"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," according to Shakespeare's Juliet. But would it look the same, too? Does language shape the way we see the world? And how do culture and language influence one another?

All week long, in partnership with our friends at Scientific American, we’re talking about "the end" on The Takeaway. Whether it’s melting glaciers, the falling water table, or even how the world itself will end, we’re exploring our fascination with endings.

Today, we examine the stunning evidence of how Western civilization is changing and, in some cases, eliminating indigenous cultures. Half of the world’s 7,000 languages are endangered, and when language dies, whole cultures can disappear. Vital, ancient wisdom can be lost.

So we ask you: What traditions or wisdom do you think is worth saving? And what do you do to preserve them?

One of the oldest written languages in the world is in danger of being forgotten. People in China send text messages more than any other population in the world, and many experts believe that this could lead to its people forgetting how to write Chinese characters. The phenomenon has been called, tibiwangzi: literally (take pen, forget character).

For more than two months, we've tracked news and developments of the Gulf oil spill. But is it technically a "spill?" The broken pipe is spilling (or gushing, or spewing, or leaking) as many as 30,000 to 60,000 gallons of oil a day. Is it time for some new terminology? What would you call the oil spill, and why?

These days, we're hearing profanity from the mouth of an 11-year-old girl in a box office hit and from the Vice President of the United States. Is cursing becoming more acceptable?

Since last Tuesday, Americans have been bombarded with daily media coverage of the earthquake in Haiti. TV networks show image after image of death and destruction, while newspapers feature grave details. But the words and images that media outlets choose can themselves prove controversial. We take a moment in the midst of our coverage on Haiti to examine how the media has been covering the earthquake.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich returns to talk with us, this time on President Obama's Thursday speech on recent security failures and the significance he sees in the use of the word "war."

Have you done any thinking "outside the box" this decade, or encountered any "game changers?" Here to tell us more about the catchphrases that became a part of our lexicon in the 2000s is Ron Rosenbaum, columnist for Slate and author of "The Shakespeare Wars: Clashing Scholars, Public Fiascoes, Palace Coups." He recently wrote an article about the decade's memorable catchphrases. From the innocuous ("Just sayin"), and the smug ("How's that workin' out for you?") to the spiritual ("It is what it is"), and the stylish ("Stay classy").. there's a catchphrase here for everybody, and a surprisingly apt top pick.

Today, the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is expected to approve a decision that will allow non-Latin letters to be used in internet domain names. It’s a significant change in how people will access the Internet, but Takeaway technology contributor Queena Kim says it might not be such a great one – at least for web surfers in the United States.

The English language is a rich and wondrous thing and just got its millionth word: Web-2.0. Global Language Monitor, which searches the internet for new words, claims that that is a word: it's been used 25,000 times, the GLM's standard for recognition. The firm says a new word is born on average every 98 minutes. Joining us from London is Lawrence Pollard, BBC Arts Correspondent.

The New Deal brought us the CCC, the TVA, and the WPA. All thanks to FDR. And today’s stimulus comes along with its own bumper crop of acronyms, like SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the TIGER Team. (That’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, in case you didn't know.) Wall Street Journal reporter Louise Radnofsky had to read the entire stimulus bill for her job, and she started to keep track of the ever-growing list of new acronyms, some of them pretty ridiculous. She joins John and Andrea with a look how acronyms get in the way of government transparency.

The World Health Organization announced yesterday that they no longer will be referring to swine flu as the "swine flu" after receiving constant pressure from the meat industry. Its new name, "influenza A (H1N1)" doesn't necessarily roll off the tongue. Grant Barrett, a lexicographer and the co-host of the public radio show "A Way with Words," joins The Takeaway.

Between texting, instant messages, and, LOL!, the web, grammar has been under a steady onslaught in our modern times. This slow erosion of the language is too much for some and a small but active group of language watchers have formed a grammar vigilante squad to right the grammatical wrongs, one punctuation mark at a time. Joining us now is John Richards, founder and chairman of the Apostrophe Protection Society, from the other Boston in Lincolnshire, England.

Do you have a grammatical pet peeve? Tell us in the comments!

Sent in by a helpful listener, here is an episode of Steve's Grammatical Observations:

Voters in Nashville, Tennessee head to the polls today to decide whether English should be the only language for all government business in town. This means marriage licenses, parking tickets, and court summons could only be written and responded to in English. Reporter Blake Farmer of WPLN has been covering the “English First" movement since the legislation was first proposed more than a year ago. He joins us from Nashville.