What makes a person beautiful? Is it the eyes, the soul, a thin waist, full lips, glossy hair, a big butt? Well, this is a question that heavily relies on the culture you’re raised in. Each culture has an ideal of beauty that is enforced by its members, and also receives lots of influence from other cultures. While none of these “ideals” is constant, it is clear that they say a lot about the culture we live in. This week we examine some differences in what is considered beautiful, parts of “natural” beauty, and how we take care of ourselves.

For Language News, we look at some updates (which are not among the regular quarterly ones!) to the Oxford English Dictionary to encompass phrases and terminology that has exploded in use due to COVID-19. Some are new, and some are drastic changes in meaning, but we can already see the enormous shift the pandemic is causing in language. Read more here.

Since our main topic is a naturally visual one, take a moment to look at some of the sources we talked about in the episode. Having the images in front of you will really help to understand what we’re talking about.

• Unusual beauty standards
• Male beauty around the world
• Woman photoshopped by various countries reflects differing standards of beauty
• Varying ideals of “natural beauty”
• Beautiful women from around the world who have won beauty contests
• Six women’s perspectives on their cultures’ beauty standards

Thanks for listening, everyone. If you haven’t, make sure to send us your Lost in Translation in our contact section. Until next week!

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