I’m still reading that Shakespeare book (work and househunting is time-consuming), and still learning interesting things. Well in this case, it was being reminded of something I’d heard about before: the jakes.
The Jakes
grammar
Bye-bye!
What is it that makes bye-bye so inherently juvenile compared to goodbye, or simply bye? Continue reading
Le Dauphin
What a glorious thing it is to have Henry V represented on stage, leading the French king prisoner, and forcing both him and the Dolphin to swear fealty.
The above are the words of the English Elizabethan writer Thomas Nashe, as quoted in 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, which I’m obviously getting a lot of inspiration from. What obviously interested me about that quote was… the Dolphin. Continue reading
Universe
Yesterday I shared with you my new favourite word: neck-verse. The first time I typed it, it sounded like an informal term for a group of films all tied together by featuring characters related to a superhero called The Neck.
And sadly, while such a series of films doesn’t (yet) exist, it made me think of the newly-obvious similarity between the words verse and universe. Could there be a link? Continue reading
Audit
I saw the word audit recently, and had one of my usual Eureka! moments. Surely, I said to myself, that’s related to the concept of hearing, with its similarity to words like audio, auditory, audience etc. Continue reading
Once, Twice, Three Times…
I was wondering this morning why we say once and twice as alternatives to one time and two times in English.
It’s one of these things learners of English find it hard to remember to use. Partly it’s because there’s no greater pattern at work, as for every other number after one and two we just say three times, four times etc. It’s also because most other languages use the equivalent of one time and two times.
So why does English have to be awkward, once again, and not just use one time and two times? Continue reading
2019
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.’ Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 