Who Put The '-Stan' In Afghanistan?

Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
Why do so many countries end in '-stan'?

15 Professions With Strange And Wonderful Names

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Do you know what a weirkeeper does? Or a chandler? A haberdasher? Historical employment records are full of fantastic job titles that don't often show up in today's classifieds.
Here are 15 professions with very interesting names.

Become A Second Language Tutor

How about as the first language?

(via Criggo)

10 Loud Places That Are Actually Nice And Quiet

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Loudville, Screamer, Hoop and Holler Bend, Yellville. These are actual town names. Noisy town names. But most of them are simply nice, quiet places - with very loud names.

Disease Maps Pinpoint Origin Of Indo-European Languages

Biologists using tools developed for a technique normally used to study the evolution and spread of disease say that they have solved a longstanding problem in archaeology: the origin of the Indo-European family of languages. The family includes English and most other European languages, as well as Persian, Hindi and many others.

English, Dutch, Spanish, Russian, Greek and Hindi might all sound very different, but there are many commonalities, such as the Dutch moeder, Spanish madre and Russian mat, all of which mean mother. On this basis, researchers have concluded that more than a hundred languages across Europe and the Middle East, from Iceland to Sri Lanka, stem from a common ancestor.

Scientist have found decisive support for an Anatolian (the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of Turkey) origin. Both the timing and the root of the tree of Indo-European languages fit with an agricultural expansion from Anatolia beginning 8,000 to 9,500 years ago.

(thanks Cora)

10 Most Impressive Polyglots In World History

Polyglotism is the ability to speak several languages with a high degree of proficiency. There is no consensus on exactly how many languages a person has to speak to be a polyglot. One could say 'four or more,' since speakers of two or three languages are commonly called bilingual and trilingual, respectively.

Throughout history, a few intrepid language enthusiasts have taken on the challenge of learning not one or two but dozens of languages. A few have even purportedly mastered as many as 100 distinct languages and dialects. Learn more about a few of these astonishing language learners, who just might inspire you to step up your own language learning game.

Why Misquotations Catch On

You've probably heard the phrase 'Beam me up, Scotty'. Or Humphrey Bogart's iconic 'Play it again, Sam'. They were never actually uttered. In the world of speeches and orations, especially historical ones, the persistent misquotation is understandable. If you're a journalist - especially in the pre-recording age, when all notes were taken by hand - you might then type that mis-remembrance into an article. Multiple versions circulate. And so on.

But in the modern age, where basically everything is track-downable, what's our excuse? Why do misquotes arise - and why are they so persistent and hard to eradicate?