I’m currently watching South Korea play Mexico (2-0 to Mexico at the moment). A few minutes ago, Mexico got a free kick, which made me realise how odd the word free can be in English. Continue reading
Free Hat
grammar
What’s the Difference Between a Jacket and a Coat?
When writing about Melania Trump in yesterday’s post, I realised that I’d written a few times in the initial paragraphs that she’d been wearing a controversial coat.
No, that can’t be right, I thought.
You see, it’s June, so surely she was wearing a jacket. Continue reading
I Really don’t Care, do U?
Isn’t it great to have a nice little space on the internet where you can avoid all the petty nastiness of current politics, especially all the horrid news that keeps coming from the White House? A place where you can forget about all that, and think about language, without hearing about Donald Trump and his cronies?
By the way, did you see what Melania Trump was wearing today?
Gaslighting
This is a term you might have heard in the news recently, particularly in relation to, sigh… yes, Donald Trump. Continue reading
You’re Dangerously Low on Space
This is something my phone has been telling me recently, which, frankly, I’m quite sceptical about. Am I really in danger? Continue reading
That Just Doesn’t Cut the Mustard
George Hamilton, main football commentator on Irish broadcaster RTÉ, is very fond of a groan-inducing pun. This evening, while referring to a Tunisian player who plays in Dijon in France, he said, That pass doesn’t cut the mustard!
Dijon, mustard… you get it.
Anyway, this made me wonder why, when something isn’t up to the standard we desire, we say it doesn’t cut the mustard? Continue reading
Plucky Mexico
More football. Don’t worry, I’m not going to write something about football every day for the next month. I’m really not that interested in it. But I was struck today by the use of an adjective that’s often used in sport: Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 