writing

How Many in a Couple?

Niall O'Donnell Leave a comment

Two.

Or more.

It depends really.

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Harvey Weinstein: Doesn’t Sound Right to Me

Niall O'Donnell 7 Comments

Obviously there’s been a lot of reports of sexual harassment lately, largely because of the initial reports about Harvey Weinstein.

I don’t really have anything to add to everything that’s already been said and written. I am curious about that name Weinstein though.

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An Historic Occasion or A Historic Occasion?

Niall O'Donnell 19 Comments

I’ll tell you before the end, I promise (I bet he just says that both are correct, he always does). But you can see already, can’t you, how the letter H isn’t so simple even for native speakers.

In fact, it can be quite a controversial letter, sparking more arguments than perhaps any other.

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H is for Honesty

Niall O'Donnell 20 Comments

While listening to the radio today, the DJ introduced the song “Honesty,” by Billy Joel. Only, being a French speaker, he pronounced the H as we do in words like house and happy. This might seem odd though, because the letter H is always silent in French.

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Does Alcohol Make you Better at Speaking a Second Language?

Niall O'Donnell 19 Comments

Absolutely.

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Racking my Brain

Niall O'Donnell 11 Comments

Writing yesterday’s post, I came to a point where I wanted to use the phrase racking their brain. A few words before I got to the point where I had to type it though, I paused: was it wracking their brain?

I’ve never been sure how to spell it, and it’s not something I often have to write, so I never had to look it up. At least until yesterday anyway, so to satisfy all our curiosity, here’s the answer…

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Literal Translation

Niall O'Donnell 16 Comments

The above photo is of a box I came across recently in a shop in Liège, and is a classic example of how literal translation will usually lead you astray.

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