TEFL

Would You Mind Helping Me?

Niall O'Donnell 12 Comments

No, not at all.

or…

Yeah, sure.

Which is the correct answer?

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Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubarb

Niall O'Donnell 9 Comments

Do you like rhubarb? Its taste is a bit sharp, but it can be quite nice alongside something gentler, like custarb. It’s one of those funny words with an Rh at the beginning, when really it seems like a simple R would do fine.

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By the Way

Niall O'Donnell 20 Comments

I think I use this expression a lot. I notice, as I’m writing, which phrases I tend to use more often than others. It’s not necessarily such a bad thing: we can’t use every word in the language, and our use of certain words and expressions is what gives us our own style.

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What do you Call a French Muggle?

Niall O'Donnell 18 Comments

Un non-magique, apparently.

Before I go any farther, I should explain that I’m talking about Harry Potter.

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AD/BC

Niall O'Donnell 11 Comments

You’re probably familiar with these abbreviations, used to indicate if a year took place either on or after AD 1, or before it. You probably also know that BC stands for Before Christ, as our current calendar system is based on the assumption that Jesus Christ was born in AD 1. What about AD though?

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Why do we Say Côte d’Ivoire in English?

Niall O'Donnell 4 Comments

Looking at my statistics earlier, I saw that someone had visited this site today from Côte d’Ivoire (hi). Or, if you prefer, The Ivory Coast. Obviously Côte d’Ivoire is French, and The Ivory Coast is English, but you might have noticed that Côte d’Ivoire is often used in English as the name of the country, even though we usually translate names of countries into English. Why do we make an exception in the case of Côte d’Ivoire then?

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Where does the Word News Come From?

Niall O'Donnell 7 Comments

Well, let’s start with where it doesn’t come from.

It’s not, as you might have heard, an acronym of North, East, West, and South. This is a popular misconception, usually claimed to be based on the idea that news comes from all directions.

While this sounds cute, it’s really not the way words are formed at all. As I’ve pointed out before.

Instead, the truth is a bit stranger.

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