It’s that time again already: it’s next year! It seems like only yesterday that it was last year.

I’d set out my goals for the coming year and so on, but I don’t really do that, not on a yearly basis. I do have one hope for this year though, and that’s that this is the year we finally go back to saying the names of years as though they’re two separate numbers. You know, like ‘twenty-nineteen’ and ‘twenty-twenty.’

I know I mention this a lot, but the whole ‘two thousand and…’ way of doing things just seems so cumbersome.

But people have had a good nine years now to get their act together, so why should I expect 2019 to be any different? My one big hope is that there’s an inherent rhythm to ‘twenty-nineteen’ that’ll attract people to it, because it’s part of a sequence. Like a countdown: twenty, nineteen, eighteen etc.

And if people don’t start seeing things my way, well, there’s always 2020. Surely everyone’s going to want to say ‘twenty-twenty!!”

Anyway, let me take a moment to thank you for reading, whether this is your first time, or you’re a regular. It continuously amazes me that people from all over the world take a few minutes of their day now and then to read what I’ve written (my map is nearly full now!), so I’m genuinely grateful to you for reading, and I hope you continue in 2019 (‘twenty-nineteen’) and beyond.

And seeing as I’m actually writing this on New Year’s Eve, let’s say goodbye to 2018 by looking at this year’s most popular posts:

10. Just How Bad is Donald Trump’s English? (Putting him to the Test)

9. Riding the Gravy Train

8. Emmanuel Macron: a Pronunciation Guide

7. The Strange History of Pepperoni

6. What a Hot Verb!

5. More Real or Realer?

4. Isn’t She Lovely?

3. What Won’t Meatloaf Do for Love?

2. Boot or Trunk? Hood or Bonnet?

1. Why is “Dick” Short for “Richard?”

I’m glad to see that most of these are questions (with answers!) that, if you’re as curious an individual as I, have been niggling at you for years. Or, perhaps, that just came to you one moment out of the blue. Hopefully you enjoyed reading, and got some satisfying answers too.

Oh, and to the one chap who got to Why is “Dick” Short for “Richard?” by searching for is my dicc short: I’m sorry that I didn’t give you the answer you were looking for, but I’m pretty sure that answer is it’s not as short as you think.