Welsh translation blunders making headlines Visitors to the UK are often surprised to discover that English is not the only language...

The meaning behind British small talk It would be easy for any outsider to believe that the British are obsessed with the weather....

How to use a monolingual paper dictionary There are a wide variety of English dictionaries to choose from. Each dictionary is a unique...

If you have ever read an article about cats or dogs, the chances are that you have encountered one of the most common errors in written...

The Oxford English Dictionary For more than a century, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has been considered the most authoritative of...

Why do puns make us smile – or roll our eyes? Like football, politics and savoury spreads made of yeast extract, puns divide opinion. For...

Infamous and hilarious translation disasters Translation is an art, a science and a minefield! Get it right and nobody notices. Get it...

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...

Motivating monikers: why job titles matter You will spend a huge proportion of your life at work. The nature of that work is inevitably...

All about spoonerisms Sometimes your brain can get way ahead of your mouth. When your tongue and mouth are struggling to keep up with...

Euphemisms in marketing and advertising The term euphemism is derived from the Greek word euphēmismos which means to use auspicious...

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...

Iconic Mountains: What’s in a Name? We have previously discussed how English has progressively become the world’s lingua franca. The use...

The English West Country Accent There’s no mistaking the pleasing sound of the West Country accent. Many people find West Country speak...

Registering the difference – language and context Consciously or not, we all adapt the way we speak and write to suit our audience or the...

With Sellotape and knives – mondegreens in all their glory We’ve all experienced those awkward moments when we have completely misheard...

English is a very difficult language to master. So difficult that most native speakers struggle to remain grammatically correct or to...

Interesting facts about the English language It should come as no surprise that there are many interesting facts about the English...

Why you should choose your English words carefully English is a language fraught with complications. With its inconsistent grammar and...

English Accents – Brummie the Birmingham Accent There are many regional accents in England. Whenever research is conducted to establish...