You might have noticed yesterday that when I mentioned the word bairn, I referred to its use in both Scots and Scottish English. And you might have asked yourself: what’s the difference?
I’m not an expert, and not going to go into all the details, but suffice it to say that they’re quite distinct. Continue reading
I was reading about a Viking hoard discovered in York in England this morning, and learned something quite interesting. Continue reading
I was wondering this morning why we say once and twice as alternatives to one time and two times in English.
It’s one of these things learners of English find it hard to remember to use. Partly it’s because there’s no greater pattern at work, as for every other number after one and two we just say three times, four times etc. It’s also because most other languages use the equivalent of one time and two times.
So why does English have to be awkward, once again, and not just use one time and two times? Continue reading
The differences between American and British English are of course numerous, and I’ve touched on them before. One area that’s always intrigued me though is food.
The first part of the title of this post is the title of an article I came across yesterday on the Culture of the BBC website. I thought it would be interesting, and wondered in what way they might be killing the English language. I was quite disappointed then, to read it and find out, as I’d expected, they’re not killing it at all.
English-Language Thoughts 