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Language

22 posts
City of Asylum houses on Sampsonia Way in Pittsburgh
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  • Language

A River of Words in Pittsburgh

  • Deborah Fallows
  • October 21, 2019
As we've traveled around the country with our American Futures and Our Towns projects since 2013, my husband, Jim, and I have evolved from being skeptics to evangelists about the impact of public arts on communities.
The new 'Arc of Dreams' sculpture over the Big Sioux River in downtown Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in July 2019, shortly before its formal unveiling. (James Fallows / The Atlantic)
View Post
  • Civic Life

How a City Talks About Itself: Sioux Falls

  • Deborah Fallows
  • July 29, 2019
In June 2013, my husband, Jim, and I first landed our small, single-engine Cirrus propeller airplane at the main airport, Joe Foss Field, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It was the first…
Alphabet Fence at the Alphabet Reading Garden, City of Asylum.
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  • Language

Language as Art in Pittsburgh

  • Deborah Fallows
  • March 21, 2016
Exiled writers use words as art and inspire a community.
Word cloud of Ajo, Arizona.
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  • Language

A Word Cloud of Ajo, Arizona

  • Deborah Fallows
  • April 30, 2015
The words we use about ourselves reveal surprising truths
Word cloud that describes Burlington Vermont.
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  • Language

A New Vocabulary for American Towns

  • Deborah Fallows
  • November 21, 2014
Three 21st-century words that are driving the nation's most dynamic municipalities
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  • Language

Swampwise!

  • Deborah Fallows
  • April 14, 2014
Dipthongs turn into monopthongs, and other adventures among the cypress knees.
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  • Language

The Word Cloud of a Town

  • Deborah Fallows
  • April 7, 2014
How the people of Sioux Falls describe themselves and their hometown
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  • Language

‘Where Do You Go to Church?’ The Video and Mapping Versions

  • James Fallows
  • March 26, 2014
More ways of taking the measure of this vast country.
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  • Language

Why We Never Get Over High School

  • Deborah Fallows
  • February 23, 2014
Across the nation, people have different questions they ask when meeting someone new. There are hidden meanings in all of them—including a popular one about schooling.
American ancestry patterns, from Wikimedia
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  • Language

What We Mean When We Say Hello

  • Deborah Fallows
  • February 16, 2014
The curious geography of American greetings
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  • Language

So, Where Do You Live? What Do You Do?

  • Deborah Fallows
  • February 11, 2014
When we were in Greenville SC recently, I was surprised to learn that a very common follow-up to the greeting of “How do you do?” or “Nice to meet you,”…
South Carolina. Image via SCPRT
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  • Language

Dadgum! Katy, Bar the Door!

  • Deborah Fallows
  • January 27, 2014
Speaking Your Mind in South Carolina
Real Time Flight Tracking via Flightradar24. Sunday 10:30 AM ET, Dec. 8, 2013
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  • Aviation

‘Springbok, Cleared for Landing’: More on the Language of the Skies

  • Deborah Fallows
  • December 8, 2013
[See update* below.] On our recent flight home in our small plane from Eastport ME, to Washington DC, we were listening, as we often do, to the air traffic controllers (ATC). They…
There are wicked good wieners from Maine to Nevada. From TheHotDogTruck.com
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  • Language

‘Tis the L.L.Bean Season for Pinball Wizards and Wicked Good Wieners

  • Deborah Fallows
  • November 23, 2013
I always associate the word “wicked” with the Maine icon L.L.Bean. For good reason: do you know that if you search on the L.L.Bean website for “wicked” that you will…
Downtown Eastport, from above.
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  • Language

Do You Speak Eastport?

  • Deborah Fallows
  • November 18, 2013
A town teaches itself to talk positive.
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  • Language

Down East Down Under

  • Deborah Fallows
  • November 4, 2013
When ships sailing downwind are sailing east

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