I’m not very good at being topical (watch out for a hot take on the word dotard some time before the end of the week!) This is largely due to the fact that I write my posts the day before I publish them. You see, I used to publish them as soon as I wrote them, but some days I was tired, or it was a little difficult to write exactly what I wanted to, and I felt pressured and annoyed and just wanted to get it done.
It’s September, and that always makes me think of the names of the months. September of course, is the ninth month of the year, but the name might make you think it’s the seventh, if you know your Latin.
The evenings are getting a little longer each day (at least here in the Northern hemisphere), and while it’s not cold yet, soon enough it’ll be time to settle by the fireplace with a nice mug of cocoa. You’d be a mug not to, wouldn’t you? Unless you’re not the type to stay indoors in the winter. Perhaps you prefer to stay on the streets in the evenings, hanging around quiet street corners and – oh! – mugging people! Well if that’s what you’re into, ok, but be careful that the police don’t catch you, or they’ll bring you back to the police station and take your mugshot. If they do, make sure you don’t mug for the camera: they really don’t like that. They’d probably make sure you were convicted, and then your mug would be plastered all over the place. Crime: it’s a mug’s game, isn’t it?
Reading through the blogs that I follow, I’ve noticed that the subject of many of them is the fall. That melancholy time when the leaves change colour, the tourists fade away, and the evenings gradually get that little bit darker each day. It’s a beautiful time of year in many ways, but, not being American, whenever I see the word fall, I hesitate for a brief moment before I realise what people mean. Because of course, I say autumn, not fall. Why do we have these two, very different, words? Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 