I had some dental work recently, and that got me thinking about the apparently strange names we give to our teeth in English. Continue reading
And That’s the Tooth!
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The Blog-aholic Award
I’m very honoured to announce that I’ve been nominated for the Blog-aholic Award by Amanda at Sashimi for Breakfast and the Fauxhasset Paroder, your only source for the best fake news.
This award was created by The Recipe Hunter, where you can find more information about it. As per the rules, I’ll link to my three best posts, and share three interesting facts about myself. Continue reading
Swag – Don’t it Make You Feel Old?
Do you have swag? Of course you do. You’re with it, you’re hip, you’re cool. You’re well aware that swag is the latest cool word among fashionable young people like yourself, and you know that it’s an uncountable noun that refers to a fashionable manner and accompanying manner. Unsurprisingly, it’s an abbreviation of swagger.
And do you know what? Swag makes me feel old. Continue reading
Hear, Hear!
This is a phrase that’s very easy to misspell. I find my instinct is always to write here here, and I have remind myself that the phrase is actually hear hear. Obviously it’s confusing because the two words are homophones: words that sound identical, but have different meanings. Plus, we use it when we agree strongly with something, and neither hear nor here are normally used in that sense on their own. Where does this phrase come from? Continue reading
Ill-Gotten Gains
One of those little indications of the difference between American and British English is the verb to get. In American (and Canadian) English its past-simple form is got (I got a new car yesterday), and the past participle is gotten (I’ve gotten better at grammar). In British English, got is used for both forms (I’ve got better at grammar). One exception is using have got to refer to possession, (I’ve got three kids). As this structure is the present perfect simple, strictly it should be I’ve gotten three kids, but that would sound like you’ve bought some kids, and might buy some more. Plus, the real meaning of I’ve got… in this context is a present simple meaning, despite using the present perfect simple, so demanding that one stick to the normal structure of the present perfect simple would be a bit silly. Continue reading
They’re all racist, aren’t they?
But the Irish are racist, aren’t they? (internet commenter, 2016)
I don’t mean to be racist, but the Poles are the racist f**kers on the planet. (idiot who won’t be named, 2000)
Recently, I came across the first sentence above, somewhere deep in the comments section of an article I’ve long since forgotten about. I was surprised, as I didn’t consider myself to be racist, nor did the majority of my compatriots seem to be. Reading on, things were cleared up a little.
I came to realise that the person was referring to a belief that Irish-Americans are racist. Which let me off the hook, but then I remembered that the article was about an Irish actor, as in, from Ireland, so the person was not only indulging in wild generalisations, but also conflating being Irish-American with being Irish. There was a whole heap of confusion going on. Continue reading
Ban
I suppose I should answer the question I started with yesterday: When is a ban not a ban?
The answer of course, is: when it’s not a ban. Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 