Linguist, foodie, art lover and occasional mountaineer. I write about art history, culture, language learning, LGBT issues and historical obscura.
My Bio
Hi! My name is Brian and I’m from Georgetown, Malaysia (yes you’re right, there are lots of Georgetowns all over the world!). I’ve been writing on Medium for five months now and have not even thought about introducing myself! Rude, I know.
I’m 40 and have been spending the last…
Or rather, why does my clueless American neighbor’s “cool” Chinese tattoo actually say, “Evil Butt”?
One hot summer afternoon, I walked past the front of my neighbor’s house (or rather, as they say in German — Wohngemeinschaft — basically a flatshare, but German-style) and immediately burst out laughing like a maniac. The young dude, freshly arrived in hip East Berlin from North Carolina, was fixing…
From 23,000 BC to the 21st Century
Nude carvings and paintings have always been a feature of European art. Right from the moment Stone Age hunters learned how to carve rock and ivory or how to shape clay and fire it to produce little statues with surprising detail, the female nude — whether meant to inspire, titillate…
The changing face of the Devil through the centuries
Despite being arguably the most important figure in the Bible besides God and Jesus, there are surprisingly very few clues as to what the Devil actually looks like.
However, Saint Paul did write that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” and as such, the oldest surviving depiction of…
More medieval foul language than you can shake a sword at
Sh*t before it became dirty
In merry old England, the words “shit” and “piss” used to be so innocent that they even appeared on maps.
Take London’s Sherborne Lane, formerly known as Shitteborwelane (Shit Burrough Lane), later Shite-burn lane and Shite-buruelane and the now-long-gone Pissing Alley — both of which were likely used as public…
A brief history of swearing in the English language
If you love browsing through old maps like I do, you’d have a field day with medieval English street names. During the Middle Ages, street names in English towns (like in many other parts of Europe) were purely descriptive, visitors would often know exactly what business went on at a…
If you can understand the title, then this publication is perfect for you!
Greetings, 您好, Merhaba, Bonjour, Guten Tag, Buenos días !
De Linguis (Latin for “about languages”) is a space for language lovers, learners, teachers, hobbyists and those who work with languages on a daily basis.
Got a funny language story? An embarrassing language-related incident? See if you can beat this one…
Introducing some Regency slurs and sarcastic foul language that we should have kept into the 21st Century
If you love Bridgerton and all those romantic costume dramas set in the early 19th century you’d probably know that Regency England wasn’t all about glitzy balls and fancy parties. The wealthy lived opulently yes, but the have-nots lived harsh lives in abject poverty.
But poor did not mean dull…
Brian Loo Soon Hua
Linguist, endangered languages advocate and world traveller. Owner of the linguistics publication, De Linguis: https://medium.com/de-linguis
