Did you know that elephants have a secret language that humans can't hear?  Bob Simon, 60 Minutes correspondent, takes us into the rainforest to learn about these fascinating animals who have more in common with us than we thought.  The Elephant Listening Project at Cornell is working on a dictionary of elephant communications.

Do you think there other animals have their own languages ? Will they translate into concepts that humans can understand?

Image by exfordy under Creative Commons license.

Lake Superior State University has released its annual List of Words to Be Banished from the Queen's English due to "mis-use, over-use and general uselessness". The 15 winners of this dubious distinction, chosen from over 5,000 nominations, include "toxic assets", "shovel ready" and "teachable moment".  Words related to social media also appeared on the 2009 list: tweeting, retweeting and unfriending were all winners (or losers) this year.

I would have liked to see "going rogue" banished, but there's always next year.

What words did you get tired of in 2009?

"When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing."

Enrique Jardiel Poncela, Spanish author and playwright

Do you believe that eating certain foods on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day will give you good luck?  Lucky foods exist in many cultures: grapes in Spain, hoppin' John in the Southern U.S., and soba noodles in Japan. 

On the other hand, some people avoid eating food with wings because it could fly away, taking your luck with it.  Revelers who are putting on the ritz should steer clear of lobsters: they move backwards and could change your luck.  You might do better with oysters.

Do you eat a lucky food to welcome the new year?

Photo by dennn under Creative Commons license.

Imagine spending 35 years on one translation project.  Charles T. Gehring has.  As the director of the New Netherland project at the New York State Library,  he has spent half his life translating records from the era when New York was a Dutch colony.

The Dutch influence in the state is often overlooked in history classes but reminders of the early settlers include towns named Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Guilderland.  Long before Paul Revere's ride in 1775, Symon Schermerhorn rode to Fort Orange (now called Albany) in 1690 to warn settlers that the French and Indians were on their way after attacking Schenectady.  The Dutch lost control of the colony to the British in 1664 but the importance of their language was far from over.

English wasn't used in Dutch Reform churches until 1764, and families of Dutch descent continued to speak the language for many years.  Martin Van Buren spoke English as a second language; Teddy Roosevelt grew up listening to his grandparents speak Dutch.  Vital records in New York continued to be written in English and Dutch until the 1920s.  The Dutch influence in New York lives on today: everytime you hear someone speak with a Brooklyn accent, you have the Dutch to thank.