Topics

Jan

SOS: Save Our Skeuomorphs!

by Joyce McGreevy on January 4, 2021

A smartphone on a sailboat contains a compass app, a skeuomorph that carries a cultural memory of an ancient invention, the nautical compass. (Photo by TheHilaryClark and Pixabay)

What smartphone app resembles a 12th century nautical tool? The answer’s due south!
TheHilaryClark/ Pixabay

Skeuomorphs “Net” Cultural Memory

As we sail into a new decade, a titanic debate continues to rock the boat from port to computer port. On one side, designers who’ve jettisoned skeuomorphs. On the other, those who are still on board with them.

Should skeuomorphs be set adrift? Or treasured because they’re anchored in cultural memory? What are skeuomorphs, anyway?

Someone holds up a digital tablet with a compass app, a skeuomorph that incorporates a cultural memory of an older compass. (Photo by TheHilaryClark and Pixabay)

Some designers dislike skeuomorphs’ ties to the past, as in this digital version
of a nautical compass.
Geralt/ Pixabay Read more...

Joyce McGreevy Comments

Cultural Symbols/Language & Culture

Sep

Voilà! The Poetry of Untranslatable Words

by Meredith Mullins on September 28, 2020

Linguistic trivia says that the Inuits have 50 words for snow. But how, in languages,
do you find the one perfect word to describe something—le mot juste?
© Meredith Mullins

Wordplay with Meaning

We live in challenging times. We have had to become super-adaptable beings, asking ourselves every day how to cope with the multitude of new normals.

What changes emerge?

Have you, like most of the world, savored hyggelig and gezelligheid?

Have you searched for moments of beauty in komorebi, mångata, and psithurism?

Have you had the urge to commit to jijivisha and to integrate firgun and merak into life rhythms? Read more...

Meredith Mullins 8 Comments

Language & Culture/Wordplay/Worldwide Sites

Aug

Name That Finger: Digit-al Wordplay

by Meredith Mullins on August 31, 2020

The Cultural Traditions of Finger Names Around the World

The finger has a long history. No, not THAT finger—that one that always seems to come to mind first.

The finger in the broader, pentadactyl sense. The five fingers of the hand.

We humans aren’t the only folks in the world with fingers. Many in the animal kingdom have five-fingered limbs, from monkeys and apes to rats and bats to pandas and birds. Read more...

Meredith Mullins 2 Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Language & Culture/Wordplay/Worldwide Sites

World Views: