People.
For practical purposes, people is basically always right. Except for those few times when persons is right… Continue reading
Persons or People?
etymology
Young and Old, Old and New
I keep thinking about surnames, even though I’ve written about them quite a few times now. I think I find them so interesting because in the past, when they were granted to people, there was a degree of conscious thought behind them, and they were quite literal and descriptive, compared to first names. Recently, I’ve been pondering the surnames Young and Oldman. Continue reading
Blue Riband
The Metal Umlaut
You’ve probably seen a lot of umlauts in your lifetime. They’re common in German, and look like this: ö. Those two little dots over a little vowel. English of course also has an identical diacritic, the diaeresis. But I already told you that. What I want to look at today though is the umlaut, and one type of umlaut in particular: the metal umlaut. Continue reading
A Toast!
You can have lovely buttered toast for breakfast, but you can also raise a toast to someone. Why do we use the word toast in such completely different ways? Continue reading
Of Course!
Anyone who writes fairly regularly develops certain habits. Repeated words, expressions, stylistic tricks. I’ve noticed that as I write, there are certain things I keep doing. Like using of course a lot, for example. Continue reading
Ready, Steady, Stop!
You might understandably be confused if you heard someone say this. At least if you’re in an English-speaking country. Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 