Менспле́йнинг (англ. mansplaining) — мужская, сексистская, упрощённая и самоуверенная манера объяснять женщинам то, что им и так известно. President Vladimir Putin appeared to be channeling the stereotype of Russia’s uneducated working classes this week when he mocked and patronized an experienced American business journalist. Unleashing his inner gopnik during an on-stage interview, he claimed she must be too “beautiful” to understand his complex argument.

Infotainment (a portmanteau of information and entertainment), also called soft news as a way to distinguish it from serious journalism or hard news, is a type of media, usually television or online, that provides a combination of information and entertainment. The term may be used disparagingly to devalue infotainment or soft news subjects in favor of more "serious" hard news subjects. Infotainment-based websites and social media apps are gaining traction due to their focused publishing of infotainment content, e.g. BuzzFeed.

Not long ago I ran across another unexpected use of the term shibboleth. We were working with a feature that allows you to sign in to your organization's site—to a corporate web site or a university site—and from there, get access to external sites like the payroll site or an inter-library site. One prominent product that permits this sort of "single sign-on," as it's called, is named Shibboleth. This struck me as a perfect name for software that helps determine whether you are who you say you are. It's frightening to think about a situation in which what you say or how you say it could have a serious effect on your health. I imagine that most of us have failed a shibboleth test at one time or another in our lives. Fortunately, the worst effect has probably simply been to be labeled as an outsider. https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/wc/you-say-to-mah-to-everyday-shibboleths/

Both the Orange and February revolutions were attempts to break out of the deadlock, but they only exacerbated the problems and further destabilised what was already a weak state. The economy would need massive external support to survive, let alone to restructure, while the polity was eroded by corruption, arbitrariness and state capture. Rather than acting as an independent adjudicator ruled by law, the state became an instrument in the struggle for the right to determine what it is to be Ukrainian and to redistribute property, resources and rents. (Richard Sakwa. Frontline Ukraine)

Western scholarship adopted this prejudiced attitude to every piece of knowledge written in Slavic languages many years ago, Such a grumble of scandalous arrogance has never emerged in the East.

The government of the United Kingdom announced July 31 its plans to invest millions of pounds in the development of improved foreign language programs for the country’s students. In addition to announcing further investments into pre-existing programs for Mandarin, French, German, and Spanish, the country is also introducing the Latin Excellence Programme, which will increase the amount of Latin courses offered at the country’s state schools. “We know Latin has a reputation as an elitist subject which is only reserved for the privileged few. But the subject can bring so many benefits to young people, so I want to put an end to that divide,” said Gavin Williamson, the country’s education secretary. “Latin can help pupils with learning modern foreign languages, and bring broader benefits to other subjects, including maths and English.” https://multilingual.com/latin-united-kingdom/

"For many people with dementia, the first sign that something’s wrong is a change in how they speak. They might struggle to find a word, repeat themselves, or stumble and hesitate. For those who know more than one language, like my dad did, the picture can be even more complicated." In Radio 4's Lost for Words, David Shariatmadari explores the science of language, dementia and ageing as he reflects on his own father’s experience. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/xCg43nmYHPRgFTM4hj7t7m/lost-for-words-what-happens-to-language-in-the-onset-of-dementia

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Do you want me to keep answering? KEIR SIMMONS: In America, we call what you're doing now "whataboutism." "What about this? What about that?" It's a way of not answering the question. Whataboutism, also known as whataboutery, is a variant of the tu quoque logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent's position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument. According to Russian writer, chess grandmaster and political activist Garry Kasparov, "whataboutism" is a word that was coined to describe the frequent use of a rhetorical diversion by Soviet apologists and dictators, who would counter charges of their oppression, "massacres, gulags, and forced deportations" by invoking American slavery, racism, lynchings, etc. Whataboutism has been used by other politicians and countries as well. Whataboutism is particularly associated with Soviet and Russian propaganda. When criticisms were leveled at the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the Soviet response would often use "and what about you?" style by instancing of an event or situation in the Western world. The idea can be found in Russian language: while it utilizes phrase "Sam takoi" for direct tu quoque-like "you too"; it also has "Sam ne lutche" ("not better") phrase.

Globally, non-native speakers of English outnumber native speakers three to one, although defining the term ‘native English speaker’ is complicated. The term usually refers to anyone who speaks English from early childhood, as their first language. But many children grow up learning multiple languages simultaneously – for instance, if their parents are from different places, or if a nation has several official languages. A particular status is attached to English that sounds as if it comes from countries that are wealthy, majority white and mostly monolingual. According to this limited view, multilingual countries like Nigeria and Singapore have less ‘legitimate’ and desirable forms of English (even though English is an official language in both). Globally, the most respected types of English are varieties such as British, American and Australian, says Sender Dovchin, a sociolinguist at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210528-the-pervasive-problem-of-linguistic-racism

In 1972, George Carlin listed "The Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television” and apart from an occasional slip, always bleeped, they were expunged. For some time now, the bleeping has been accompanied by a wink and eventually, some less curse-y but no less naughty words became standard fare on Comedy Central and elsewhere. “Dick” got by because it’s short for Richard. The double entendre use of “pussy” was a late-night staple because, you know, cats and kitties. But that was before Donald Trump erased all ambiguity. As of today, all seven words, and many more, are permitted on premium cable and YouTube, which is television for millions of people.And now that The Boston Globe, our local “family newspaper,” has published the president’s slur, the rest can’t be far behind. https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2018/01/17/vulgar-language-president-trump-anita-diamant