The meaning behind British small talk
The meaning behind British small talk It would be easy for any outsider to believe that the British are obsessed with the weather....
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Apr 11, 20225 min read
The Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary For more than a century, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has been considered the most authoritative of...
Jan 8, 20224 min read
The new language of Covid-19
Covid-19 language and the Oxford English Dictionary Table of contents Covid-19 language and the Oxford English Dictionary A dictionary...
Nov 8, 20214 min read
Forensic linguistics and Forensic Phonetics in criminal investigation
Forensic linguistics and Forensic Phonetics in criminal investigation Table of contents Forensic linguistics and Forensic Phonetics in...
Oct 31, 20213 min read
The history of knock-knock jokes
Shakespeare, parlour games and kids – the history of knock-knock jokes Guaranteed to inspire many giggles, knock-knock jokes are firm...
Oct 4, 20214 min read
Fozzbonkling nonsense words that excite your simploncs
Fozzbonkling nonsense words that excite your simploncs All languages evolve across the ages, with new words being added every year and...
Sep 25, 20215 min read
Are there any English speaking EU countries?
Are there any English speaking EU countries? Until the 1990s, French was the dominant language of the EU. But new countries continued to...
Aug 19, 20215 min read
Sandwiches and silhouettes – famous eponyms are everywhere
Sandwiches and silhouettes – famous eponyms are everywhere An eponym is a word that is derived from the proper name of a real or...
Aug 11, 20214 min read
Prophetic names – the wonderful world of aptronyms
Prophetic names – the wonderful world of aptronyms Personal names can be so damn funny, can’t they? It’s impossible not to laugh when you...
Jul 15, 20216 min read
The problem with English plurals
The problem with English plurals English grammar is complex, contradictory and downright confusing! There are many aspects of the...
May 31, 20214 min read
Motivating monikers: why job titles matter
Motivating monikers: why job titles matter You will spend a huge proportion of your life at work. The nature of that work is inevitably...
May 20, 20214 min read
Commonly misunderstood and misused English words
Commonly misunderstood and misused English words English boasts a huge vocabulary in comparison with many languages. When there are...
May 14, 20214 min read
Is it wrong to pull out all the glottal stops?
Is it wrong to pull out all the glottal stops? People will always be judged by the way they speak. In Britain, the language police are...
Jan 26, 20214 min read
Registering the difference – language and context
Registering the difference – language and context Consciously or not, we all adapt the way we speak and write to suit our audience or the...
Jan 18, 20215 min read
Mondegreens in all their glory
With Sellotape and knives – mondegreens in all their glory We’ve all experienced those awkward moments when we have completely misheard...
Jan 14, 20214 min read
British place names you probably can’t pronounce
English is a very difficult language to master. So difficult that most native speakers struggle to remain grammatically correct or to...
Jan 11, 20214 min read
Do English people speak too quickly?
Do English people speak too quickly? Any language can sound as if it is being spoken with indecent haste when you don’t understand it....
Jan 4, 20214 min read
Tomorrow will be a good day – touch wood!
Tomorrow will be a good day – touch wood! The English language is loaded with strange phrases and sayings but there is none stranger than...
Dec 1, 20204 min read
English accents: Geordie
English accents: Geordie The term Geordie is used to describe both the natives of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and their distinctive...
Nov 2, 20204 min read
Malapropisms: How people sometimes choose the wrong birds
Malapropisms: How people sometimes choose the wrong birds A malapropism is the incorrect and often humorous use of a word instead of...
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