A neat little phrase, in that the two verbs go well together in terms of meaning, but also how they look and sound. But is that just a coincidence? Continue reading
Forgive and Forget
English grammar
Hippopotamus
I already told you about this word, whose meaning you probably knew about anyway: it’s one of those interesting bits of trivia that’s often thrown about. Continue reading
Inconceivable!
OK, I’m a day late with this, but better late than never, eh?
So: in-. Continue reading
Whose Gloomy Dong?
We’ve all asked ourselves that at some point, I’m sure.
I’m happy to say I’m back from my little trip to Rome and Naples, and though I switched my brain off as much as possible, I couldn’t help seeing a little inspiration here and there.
Oh, you might say excitedly, he’s probably been thinking about the etymologies of some famous Roman emperor’s names, or about how we still use words related to the Roman Empire with reverance. I bet he’s done some research on the word pontiff after visiting the Vatican. Two such great cities are sure to provide anyone inclined to write on any subject with an abundance of ideas!
So anyway, the gloomy dong. Continue reading
Top Ten Posts of 2018! (so far…)
-I thought he was on holiday?
-Yeah, but this looks like something he threw together before he left, and set to publish while he was away, to make sure he keeps getting enough clicks. Continue reading
Blue Riband
The Metal Umlaut
You’ve probably seen a lot of umlauts in your lifetime. They’re common in German, and look like this: ö. Those two little dots over a little vowel. English of course also has an identical diacritic, the diaeresis. But I already told you that. What I want to look at today though is the umlaut, and one type of umlaut in particular: the metal umlaut. Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 