Monthly Archives: July 2010

Sarah Palin – the portmanteau queen?

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Sue

The former Governor of Alaska and wannabe Republican president Sarah Palin caused a stir recently when she seemed to coin a new word – refudiate – in an interview on Fox News. The story concerned plans to build a mosque … Continue reading →

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Raoul Moat: what’s in a name?

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Sue

Raoul Thomas Moat. It’s been almost impossible this week to avoid hearing or reading about the improbably named Geordie gunman currently on the run in Northumberland after shooting three people and killing one of them. It’s a serious situation. Yet … Continue reading →

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English? Globish? Chinglish?

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Sue

The reach of English is astounding. English is the third largest language, by number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. According to Wikipedia, around 400 million people speak English as a first language and between 199 million and … Continue reading →

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