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“Yes, we’re all individuals! … We’ve got to work it out for ourselves!” 45 years ago, a scene in Monty Python film “Life of Brian” famously mocked conformism and group-think. And while the gag was so self-explanatory as to become iconic, its obvious message may have been lost, going by new linguistic research. Conversation and speech patterns are increasingly lacking individuality, as people grow more likely to echo bromides and jargon made fashionable by business, academia and activism, according to linguists at Lancaster University and the University of Liverpool. People are “increasingly …

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