By now, you’re probably well aware that I’ve always got time for an interesting etymology.
You’re also probably equally aware that I’m always wary of an apparent etymology that just seems too good to be true.
Yesterday, I came across what I assumed was a case of the latter. Continue reading
Have you ever wondered why both F and Ph can have the same sound in English?
Phone, philosophy, Philadelphia: force, far, fair etc. Continue reading
After writing about the term bohemian recently, I realisd that there are a few other cases in English of adjectives relating to certain regions having a particular meaning. Continue reading
About a week or so ago, when Avengers: Infinity War was released, I thought, I wonder if there’s any interesting points related to language raised by the Avengers and their ancillary characters? If you clicked on that link in the first line of the paragraph, or read this post inspired by Black Panther, you can see that these films often give me a lot to think about.
Some of you might go to the gym regularly, to keep fit. Good for you, if you do. You might know that gym is short for gymnasium, which would be quite a long word to say all the time, so the abbreviation makes sense.
You may already know the difference between these two words, but I think that they can be easily confused, so it’s useful to make a distinction. To put it most simply: astronomy is real, and astrology isn’t.
Do you ever see pretentious French terms on menus and wish you knew what they meant without having to look up their meaning? Perhaps you choose a dish in a restaurant which includes sautéd greens, but you have no idea what they exactly are. Well, let me help you with this one at least. And talk about Ancient Greek philosophers and heraldry too, naturally.
