Where do you go when you want answers? The newspapers? The Encyclopaedia Britannica? Your mum? Nah. Our first port of call is the Internet. In fact, my little nephew could say “Google it” before he could say “Dog”. Ask Jeeves has compiled a list of the top ten questions asked by Brits in 2010. Do we want to know the meaning of...
Historically, these great British Isles, where I live, have a habit of being invaded. (Although, thankfully, not for some time.) The upside to this, of course, along with nice straight roads built by the Romans, is that the English language is a rich and colourful blend of Latin words, Anglo Saxon words and French words. But that’s not all. The Brits, of...
I was at a networking meeting the other day when someone declared that blog posts should always be infotaining. i.e. informative and entertaining. Well, quite. It got me thinking about portmanteaus: those words that are a blend of two other words. Or to be more precise they’re the beginning of one word joined to the end of another. Some are rotten. Like...
In honour of English Language Day last week I tweeted an old blog post about Anglo Saxon words. On Twitter @CiaranNorris replied “because Anglo Saxon words are ****ing great.” (Ciaran’s asterisks.) Indeed. It’s not cool to swear though, right? Or is it? Once frowned upon as showing lack of intelligence it now seems perfectly acceptable to cuss. Stephen Fry, the cunning linguist says...
Well that’s that then. The fat lady is singing and we’re all as sick as a parrot. Following England’s early bath we’ve started the post mortem and the clichés have been spewing out quicker than Lionel Messi on speed. ‘We’re failing at grass roots level’. ‘We need to have a roots and branch investigation.’ ‘England needs an English manager.’ What is it...
With exam season nearly upon us let’s take a look at how well last year’s 16 year olds did. (These are all genuine answers. Wrong, but genuine.) Q: Name the four seasons A: Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar Q: Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large...
Today is budget day in the UK. Also known as ‘we’re going to screw you just a bit more and hope you don’t notice’ day. In honour of the occasion, here are a few of the most annoying words and phrases that politicians insist on using. How many will we hear today, I wonder? Right and proper… Full and frank discussion… Look… Going forward… Listen… To be fair… Let’s be...
What with the 2054th anniversary of the death of Julius Caesar this week (Et tu, Brute?) and London’s mayor Boris Johnson urging state schools to start teaching Latin again, the old language has been in the news saepius sepius (frequently). Boris even went as far to say "I firmly believe that we must not starve the minds of students eager to...
I was thinking about metaphors on the journey into work this morning. And that’s because practically every single segment on the radio used a metaphor at some point. Metaphors make a comparison between two things that are basically different but have something in common. So Arsene Wenger was boiling mad over Porto’s dodgy goal Bankers’ bonuses are difficult to swallow The ball rocketed into...
I have a sneaky regard for Mr Justice Tugendhat. Not least because I once stayed in his villa in France. The esteemed Tugendaht, you may recall, last week revoked an injunction granted to England football captain, John Terry, blocking newspapers reporting his alleged affair with an England team mate’s Mrs. Waving the flag for free speech, Tugendhat decided it was in...
