Saint Anthony, patron saint of animals, arrives in the Balearic Islands every year with bonfires, demons, verses, and traditions that have survived for centuries. But what do we really know about this celebration? What is the story behind the saint and the rituals that accompany him?

You said never'cringe'? AND 'boomr', 'random' or 'posturing''If the answer is yes, perhaps without realizing it you've participated in the process of lexical renewal in Catalan. If the answer is no, you've probably heard them anyway—on the internet, on TV, or in conversation—and perhaps they've made you wonder whether they're "good" or "bad" words. This hesitation, seemingly anecdotal, shows that the language is constantly adapting to reality and the expressive needs of its speakers. In fact, neologisms are one of the clearest symptoms of a language's vitality.

Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates sounds. The term comes from the ancient Greek ('onoma', 'name', and 'poiein', 'to do'). They have always served to bring order to the noises of the world: those of animals, those of nature, those of objects, and even those of people. They are words that, apparently, escape the basic rule of the arbitrariness of language, that is, the idea that words have no natural connection with what they designate. However, they only do so apparently, because when we look at them closely we see that they are not as 'natural' as they seem.

Our vocabulary is full of unique words that can be quite a challenge to translate into another language. A result especially of oral usage, these words transcend ages or generations; most are familiar to everyone and are used in everyday life. Examples include 'tudadiza', 'dajonar', and 'clancha', and they are kept alive through everyday use and oral transmission.