I saw a video this morning entitled “Cute Dog Walks Themselves” (it’s a Sunday, I’m not busy). As is probably the case for you, the title seemed a little strange.
Dog, singular.
Themselves, plural.
The two shouldn’t really go together, should they? Continue reading
It was Pancake Tuesday recently, but that didn’t inspire much pondering in me. After all, pancake is just pan + cake. A cake you make in a pan. But a few days later I thought about the word again. Continue reading
You might know the song “Yankee Doodle,” even if you’re not American. One line might sound a little strange to you:
Stuck a feather in his cap, and called it macaroni.
Why macaroni? Continue reading
When watching American TV and films, as a younger person, I’d consistently be amazed at how often characters would refer to a college class such as Biology 101 or History 101. Such lazy writing, I’d think. Why do they always say the classes are in Room 101? Why doesn’t even one writer decide to buck the trend and set their class in some other room? Even just Room 102! Continue reading
I come across the word morbido in my Italian comic-book reading now and then, and I can never remember what it means. The only thing I ever remember is that it’s quite different from morbid in English. Continue reading
I was reminded today of the term Third World. It was quite commonly used when I was a child, basically synonymous with developing world. I remember occasionally wondering as a child why we used the term (there’s only one world!), but it also feeling like it made sense. I think I was somewhen in my teens when I learned the answer.
I saw the word mighty today (not a word you see all the time these days), and immediately wondered if it were linked to the modal verb might (as in I might be mighty, but might I be the mightiest?) Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 