How a '90s Belgian sci-fi novel found success on TikTok
It's a translation of I Who Have Never Known Men, a 1995 novel by Belgian author Jacqueline Harpman.
Originally written in French, the dystopian novel is under 200 pages long. It went from selling two or three copies a year in the U.K., to over 150,000 in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. in the last year.
Today on Commotion, The Cut's Emily Gould tells host Elamin Abdelmahmoud about the sudden popularity of I Who Have Never Known Men.
WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube (this segment begins at 14:28):
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
9 minutes ago
- Global News
Moncton Paralympian Danielle Dorris breaks third world record
B.C. dad hoping to see his cloud photo on TV get his wish following viral TikTok campaign 2:11 40 months ago
Toronto Sun
2 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
Cambridge Dictionary adds 'skibidi' and 'tradwife' among 6,000 new words
Published Aug 18, 2025 • 1 minute read An entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, defining a dictionary, pictured Sunday Aug. 29 2010. Photo by file / AP LONDON — What the skibidi is happening to the English language? This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account 'Skibidi' is one of the slang terms popularized by social media that are among more than 6,000 additions this year to the Cambridge Dictionary. 'Internet culture is changing the English language and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the dictionary,' said Colin McIntosh, lexical program manager at Cambridge Dictionary, the world's largest online dictionary. 'Skibidi' is a gibberish term coined by the creator of an animated YouTube series and can mean 'cool' or 'bad' or be used with no real meaning as a joke. Other planned additions including 'tradwife,' a contraction of 'traditional wife' referring to a married mother who cooks, cleans and posts on social media, and 'delulu,' a shortening of the word delusional that means 'believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. An increase in remote working since the pandemic has created the new dictionary entry 'mouse jiggler,' a device or piece of software used to make it seem like you are working when you are not. Concerns over climate change are behind the addition of 'forever chemical,' a harmful chemical that remains in the environment for a long time. Cambridge Dictionary uses the Cambridge English Corpus, a database of more than 2 billion words of written and spoken English, to monitor how new words are used by different people, how often and in what contexts they are used, the company said. 'We only add words where we think they'll have staying power,' McIntosh said. Sunshine Girls Columnists Sunshine Girls Toronto & GTA Ontario
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Cambridge Dictionary adds ‘skibidi' and ‘tradwife' among 6,000 new words
LONDON (AP) — What the skibidi is happening to the English language? 'Skibidi' is one of the slang terms popularized by social media that are among more than 6,000 additions this year to the Cambridge Dictionary. 'Internet culture is changing the English language and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the dictionary,' said Colin McIntosh, lexical program manager at Cambridge Dictionary, the world's largest online dictionary. 'Skibidi' is a gibberish term coined by the creator of an animated YouTube series and can mean 'cool' or 'bad' or be used with no real meaning as a joke. Other planned additions including 'tradwife,' a contraction of 'traditional wife' referring to a married mother who cooks, cleans and posts on social media, and 'delulu,' a shortening of the word delusional that means 'believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to'. An increase in remote working since the pandemic has created the new dictionary entry 'mouse jiggler,' a device or piece of software used to make it seem like you are working when you are not. Concerns over climate change are behind the addition of 'forever chemical,' a harmful chemical that remains in the environment for a long time. Wednesdays What's next in arts, life and pop culture. Cambridge Dictionary uses the Cambridge English Corpus, a database of more than 2 billion words of written and spoken English, to monitor how new words are used by different people, how often and in what contexts they are used, the company said. 'We only add words where we think they'll have staying power,' McIntosh said.
