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Language Matters

Language Matters
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Language Matters. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
Egg tarts from the now closed Gold Garden Cafe in Cheung Sha Wan, Hong Kong. The Cantonese name for the tarts, daan tat, has entered the Oxford English Dictionary. Photo: Jelly Tse
Food and Drinks

Language Matters | Daan tat, ice kachang: how Asian foods are making their way into global English

The latest updates to the Oxford English Dictionary reflect the strong influence Asian cuisines have on the English language.

History

Language Matters | Amid new oil crisis, how the word ‘oil’ evolved from its food-based origins

Chinese culture

Language Matters | Gen Z loves ‘Chinamaxxing’, but where does ‘maxxing’ come from?

Greenland

Language Matters | How Greenland’s language is just as invaluable as its minerals and oil

Greenlandic has been an emblem of identity as the territory advanced to political autonomy and has given us words like igloo and anorak.

Locals stand on a snowy shoreline at dusk in Nuuk, Greenland. Greenland’s linguistic heritage reflects Inuit history and the territory’s evolving autonomy through the years. Photo: AFP
Pop culture in Asia

Language Matters | Senpai, bingsu, ramyeon: new Korean and Japanese words in the OED

The latest additions to the Oxford English Dictionary include many words and phrases from popular Korean and Japanese culture.

American cinema

Language Matters | How the word avatar went from visiting gods to video games and sci-fi films

An avatar was the earthly incarnation of a Hindu god, and seen in other religions. Today, it’s a well-known word in films and video games.

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Chinese culture

Language Matters | Word of the Year 2025 choices reflect how virtual our reality has become

From Oxford’s ‘rage bait’ to Macquarie Dictionary’s ‘AI slop’, 2025 WOTYs show the influence of the virtual world on our daily lives.

Word of the Year 2025 choices around the world – including Oxford’s “rage bait” and Cambridge Dictionary’s “parasocial” – reflect the increasing influence that artificial intelligence has on everyday life. Photo: Shutterstock
Chinese culture

Language Matters | The enduring legacy of bamboo, a symbol of resilience and strength in Asia

Bamboo is used in everything from construction to food throughout Asia, and even lends itself to global concepts like the ‘bamboo curtain’.

Climate change

Language Matters | Why language loss in indigenous communities hurts biodiversity conservation

Ecosystem loss and language erosion often occur in tandem. Thankfully, Cop30 marked an unprecedented effort to elevate indigenous voices.

Gen Z

Language Matters | What’s the story behind Gen Alpha’s ‘6-7’? More meaning than you think

The Gen Alpha phrase ‘6-7’ was named word of the year by Dictionary.com. We look at its origins and how people use it to create community.

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Dictionary.com’s word of the year “6-7” is a popular phrase among Gen Alpha. Photo: AP
United Nations

Language Matters | How multilingualism can help us work towards global peace and tolerance

Inclusion of and support for diverse languages are crucial for fulfilling goals of tolerance, peace, justice and building a future together.

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Multilingualism is vital for global cooperation, says Lisa Lim, and it has developed to be a core UN value. Photo: Shutterstock
Super Typhoon Ragasa

Language Matters | How does a typhoon get its name? And who gets to choose?

The naming of typhoons, hurricanes and cyclones may seem random but strict procedures govern their titles.

Super Typhoon Ragasa

Language Matters | Where does the word ‘typhoon’ come from? It’s not what you might think

‘Typhoon’ is popularly ascribed to similar-sounding Cantonese and Mandarin words, but this is a more recent formulation.

Chinese culture

Language Matters | How the Hungry Ghost Festival has roots in Buddhism and Daoism

Celebrated in the seventh lunar month, the Hungry Ghost Festival is a time to appease and honour ancestors and restless spirits.

People burn joss money and offerings in Hong Kong during the 2024 Hungry Ghost Festival. Photo: Edmond So
Chinese culture

Language Matters | ‘Good English’? No thanks, Singaporeans are officially embracing Singlish

From ‘blur like sotong’ to shiok, the use of Singlish, once explicitly discouraged, is now celebrated in Singapore – as it should be.

A sign in Singlish. Singlish, once discouraged, now thrives in the city state. Photo: Handout
Fashion

Language Matters | How the kebaya became a symbol of heritage throughout Southeast Asia

The Unesco-listed garment is proudly worn from Indonesia to Malaysia, its name revealing centuries of cultural exchange with Asia and Europe.

Food and Drinks

Language Matters | Where did lychees come from and why are they an auspicious Chinese symbol?

The fruit’s Chinese name gave us the English word ‘lychee’, while wordplay bestowed upon it auspicious connotations.

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Chinese culture

Language Matters | What to know about intangible cultural heritage amid Hong Kong celebrations

With Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Month in full flow, a look at ICH’s five main domains and the importance of linguistic heritage.

The annual Mid-Autumn Festival fire dragon dance is performed in Tai Hang, Hong Kong on September 16, 2024. The fire dragon dance is listed on the Representative List of the ICH of Hong Kong, under social practices, rituals and festive events. Photo: Dickson Lee
Food and Drinks

Language Matters | How whisky took its name from the Gaelic ‘water of life’

‘Whiskie shall put our brains in rage’, a phrase in a 1715 book, marked the first appearance in English of the term for the distilled drink.

Religion

Language Matters | At conclave to choose a new pope arcane rituals, proclamations in Latin

Lisa Lim decodes the Latin terms that will pepper the coming conclave of cardinals in Vatican City to elect a successor to Pope Francis.

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Easter

Language Matters | Where the word ‘Easter’ comes from and how only 2 European languages use it

‘Easter’ is found in English and German but in most other European languages the word for the festival comes from old words for ‘Passover’.

An Easter postcard from 1907.
Sex and relationships

Language Matters | The manosphere and its lexicon explained after Adolescence

The Netflix TV series introduced many to the language of toxic masculinity, from incel to red pills and blue pills. But misogyny is not new.

Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller in Adolescence. The Netflix limited series introduced viewers to the language of contemporary toxic masculinity. Photo: courtesy of Netflix
Books and literature

Language Matters | Poetry ‘a luxury we cannot afford’? Singapore and world have moved on

Lee Kuan Yew’s maxim that poetry was an unaffordable luxury was of its time. These days it is widely appreciated, and not just in Singapore.

History

Language Matters | Trump tramples human rights with order on use of English language

US president’s revoking of a Clinton-era order to provide language assistance to poor speakers of English appears to flout a UN declaration.

Chinese culture

Language Matters | Why minority languages matter for learning and culture

Most people grow up hearing two or more languages spoken around them, yet many abandon their mother tongues for languages used more widely.

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Ethnic-minority children in Hong Hong receive Chinese-language tuition. Dozens of mother tongues are spoken in the city, but the government promotes literacy in Chinese and English. Photo: Cindy Sui
Valentine's Day

Language Matters | How the heart became the universal symbol of love

On Valentine’s Day hearts are everywhere – on cards, cakes, balloons and emojis – but when were they first used to symbolise love?

A couple photograph themselves in front of balloons in a heart shape in a shopping mall in Wuhan, central China, on Valentine’s Day in 2021. Photo: Getty Images
Chinese culture

Language Matters | Where English got the word ‘snake’, and ‘eating snake’ in Singapore

The root words of snake and serpent mean ‘a creeping thing’. Most snake sayings are negative, including a Singlish loan phrase from Hokkien.

Generation Alpha

Language Matters | You may hate words like ‘skibidi’, but they define Gen Z and Gen Alpha

It would not be very demure of you to whine about Gen Z/Alpha slang like ‘rizz’ or ‘skibidi’ – these are words shaped by shared experiences.

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