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Category Archives: English usage
On puns, placards and political protest
On Saturday 23 March 2019 around 1 million people (including me) took to the streets of London to show our disgust at the Brexit shambles and to demand a #PeoplesVote. I’ve no idea if it will make any difference but … Continue reading
Posted in English usage, Swearing, Uncategorized
Tagged Peoples Vote March, placards, political protest, puns, wordplay
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2018 Words of the year reflect our turbulent times
As 2018 draws to a close, it’s time for the major dictionaries to announce their annual Words of The Year (WOTY). So far three words have been revealed, with more expected to come from American dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster in … Continue reading
Posted in English usage
Tagged misinformation, single-use, toxic, word of the year 2018, WOTY 2018
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Swearing – a sign of wit and intelligence?
It might seem counterintuitive but scientists have found that swearing fluency is actually a sign of more intelligence and greater vocabulary rather than less. As Richard Stevens, writing in The Conversation says: … swearing appears to be a feature of … Continue reading
Posted in English usage, Language, Uncategorized
Tagged sign of intelligence, swearing, The Wire Fuck scene
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The joy of slang
Love it or loathe it, slang (or non-standard English) is all around us. Language purists try in vain to impose rules that would keep language constrained to what they would define as ‘proper’ usage but the joy of English (and … Continue reading
Posted in English usage, Language
Tagged Be Lucky film, English language, London slang, Slang
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We need to close the compound noun gap…
The English language comprises hundreds of thousands of words and is rich in phrases, idioms and other word combinations. And yet, sometimes even English struggles to convey exactly what you mean, despite numerous ‘borrowings’ of words from other languages. Dinosaur … Continue reading
Which hurts the most – sticks and stones or words?
“Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” runs the old playground chant. Children quickly learn that this is not true. Names (or words) can really hurt and cause psychological damage beyond the mere scratches … Continue reading
Posted in English usage
Tagged Andrew Mitchell, BBC Radio 4 Today, Daily Telegraph, Martin Shovel, pleb, sticks & stones, The Guardian, The Sun
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The politics of grammar
By describing himself as a grammar fascist recently, the British Conservative MP Alan Duncan may have had his tongue firmly in his cheek but it’s striking how people who get worked up over English usage, grammar, style, and punctuation will often … Continue reading