Month: July 2017

Anyone for Tennis?

Niall O'Donnell 8 Comments

The beginning of Wimbledon always feels like the real start of the summer to me, regardless of how rainy and windy it is outside. I used to enjoy playing tennis in the summer as a child, and it was always enjoyable to play in the morning and then come inside when it started to rain and watch the professionals play on TV. I think I also enjoyed the aesthetics of Wimbledon, all those nice bright whites and greens, though now I’m a little put off by the whole poshness of it all. I mean, curtsying? Really? Anyway, even if I’m too busy to watch it during the day anymore, I like to keep half an eye on how things are progressing in the tournament. Did you ever notice though, that there’s one strange thing about tennis in general: why do they use such strange words for the scores? Continue reading →

I’ll Leave it in Your Inbox

Niall O'Donnell 21 Comments

I was thinking today about the books I’ve bought but have yet to read, and about how to describe those books. My instinct was to refer to them as my to-do list, but then I decided that that didn’t really work, because they’re not a list. This is the point where most people would stop thinking about it, because it wasn’t even part of a conversation anyway. Nevertheless, I persisted, and thought about the word inbox as a possibility. Yes, that made sense. I get them, put them in the imaginary inbox until I take one, read it, and then transfer it to my imaginary outbox. Good, so the pile of books beside my bed (and the others in the other room: there are a lot of them) is my inbox. Not that I stopped thinking there though.

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Why it’s Normal to Talk to Your Dog

Niall O'Donnell 11 Comments

Not that I’ve ever doubted that it’s normal, but it was nice to have it confirmed by this article I read today. I’ve spoken to three dogs so far today, on a variety of different topics. I spoke to one in particular more than the others, as we spent a good part of the day together. I variously asked about his logic behind marking his territory as frequently as he did, indicated the dangers inherent in crossing the road, explained to him where I was going when I left and gave him a rough indication of when I’d return, and generally enquired as to his wellbeing. And I still feel pretty normal. This also applies, by the way, to talking to cats and other pets; plants; and inanimate objects.

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10-ish Things that Annoy Me about the Way People Use English (and 10 Things I’m Just Fine With)

Niall O'Donnell 24 Comments

Look at that, a list! Such clickbait. But I’m not sure how much of a list it’ll be: at the moment I can only think of three or four things to put on it, though perhaps I’ll think of more as I write. Because you see, I’m not sure there are so many things that really annoy me about the way native speakers use English. I’ve been thinking about this recently while looking round the internet to see what other people are writing about the English language. And there’s a lot of interesting stuff out there, but I noticed that a lot of people like to write about things that annoy them about the way people use English. Reading what they wrote, I realised that I don’t seem to get so annoyed about things like that. Maybe it’s because I’m a teacher so I’m used to understanding the reason behind a mistake. Maybe I’m just curious about why people say things the way they do.

I understood why these people got annoyed of course, and I know why we naturally don’t like when people say something differently from how we do. So I thought to myself: Are there things that annoy me? Let’s see what I can come up with…

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