David Bowie’s been in the news a bit recently, with his final album Blackstar having been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, and a new play featuring his music set to debut soon. I loved his music, even though I only really started to listen to it in my twenties. I was quite sad when he died, and the world still feels like a more boring place without him. Continue reading
Ah, the moon! Just look at it up there, glowing in the sky, casting its beautiful silvery light all around. It’s always inspired us. I think that’s because it’s a little bit more mysterious than the sun. During the day people probably looked up and thought: Well, I don’t really know what that thing up there is, but it clearly provides light and heat, so it’s ok.
But the moon? Continue reading
Ask a large enough group of English speakers what their least-favourite English word is, and the most common answer you’ll probably receive is moist. Continue reading
Have you ever given someone your word? Is your word your bond? Why specifically do we use these expressions when we talk about promises? What is it about a word that’s so important that we can trust it so much? I suppose it makes an idea more concrete. We can think that we want to do something for someone, but what good is it until we transform that thought into a word either by speaking it or writing it down. Once the thought’s out in the world we’re committed to it. Continue reading
You may have read in the news recently that Kim Jong-un wants to ban sarcasm in North Korea, as he fears that people only agree with him ironically.
First of all, I have to congratulate him on his grasp of irony. As I’ve written about before, it can be a tricky concept that people often struggle to get their heads round. So that he understands that sarcasm is a form of irony gives me some degree of satisfaction. It doesn’t make up for everything he’s done, but at least it goes to show that not everyone is completely evil. Continue reading
Sounds strange, doesn’t it, that title? Of course, it should be It was a Dark and Stormy night… But why? The information is the exact same in both, so why does our brain insist that dark has to come before stormy? First of all, I want you to look at something near you. Anything at all. Now, describe it out loud in one sentence, using as many adjectives as you can. Don’t overthink it.
You might have come up with something like me: a small, black, analogue watch, or a thin black Toshiba laptop, or a tall, clear glass. Now try changing the order of the adjectives you chose. It sounds wrong, doesn’t it. And that’s because there’s a rule that all native-speakers follow without thinking about it, or even knowing about it at all. That rule determines the order of types of adjectives we use. The correct order is as follows: Continue reading
Why do have such reverence for the heart? Yes, it’s functioning is necessary for survival, but that’s true for our other organs too. At the end of the day, it’s a big fleshy pump that sends blood around the body (I think that’s how it’s described in Gray’s Anatomy).
It’s important, but the number of idioms we have that refer to it seem quite out of proportion, compared to how often we refer to other parts of the body. The following is just a small fraction of the heart-related idioms listed at thefreedictionary.com: Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 