The Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary Historical Dictionaries For more than a century, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has been considered the most authoritative of all English …
The Oxford English Dictionary Historical Dictionaries For more than a century, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has been considered the most authoritative of all English …
Covid-19 language and the Oxford English Dictionary The speed of linguistic evolution has led to the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) changing their …
Forensic linguistics and Forensic Phonetics in criminal investigation Every individual possesses unique fingerprints and almost unique DNA. Fingerprints and DNA profiles are the twin holy …
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Shakespeare, parlour games and kids – the history of knock-knock jokes Guaranteed to inspire many giggles, knock-knock jokes are firm favourites with kids. They follow …
Fozzbonkling nonsense words that excite your simploncs All languages evolve across the ages, with new words being added every year and others falling out of …
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Are there any English speaking EU countries? Until the 1990s, French was the dominant language of the EU. But new countries continued to join the …
How to pronounce portmanteau Sometimes the English language fails to yield the perfect word for a particular concept. In these situations, only a phrase or …
Sandwiches and silhouettes – famous eponyms are everywhere An eponym is a word that is derived from the proper name of a real or fictional person or …
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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 discover …
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Stupidly clever – oxymorons in all their glory An oxymoron is a creative phrase or figure of speech that contains words that appear to be …
The problem with English plurals English grammar is complex, contradictory and downright confusing! There are many aspects of the language which make mastering English tough, …
How to use interjections in English You might not know it, but you probably use interjections every day. Interjections are one of the parts of …
Motivating monikers: why job titles matter You will spend a huge proportion of your life at work. The nature of that work is inevitably fundamental …
All about spoonerisms Sometimes your brain can get way ahead of your mouth. When your tongue and mouth are struggling to keep up with your …
Commonly misunderstood and misused English words English boasts a huge vocabulary in comparison with many languages. When there are hundreds of thousands of words to …
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Euphemisms in marketing and advertising The term euphemism is derived from the Greek word euphēmismos which means to use auspicious words. Euphemisms are neutral, innocuous …
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 …
Iconic Mountains: What’s in a Name? We have previously discussed how English has progressively become the world’s lingua franca. The use of English doesn’t please …
Registering the difference – language and context Consciously or not, we all adapt the way we speak and write to suit our audience or the …
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With Sellotape and knives – mondegreens in all their glory We’ve all experienced those awkward moments when we have completely misheard what somebody has said. …