TEFL

Whose Gloomy Dong?

Niall O'Donnell 3 Comments

We’ve all asked ourselves that at some point, I’m sure.

I’m happy to say I’m back from my little trip to Rome and Naples, and though I switched my brain off as much as possible, I couldn’t help seeing a little inspiration here and there.

Oh, you might say excitedly, he’s probably been thinking about the etymologies of some famous Roman emperor’s names, or about how we still use words related to the Roman Empire with reverance. I bet he’s done some research on the word pontiff after visiting the Vatican. Two such great cities are sure to provide anyone inclined to write on any subject with an abundance of ideas!

So anyway, the gloomy dong. Continue reading →

Bon Voyage!

Niall O'Donnell 1 Comment

Or perhaps buon viaggio would be more appropriate, considering that when this is published, I’ll be on a flight from Dublin to Rome for a few days of well-earned rest. So you won’t hear from me for about a week or so, but rest assured my immersion in Italian will give me lots of fresh ideas to write about!

For now, let’s think about how we’d say bon voyage in English. Well, bon voyage of course, we’ve borrowed it from French. Or you could say have a nice trip, or safe journey, but you probably wouldn’t use the word voyage (the English word, not French), would you? Continue reading →

Does the Moon Have a Name?

Niall O'Donnell 5 Comments

Kind of, yes.

The moon.

That’s its name, basically.

Of course you might say that a lot of planets have moons, and they have distinct names like Ganymede, Europa, and Titan, so why did we never give our own moon a name? Continue reading →

Persons or People?

Niall O'Donnell 1 Comment

People.

For practical purposes, people is basically always right. Except for those few times when persons is right… Continue reading →

Young and Old, Old and New

Niall O'Donnell 3 Comments

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

Niall O'Donnell 3 Comments

Yes.

Riband.

Weird, eh? Continue reading →

The Metal Umlaut

Niall O'Donnell 8 Comments

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 →