Introduction Just a few weeks ago, the biggest event in the American sports calendar lit up the screens of fans around the world. The Super Bowl draws millions of viewers each year, but not all of them tune in for the game itself.   In fact, unless one talks to dedicated fans of American football, they are probably more likely to encounter someone who knows the latest halftime performer than the competing teams. This year's show, headlined by Bad Bunny, contained multitudes: stunning set...

“ If you want to capture someone’s attention, whisper”. -TV commercial for Nuance by Coty, 1977 In our everyday life, we use several different types of speech. We, of course, adjust our vocabulary and level of formality when interacting with different people, but there is also much to be said about a more basic, almost primal quality of our speech. By this, I mean the very sounds that make up our language. The way we conduct soft-spoken conversations with close ones, scream out in anger, or,...

A Parable The dreaded time of year is nigh. The guests are to arrive in a little over an hour. You begin to stew in your own thoughts and examine everything around you from ten different angles. Little by little, doubts start to spring into your mind about your surroundings. Does that show I am sophisticated enough? Is that too gaudy? Shouldn’t I have picked out something more original? The thoughts morph into a downward spiral. What if they consider me tacky? Will they think I have poor...