grammar

I’ll Just Get That for You Now

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I’ve written a few times before about both the past and the future. But I keep thinking about how weirdly English can deal with both tenses. Continue reading →

Horoscope

Niall O'Donnell 3 Comments

I saw this word today, and thought straight away that its origins were pretty clear.

-scope is clearly related to watching or looking (periscope, telescope etc.) And horo- must be related to time (hour). And that’s the case.

It comes from the Greek horoskopos, made up of hora (hour, season, period of time) and skopos (watcher, that which is watched). There was one thing I was slightly wrong about though. Continue reading →

Catchphrase!

Niall O'Donnell 4 Comments

I briefly considered the word catchphrase today. Continue reading →

Just Write

Niall O'Donnell 1 Comment

I wasn’t going to write anything this evening. I knew I’d come back a bit late this evening, and assumed I’d be too tired and wouldn’t have much time, so I’d take an evening off.

Yet here I am. Continue reading →

Going Vegan

Niall O'Donnell 6 Comments

I’m not a vegan, nor am I planning to go vegan either. And I’m not a vegetarian either. I really like meat a lot. I did pretend to be a vegetarian once, though the pretence didn’t last long. But that’s another story. I really want to look at the word vegan. Continue reading →

More Grammar Thoughts

Niall O'Donnell 3 Comments

I spent a little time in the classroom yesterday, correcting a test. One of the exercises required the students to finish the sentence Is the climate cold, or… with one of three options. One was …is it too hot? and another was …is it multicultural?

Obviously the correct answer was …is it too hot? But one student asked if …is it multicultural? could be right too. And of course it wasn’t, but then I thought: It also kind of is. Continue reading →

Weird Flex, but OK…

Niall O'Donnell 1 Comment

This is slang, modern internet slang, as you’re probably aware. I’ve been aware of it now for a few months, so that means it’s probably about three or four years old. And already out of date.

You also probably know that flex in this context means boast. Until very recently though, I’d assumed it meant fetish. Continue reading →