens" and armed with his own powerful word-counting algorithm, Payack ensures that no new English word falls from the tongue or marks the page without being counted toward the Million Word March. A Million Words and Counting is a celebration of the vast variety and ever-evolving expressiveness of humanity's most universal language. Fun and informative, this guide is a joyful exploration of English as it spreads across the globe, as it is spoken today, and as it expands into the future. Each entertaining chapter of this ambitious linguistic survey examines another source of new English, including Hollywood, youth culture, other languages, corporate boardrooms, and tongue-tied presidents. An engaging compendium of English-language facts and factoids, this is a trivia lover's goldmine and a logophile's playground.

Download or read book A Million Words and Counting written by Paul J. J. Payack and published by Citadel Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: English is growing at a rate unprecedented in its 1500-year history. Now, for the first time ever, a compendium of English language miscellany that identifies the most fascinating recent developments in the language, from the realms of entertainment, technology and business to the mixing of English with foreign languages. As president of the Global Language Monitor, author Paul Payack knows his stuff and includes fun facts about word origins and usage all over the globe.

Download or read book Thirty Million Words written by Dana Suskind and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-09-08 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The founder and director of the Thirty Million Words Initiative, Professor Dana Suskind, explains why the most important—and astoundingly simple—thing you can do for your child’s future success in life is to to talk to them. What nurtures the brain to optimum intelligence and stability? It is a secret hiding in plain sight: the most important thing we can do for our children is to have conversations with them. The way you talk with your growing child literally builds his or her brain. Parent talk can drastically improve school readiness and lifelong learning in everything from math to art. Indeed, parent–child talk is a fundamental, critical factor in building grit, self-control, leadership skills, and generosity. It is crucial to making the most in life of the luck you have with your genes. This landmark account of a new scientific perspective describes what works and what doesn't (baby talk is fine; relentless correction isn't). Discover how to create the best "language environments" for children by following the simple structure of the Three Ts: Tune In; Talk More; Take Turns. Dr. Suskind and her colleagues around the country have worked with thousands of families; now their insights and successful, measured approaches are available to all. This is the first book to reveal how and why the first step in nurturing successful lives is talking to children in ways that build their brains. Your family—and our nation—need to know. *Nominated for the Books for a Better Life Award*

Download or read book Making Numbers Count written by Chip Heath and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-01-11 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A clear, practical, first-of-its-kind guide to communicating and understanding numbers and data—from bestselling business author Chip Heath. How much bigger is a billion than a million? Well, a million seconds is twelve days. A billion seconds is…thirty-two years. Understanding numbers is essential—but humans aren’t built to understand them. Until very recently, most languages had no words for numbers greater than five—anything from six to infinity was known as “lots.” While the numbers in our world have gotten increasingly complex, our brains are stuck in the past. How can we translate millions and billions and milliseconds and nanometers into things we can comprehend and use? Author Chip Heath has excelled at teaching others about making ideas stick and here, in Making Numbers Count, he outlines specific principles that reveal how to translate a number into our brain’s language. This book is filled with examples of extreme number makeovers, vivid before-and-after examples that take a dry number and present it in a way that people click in and say “Wow, now I get it!” You will learn principles such as: -SIMPLE PERSPECTIVE CUES: researchers at Microsoft found that adding one simple comparison sentence doubled how accurately users estimated statistics like population and area of countries. -VIVIDNESS: get perspective on the size of a nucleus by imagining a bee in a cathedral, or a pea in a racetrack, which are easier to envision than “1/100,000th of the size of an atom.” -CONVERT TO A PROCESS: capitalize on our intuitive sense of time (5 gigabytes of music storage turns into “2 months of commutes, without repeating a song”). -EMOTIONAL MEASURING STICKS: frame the number in a way that people already care about (“that medical protocol would save twice as many women as curing breast cancer”). Whether you’re interested in global problems like climate change, running a tech firm or a farm, or just explaining how many Cokes you’d have to drink if you burned calories like a hummingbird, this book will help math-lovers and math-haters alike translate the numbers that animate our world—allowing us to bring more data, more naturally, into decisions in our schools, our workplaces, and our society.

Download or read book Elmore Leonard s 10 Rules of Writing written by Elmore Leonard and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "These are the rules I've picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I'm writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what's taking place in the story."—Elmore Leonard For aspiring writers and lovers of the written word, this concise guide breaks down the writing process with simplicity and clarity. From adjectives and exclamation points to dialect and hoopetedoodle, Elmore Leonard explains what to avoid, what to aspire to, and what to do when it sounds like "writing" (rewrite). Beautifully designed, filled with free-flowing, elegant illustrations and specially priced, Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing is the perfect writer's—and reader's—gift.

Download or read book 1 2 Can t Reach My Shoe written by Ross Petras and published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. This book was released on 2010-09-14 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1, 2, 3s of adulthood differ ever so slightly from the popular grade-school primers of yesteryear inside Ross and Kathryn Petras's 1, 2, Can't Reach My Shoe. This clever counting book for the middle-aged (which the United States Census Bureau defines as age 35 and above) is perfect for readers of a certain vintage who intend to grow old gracefully--and with a sense of humor. Featuring full-color, retro illustrations in a playful board book format, 1, 2, Can't Reach My Shoe makes an excellent, humorous gift for the more than 78.2 million baby boomers in the United States. Consider: * 3: When they were first going out in their twenties, Thaddeus and Theresa used to have sex THREE times each day. Now that they are middle-aged, they still have sex THREE times. A year. *: Hey, those don't look like numbers! And you're right. They are not numbers. They are symbols that are used with numbers . . . and they are all over middle-aged Milton's doctor's report. "It says I should have a total cholesterol 60. I should have LDL * 59 1/2: Today is a great day! It is Carl's FIFTY-NINTH-AND-A-HALF birthday! Carl usually wouldn't celebrate a half birthday, but this one is different. Since he has turned FIFTY-NINE-AND-A-HALF, he is getting a nice present from his Uncle Sam: his very first penalty-free IRA distribution!

Download or read book The Man on Mao s Right written by Ji Chaozhu and published by Random House. This book was released on 2008-07-15 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No other narrative from within the corridors of power has offered as frank and intimate an account of the making of the modern Chinese nation as Ji Chaozhu’s The Man on Mao’s Right. Having served Chairman Mao Zedong and the Communist leadership for two decades, and having become a key figure in China’s foreign policy, Ji now provides an honest, detailed account of the personalities and events that shaped today’s People’s Republic. The youngest son of a prosperous government official, nine-year-old Ji and his family fled Japanese invaders in the late 1930s, escaping to America. Warmly received by his new country, Ji returned its embrace as he came of age in New York’s East Village and then attended Harvard University. But in 1950, after years of enjoying a life of relative ease while his countrymen suffered through war and civil strife, Ji felt driven by patriotism to volunteer to serve China in its conflict with his adoptive country in the Korean War. Ji’s mastery of the English language and American culture launched his improbable career, eventually winning him the role of English interpreter for China’s two top leaders: Premier Zhou Enlai and Party Chairman Mao Zedong. With a unique blend of Chinese insight and American candor, Ji paints insightful portraits of the architects of modern China: the urbane, practical, and avuncular Zhou, the conscience of the People’s Republic; and the messianic, charismatic Mao, student of China’s ancient past–his country’s stern father figure. In Ji’s memoir, he is an eyewitness to modern Chinese history, including the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the Nixon summit, and numerous momentous events in Tiananmen Square. As he becomes caught up in political squabbles among radical factions, Ji’s past and charges against him of “incorrect” thinking subject him to scrutiny and suspicion. He is repeatedly sent to a collective farm to be “reeducated” by the peasants. After the Mao years, Ji moves on to hold top diplomatic posts in the United States and the United Kingdom and then serves as under secretary-general of the United Nations. Today, he says, “The Chinese know America better than the Americans know China. The risk is that we misperceive each other.” This highly accessible insider’s chronicle of a struggling people within a developing powerhouse nation is also Ji Chaozhu’s dramatic personal story, certain to fascinate and enlighten Western readers. A riveting biography and unique historical record, The Man on Mao’s Right recounts the heartfelt struggle of a man who loved two powerful nations that were at odds with each other. Ji Chaozhu played an important role in paving the way for what is destined to be known as the Chinese Century. Praise for The Man on Mao’s Right "Brave, beautifully written testimony . A true "fly-on-the-wall" account of the momentous changes in Chinese society and international relations over the last century." --Kirkus Reviews “It is a relief to read an account by an urbane and often witty insider who neither idolizes nor demonizes China's top leaders . . . . Highly recommended." —Library Journal, starred review

Download or read book Counting Colors Padded Board Book written by Roger Priddy and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2005-10-07 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents basic colors and the numbers from one to ten in illustrations featuring various camouflaged objects.

Download or read book Numbers and the Making of Us written by Caleb Everett and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2017-03-13 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A fascinating book.” —James Ryerson, New York Times Book Review A Smithsonian Best Science Book of the Year Winner of the PROSE Award for Best Book in Language & Linguistics Carved into our past and woven into our present, numbers shape our perceptions of the world far more than we think. In this sweeping account of how the invention of numbers sparked a revolution in human thought and culture, Caleb Everett draws on new discoveries in psychology, anthropology, and linguistics to reveal the many things made possible by numbers, from the concept of time to writing, agriculture, and commerce. Numbers are a tool, like the wheel, developed and refined over millennia. They allow us to grasp quantities precisely, but recent research confirms that they are not innate—and without numbers, we could not fully grasp quantities greater than three. Everett considers the number systems that have developed in different societies as he shares insights from his fascinating work with indigenous Amazonians. “This is bold, heady stuff... The breadth of research Everett covers is impressive, and allows him to develop a narrative that is both global and compelling... Numbers is eye-opening, even eye-popping.” —New Scientist “A powerful and convincing case for Everett’s main thesis: that numbers are neither natural nor innate to humans.” —Wall Street Journal

Download or read book A Brain for Numbers written by Andreas Nieder and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-11-19 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How our intuitive understanding of numbers is deeply rooted in our biology, traceable through both evolution and development. Humans' understanding of numbers is intuitive. Infants are able to estimate and calculate even before they learn the words for numbers. How have we come to possess this talent for numbers? In A Brain for Numbers, Andreas Nieder explains how our brains process numbers. He reports that numerical competency is deeply rooted in our biological ancestry; it can be traced through both the evolution of our species and the development of our individual minds. It is not, as it has been traditionally explained, based on our ability to use language. We owe our symbolic mathematical skills to the nonsymbolic numerical abilities that we inherited from our ancestors. The principles of mathematics, Nieder tells us, are reflections of the innate dispositions wired into the brain. Nieder explores how the workings of the brain give rise to numerical competence, tracing flair for numbers to dedicated “number neurons” in the brain. Drawing on a range of methods including brain imaging techniques, behavioral experiments, and twin studies, he outlines a new, integrated understanding of the talent for numbers. Along the way, he compares the numerical capabilities of humans and animals, and discusses the benefits animals reap from such a capability. He shows how the neurobiological roots of the brain's nonverbal quantification capacity are the evolutionary foundation of more elaborate numerical skills. He discusses how number signs and symbols are represented in the brain; calculation capability and the “neuromythology” of mathematical genius; the “start-up tools” for counting and developmental of dyscalculia (a number disorder analogous to the reading disorder dyslexia); and how the brain processes the abstract concept of zero.

Download or read book Simple First Words Let s Say Our Numbers written by Roger Priddy and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2012-12-31 with total page 14 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By pressing the buttons and matching the sounds to the pictures again and again, children will quickly and easily learn to count and develop their speech. Bright photographs and questions to encourage learning on every page make counting fun. Now with even clearer audio

Download or read book 8 Billion and Counting How Sex Death and Migration Shape Our World written by Jennifer D. Sciubba and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2022-03-29 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative description of the power of population change to create the conditions for societal transformation. As the world nears 8 billion people, the countries that have led the global order since World War II are becoming the most aged societies in human history. At the same time, the world’s poorest and least powerful countries are suffocating under an imbalance of population and resources. In 8 Billion and Counting, political demographer Jennifer D. Sciubba argues that the story of the twenty-first century is less a story about exponential population growth, as the previous century was, than it is a story about differential growth—marked by a stark divide between the world’s richest and poorest countries. Drawing from decades of research, policy experience, and teaching, Sciubba employs stories and statistics to explain how demographic trends, like age structure and ethnic composition, are crucial signposts for future violence and peace, repression and democracy, poverty and prosperity. Although we have a diverse global population, demographic trends often follow predictable patterns that can help professionals across the corporate, nonprofit, government, and military sectors understand the global strategic environment. Through the lenses of national security, global health, and economics, Sciubba demonstrates the pitfalls of taking population numbers at face value and extrapolating from there. Instead, she argues, we must look at the forces in a society that amplify demographic trends and the forces that dilute them, particularly political institutions, or the rules of the game. She shows that the most important skills in demographic analysis are naming and being aware of your preferences, rethinking assumptions, and asking the right questions. Provocative and engrossing, 8 Billion and Counting is required reading for business leaders, policy makers, and anyone eager to anticipate political, economic, and social risks and opportunities. A deeper understanding of fertility, mortality, and migration promises to point toward the investments we need to make today to shape the future we want tomorrow.

Download or read book Search Find Numbers written by Clever Publishing and published by Clever Publishing. This book was released on 2018-09-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This colorful multi-purpose padded board book contains Search & Find activities, exercises to learn number and colors, and an encyclopedia - all under one cover! Each spread features unique content that teaches children numbers through activities such as objects to find and questions to answer - all designed to stimulate logical and creative thinking. Children will easily grasp the concepts of numbers and colors, and learn new words as well. The toddler-friendly format with a padded cover, rounded corners, and thick cardboard pages is prefect for early readers.

Download or read book Richard Scarry s Best Counting Book Ever written by Richard Scarry and published by Random House. This book was released on 2025-01-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Busytown book about numbers! Willy Bunny has learned to count and he wants to practice with readers like you! A great way to introduce young children to numbers from 1 to 100. Willy Bunny loves to count! Kids can join him as he counts race cars, fire engines, trains, airplanes and more in this fun-filled number-themed Busytown storybook!

Download or read book One Potato written by Diana Pomeroy and published by HMH Books For Young Readers. This book was released on 2000 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A counting book which uses images of fruits and vegetables to illustrate numbers from one to one hundred and which also includes an explanation of how to do potato printing.

Download or read book Measuring Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition written by James Milton and published by Multilingual Matters. This book was released on 2009-10-06 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Measuring Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition provides an examination of the background to testing vocabulary knowledge in a second language and in particular considers the effect that word frequency and lexical coverage have on learning and communication in a foreign language. It examines the tools we have for assessing the various facets of vocabulary knowledge such as aural and written word recognition, the link with word meaning, and vocabulary depth. These are illustrated and the scores they produce are demonstrated to provide normative data. Vocabulary acquisition from course books and in the classroom in examined, as is vocabulary uptake from informal tasks. This book ties scores on tests of vocabulary breadth to performance on standard foreign language examinations and on hierarchies of communicative performance such as the CEFR.

Download or read book Word Court written by Barbara Wallraff and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2012-09-24 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The “witty and accessible” bestseller by the Atlantic Monthly editor who rules on linguistic disputes (San Francisco Chronicle). Atlantic Monthly senior editor Barbara Wallraff first began answering grammar questions on AOL in the 1990s, and the site’s success soon morphed into a regular magazine feature. In Word Court, Wallraff moves beyond her column to preside over common and uncommon cases, establishing rules for such issues as turns of phrase, slang, name usage, punctuation, and newly coined vocabulary. With true wit, she deliberates and decides on the right path for lovers of language, ranging from classic questions (is “a historical” or “an historical” correct?) to awkward issues (How long does someone have to be dead before we should all stop calling her “the late”?). The result is a warmly humorous, reassuring, and brilliantly perceptive tour of how and why we speak the way we do. “A logophile’s delight.” —San Diego Union-Tribune “Her approach to language is a beguiling mix of charm and research” —USA Today