Skip to content
Culture & Religion —

The Global Language

“Globish” is a highly simplified form of English, without grammar or structure—but perfectly comprehensible. Robert McCrum writes that it is the language that unites us.
Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

“Globish” is a highly simplified form of English, without grammar or structure—but perfectly comprehensible. Robert McCrum writes that the term is “more than just a new word for a dialect or an international communication tool. It was a description of a lingua franca, but with a difference. On further consideration, it was also a metaphor for the novelty of global English culture today.”

Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.
Related
A bearded man wearing glasses and a plaid shirt speaks with a microphone clipped to his collar in front of a purple background with white dots.
The Well
How Rainn Wilson discovered sacredness
The hospital where Rainn Wilson’s wife and son nearly died became his own personal holy site. There, he discovered that the sacred can exist in places we least expect it. During his talk at A Night of Awe and Wonder, he explained how the awe we feel in moments of courage and love is moral beauty — and following it might be the start of our spiritual revolution.
▸
13 min
—
with
Rainn Wilson
Up Next
Surprising Science
Faking It
“Fake medical treatment can work amazingly well,” writes Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow. Members of the medical community are increasingly asking whether they should put placebo treatments to work.