The wind was too strong to wind the sail
Two winds, one sentence, zero warning. A look at English heteronyms — words that share the same spelling but differ in sound and meaning.
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The Manifesto
The Zhonglish Manifesto: Why English needs reform, and the argument for a fairer global language.
Your Language Is a CAPTCHA — The Cognitive Chaos of English Abbreviations
English abbreviations are not shortcuts. They are cognitive landmines, social gatekeepers, and a regressive tax on non-native speakers. It is time to retire the ones that refuse to become words.
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If You Have to Explain How to Pronounce Your Company Name, Your Language Has Failed
Grok. Claude. Lyft. Flickr. Every startup name is a gamble on whether anyone can read it. The problem is not the branding. The problem is English.
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I Have a Dream
I dream of an English that plays fair. One where a seven-year-old reads as fluently as a Finnish child, where all verbs take -ed, and where every retired word gets a card in a library, not a deletion.
What Are Irregular Verbs For? A Serious Question English Has Avoided for a Thousand Years
Two hundred English verbs refuse to follow the -ed rule. They encode no extra meaning. They follow no pattern. They exist because the sound changes that created them died a thousand years ago—and nobody swept up.
The Hidden Cost of English Spelling: Two Extra Years to Read a Stop Sign
English-speaking children take two to three years longer to learn to read than children in Italy, Finland, or Spain. The difference is not the children. It is the language.
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Eleven Broke English. Then It Broke Arithmetic.
Chinese children breeze through the multiplication table while English-speaking kids are still learning to spell numbers. The difference is not cultural. It is structural.
Eleven Broke English. Then It Broke Arithmetic. Read More »
The Silent D: Django and the Most Useless Letter in Cinema History
The first letter of Django is silent. It has a lot in common with group project partners and empty closets.
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Chinglish is Ugly. Zhonglish is the Future.
Chinglish happens when Chinese speakers fail at English. Zhonglish happens when they choose their own. One is an accident. The other is a voice. Welcome to the future of English.
Chinglish is Ugly. Zhonglish is the Future. Read More »
The Jargon Barrier — Words That Gatekeep Instead of Communicate
There is a version of English spoken in courtrooms, boardrooms, and academic journals. It is dense. It is expensive. And it is almost entirely unnecessary.
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