World Freedom Day has been designated in 2001 by then US President George W. Bush to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall. The date is not so much about the wall itself though, but more about what it symbolised: the end of communism in both Central and Eastern Europe. This special day was created to celebrate the reunification of…
On October 29th, we celebrate the most important invention in human history: the Internet. In 1969, on that day the first Internet transmission ever had succeeded. While the Internet may not have been possible without a million other monumental inventions that came before it, it’s hard to find any other invention with such a monumental impact on mankind, having changed…
Do you see what I see? Languages don’t all have the same number of terms for colours. English has 11 basic colour words, while some languages have 12. Other languages lack many “colours” we know, while some cultures don’t use colours in the same way we do and rather distinguish colours by “hot” vs. “cold”, some by “wet” vs. “dry”,…
On National Dictionary Day on 16 October, America honours the birthday of Noah Webster, the word lover who thought Americans should have their own dictionary since all English-language dictionaries came from England. It’s a day to celebrate the power, practicality, and playfulness of language itself. There is indeed power in language, in the command of a broad vocabulary consisting of…
The UN General has proclaimed 23 September as the International Day of Sign Languages in order to raise awareness of the importance of sign language in the full realization of the human rights of people who are deaf. Sign languages convey meaning visually, using fingerspelling systems, known as manual alphabets. These were invented so that words could be transferred from…
The 8th of September was proclaimed International Literacy Day by the UNESCO in 1966 to remind the international community of the importance of literacy for individuals, communities and societies as a matter of dignity and human rights, and the need for intensified efforts towards more literate societies. International Literacy Day 2020 will focus on ‘Literacy teaching and learning in the…
This stray dog visited a Hyundai dealership every single day, where it would constantly hang around the showroom. The local staff soon realised that the sweet pup had nowhere else to go, and during one particularly stormy and rainy night they decided to take the friendly dog in. The next day they named it ‘Tucson Prime’. Initially, the showroom took…
Did you know that the notion of left-handedness as being “wrong” is embedded in our language already? For example, the adjective ‘sinister’ comes from the Latin ‘sinestra’ or ‘left hand’. Wonder what it’s like to see the world from a “left-handed” point of view? US Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were/are left-handed. Or there are artists Leonardo Da…
+44 (0)20 3290 3100
hello@avalon-linguistic.com