grammar

Begging the Question

Niall O'Donnell 21 Comments

Writing about the etymology of the word clock yesterday reminded me of when I wrote about the word to decimate recently, and how people are fond of citing its original meaning as being to reduce by 10%, even though that’s not true.

As I said before, I can understand people having this misconception, and I can understand the instinct to correct people. There have always been people who’ve acted this way about language, but recently I’ve noticed more and more people taking such a prescriptive approach to English.

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The Word Clock? Now that Rings a Bell…

Niall O'Donnell 8 Comments

The word clock has quite a long history, unsurprising for such a common and simple word.

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How’s it Going? 

Niall O'Donnell 5 Comments

How’s what going exactly? Obviously you don’t really need to think about that if someone asks you this question.

The correct answer is of course, Fine thanks, how are you? It’s just a greeting, so you don’t really need to tell the person how you are, though I sometimes do, especially if I have something interesting to tell them. Still, the question remains: how’s what going? And where? 

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Taxi or Cab? 

Niall O'Donnell 3 Comments

Both are correct, regardless of whether you’re speaking British or American English. If that’s all you wanted to know, you can now go about enjoying your Sunday. But if you want to know how goats, Greek, a sign of the Zodiac, and stuffed animals fit into the equation, then please, read on.

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A Dark Horse

Niall O'Donnell 10 Comments

He’s a dark horse, isn’t he?

How would you describe the expression a dark horse to somebody who’d never heard it before? After thinking for a moment, you might say it’s a person of hidden depths or secret talents/opinions, someone who achieves something when no-one expected that they might. You might give an example of a quiet student in a language class who suddenly speaks confidently and fluently in an oral exam.

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A Certain Vintage

Niall O'Donnell 8 Comments

Are you into vintage clothes, or perhaps accessories? Maybe, if you can afford it, you have a vintage-car collection. The meaning of the word vintage is fairly straightforward. It basically means old, or old–fashioned, but also stylish and of good quality. It’s also an interesting, and straightforward, word in an etymological sense.

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Tickling your Funny Bone

Niall O'Donnell 12 Comments

Writing about the four humours yesterday, something struck me: the word humorous isn’t really very humorous.

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