Language, environment, society versus the mind, depression and anxiety
I recently learnt about Het Groene Boekje (The Green Book) which was produced in the Netherlands during the early 1950s. The book is a glossary of the Dutch language that defines the official spelling of Dutch words. It was created by the Dutch government for institutions to use, including schools. It has had some revisions over the years. For example, pannekoeken (pancakes) is no longer the right way to write or say the word. It’s now panne n koeken (pan s cakes) because there is no one universal pan that makes the pancakes, so the word has changed to reflect that concept. It seems nonsensical to me. This made me think, who else has a set of official rules for language? France has the Académie française, or the French Academy, which was formulated in the late 17th century and refers to the French council for matters pertaining to the French language. Then I thought about language affecting culture; is this one way to centralise a country and a nation? Is this how we internalise contro...