The Serendipity of ‘Let’s Go, Brandon’
The anti-Biden meme is meaner than your grandfather’s shoot or heck. It also offers a fascinating view of how language changes.
John McWhorter
John McWhorter is a contributing writer at The Atlantic. He teaches linguistics at Columbia University and hosts the language podcast Lexicon Valley. He is the author of more than 20 books and writes a weekly column for The New York Times.
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Getty; The Atlantic Even Trigger Warning Is Now Off-Limits
The “Oppressive Language List” at Brandeis University could have come from countless other colleges, advocacy groups, or human-resources offices.
Getty The Problem With Dropping Standards in the Name of Racial Equity
By ending a requirement that classics majors learn Greek or Latin, Princeton risks amplifying racism instead of curing it.
The Atlantic Curses Aren’t ‘Just Words’
A word is presented; a curse is squirted. This is part of why curses can be so utterly disconnected from their technical meanings.
Herb Ball / NBCU Photo Bank / Getty Words Have Lost Their Common Meaning
The word racism, among others, has become maddeningly confusing in current usage.
Adam Maida / The Atlantic Schools Must Resist Destructive Anti-racist Demands
Contrary to what activists seem to believe, campuses are not bastions of social injustice.
The Atlantic Who’s the Snowflake Now?
If the right likes to call out left-wing theatrical exaggerations, it has also learned from them and in the past weeks has emulated them.
Getty / Shutterstock / The Atlantic The Black People Who Voted for Trump Know He’s Racist
Trump’s nonwhite support suggests a gulf between how the “woke” left processes racism and how many people in the real world do.
Callaghan O'Hare / Reuters Academics Are Really, Really Worried About Their Freedom
Some fear for their career because they don’t believe progressive orthodoxies.
Shutterstock / The Atlantic Trader Joe’s Knows That Petitions Aren’t Commandments
The company decided not to rebrand its Trader Giotto and Trader José product lines.
Joe Raedle / Getty
