This week, the Language Nerds get curious about exercise and fitness around the world. Who exercises the most (and least)? How does culture influence the perception of exercise and body image? What part does lifestyle play in the ability to get sweaty? Finally, we see some of the most popular sports by nation (hint, some of them are really surprising!).
In debate-inducing language news, we look at a strange missing piece in modern English, the plural “you.” Y’all is the suggested solution to the problem in this Southern article, but we aren’t so sure. Maybe “youse” or the good old-fashioned “ye” would be the better choice…
Check out this week’s resources for more information on the topic!
- Language News, making “y’all” an official grammatical point: https://www.al.com/life/2019/02/hey-america-yall-need-to-start-saying-yall-linguist-says.html
- WHO statistics on obesity/overweight: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight, AND physical activity: https://www.who.int/gho/ncd/risk_factors/physical_activity/en/
- More data on physical activity: https://cathe.com/exercise-around-the-world-which-countries-are-the-most-and-least-physically-active/
- Fascinating study on perceptions of exercise between American and Chinese students: https://psychcentral.com/news/2009/05/29/stress-and-culture-influence-exercise-habits/6180.html
- Another look at culture and exercise: https://sites.ualberta.ca/~active/physical-activity-for-all/change/culture.html
- Still want more cultural influences on exercise? Here you go: ttps://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-017-0627-3#Sec9
- Popular exercises by country: https://www.thisisinsider.com/popular-exercise-methods-around-the-world-2018-11
Thank you so much to Simone for her hilarious Lost in Translation story! This tale of family drama caused by a bad translation is one you won’t want to miss! In-laws are hard enough without a language barrier, am I right?
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