OUPblog

Journey into Darkness: The 2025 Eurovision Song Contest Basel, Switzerland

By Philip V. Bohlman
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Flunkeys and lackeys two centuries ago

By Anatoly Liberman
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In full swing

By Anatoly Liberman
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Cover image of "Between Borders" by Tobias Brinkman

The great Jewish migration from Eastern Europe

By Tobias Brinkmann

In 1899 a young Jewish woman published a harrowing account of her journey through Germany in 1894, based on Yiddish letters she had written during the journey. Maryashe (Mary) Antin’s travelogue “From Plotzk to Boston” stands out as one of the few detailed contemporary descriptions of a migrant journey from the Russian Empire to America. In the spring of 1894, when she was thirteen years old, Maryashe, together with her mother and sisters, left her hometown of Polotzk in northern Russia to join her father, who had moved to Boston in 1891.

Cover image of "Elections: A Very Short Introduction" by L. Sandy Maisel and Jennifer A. Yoder

7 books to understand the US election [reading list]

By Calla Veazie

As the US Election approaches, explore a few Very Short Introductions to help answer your questions. Get informed before the debates begin, with concise guides on a wide range of topics from American political parties to democracy.

Honoring Ernest Weekley

By Anatoly Liberman

This is the second and last post on Ernest Weekley, an excellent scholar and engaging writer. The “installment” a week ago dealt with the history of Standard English through the eyes of the inimitable Mrs. Gamp.

What can we expect to see in the 2024 Parliament? [long read]

By Cristina Leston Bandeira, Alexandra Meakin, and Louise Thompson

Labour’s landslide electoral win may not have been unexpected, but few expected to see quite so many historic firsts arise from it. For the first time in over fifty years, a governing party with a majority in the elected House has been replaced by another party with a majority.

A listener’s guide to James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” [playlist]

By Tom Jenks

Discover the musical veins of James Baldwin’s 1957 short story “Sonny’s Blues” as we mark the 100th anniversary of the writer and civil rights activist’s birth and hear from Tom Jenks as he reflects on some of these key musical works.

Ernest Weekley and standard English

By Anatoly Liberman

Many people who are interested in word origins know Ernest Weekley’s English etymological dictionary. I am sorry that we cannot post his photo: for some mysterious reason, all his portraits on the Internet are copyrighted. He wrote many excellent books on English words.

20 HBCU graduates that have shaped America [slideshow]

By Deondra Rose

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are dedicated to empowering students and alumni with the tools to drive significant civic and cultural change. Through their intentional focus on leadership, advocacy, and excellence, HBCU graduates have made remarkable strides in political, legal, cultural, and artistic fields.

How interdisciplinarity enhances our understanding of social media’s societal impact

By Laeeq Khan

Addressing today’s most pressing challenges requires a new approach to thinking. An interdisciplinary transformative approach can advance knowledge by exploiting and harmonizing the strengths of various disciplines within a unified framework.

A fabulous story, or spilling etymological beans

By Anatoly Liberman

An instructive essay on etymology need not always be devoted to a word going back to the hoariest antiquity. It can also deal with an “exotic” borrowing like coffee, for example.

Iris Murdoch on how to lose yourself in nature

By David Rondel

Anxiety is the most frequently diagnosed mental health problem in the world today. The handful of psychiatric treatments for anxiety that nowadays dominate the field are well known. But it’s worth remembering that philosophy also has a long and illustrious history as a form of anti-anxiety therapy.

Rethinking unjust enrichment

By Sagi Peari and Warren Swain

Restitutionary claims are pertinent to our daily interactions and commercial dealings. These claims arise in many scenarios including: improperly collected taxes, mistaken payments, disputes between cohabitants, payments on another person’s debt, mistaken improvements on another person’s property, and provision of unrequested services.

Religious faith in contemporary society

By Roger Trigg

The idea that religious beliefs claim truth is an unpopular position in Western societies. Any religion can sometimes be out of step with whatever the current secular consensus about moral priorities is.

Some very unique redundancies

By Edwin L. Battistella

One of the quirkier features of the English syntax has to do with the simple word all. All is a quantity word, or quantifier in the terminology of grammarians and logicians. It indicates an entirety of something.

Cover of "Informers Up Close: Stories from Communist Prague" by Mark A. Drumbl and Barbora Hola

Informers: secrets, truths, and dignity

By Mark Drumbl and Barbora Holá

Over 100,000 individuals acted as secret informers reporting to state security police in Czechoslovakia during the Communist years. The contents of all their reports were saved in extensive police files. Similar dynamics occurred throughout all of Eastern Europe.

Coffee all over the world

By Anatoly Liberman

An instructive essay on etymology need not always be devoted to a word going back to the hoariest antiquity. It can also deal with an “exotic” borrowing like coffee, for example.

A duty of care? Archaeologists, wicked problems, and the future

By John Schofield

Archaeology needs to stay relevant. To do so, it will need to change, but that won’t be simple given how much needs to change, and how many of the things that need changing are systemic, firmly embedded both within disciplinary traditions and practice and within society.

How many nations signed up to the Bretton Woods Agreement in July 1944?