This is not a new concept--the linguist Benjamin Whorf advanced it a long time ago--but Contributing Editor Dan Seligman does a delightful job of bringing it back to life every now and then.

FORBES: Sidelines

Indeed, one of the foundational linguistic theories of the twentieth century, which came to be called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, was based in part on the work of Benjamin Whorf, an inspector for the Hartford Fire Insurance company.

NEWYORKER: Utopian for Beginners