T.S Eliot wrote that April is the cruellest month. He obviously didn’t write that part of “The Waste Land” in February.
February
Celtic
The Word Clock? Now that Rings a Bell…
The word clock has quite a long history, unsurprising for such a common and simple word.
Boxing Day
Today is Boxing Day, traditionally a day of extreme rest for those who celebrate Christmas, due to the exhaustion caused by the previous day’s eating, drinking, and resting. Unless you’re one of those simply awful people who get up at 5am to queue for the stock that clothes shops couldn’t sell during the year, now reduced in price. Then it’s probably quite a tiring day, but that’s your fault, isn’t it? For the rest of us it’s a day for watching Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory or Raiders of the Lost Ark, and eating Quality Street and turkey & ham sandwiches. Continue reading
Happy Hallowe’en!
I hope you have an enjoyable and suitably spooky day today, whether you’re dressing up, trick or treating, or staying in with some horror movies. To celebrate, I’m going to have a look at some of the words we associate with this day. Continue reading
Come on Wales!
To celebrate the historic occasion of Wales playing tonight in the semi-finals of their first ever European Championship, I want to write something short about English words of Welsh origin. Short, because there aren’t that many! I think this is largely because Welsh both looks and sounds so different from English that it’s different for Welsh words to enter the English language. But there are a few, such as… Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 