Isn’t it great to have a nice little space on the internet where you can avoid all the petty nastiness of current politics, especially all the horrid news that keeps coming from the White House? A place where you can forget about all that, and think about language, without hearing about Donald Trump and his cronies?
By the way, did you see what Melania Trump was wearing today?
This is a term you might have heard in the news recently, particularly in relation to, sigh… yes, Donald Trump. Continue reading
This is something my phone has been telling me recently, which, frankly, I’m quite sceptical about. Am I really in danger? Continue reading
George Hamilton, main football commentator on Irish broadcaster RTÉ, is very fond of a groan-inducing pun. This evening, while referring to a Tunisian player who plays in Dijon in France, he said, That pass doesn’t cut the mustard!
Dijon, mustard… you get it.
Anyway, this made me wonder why, when something isn’t up to the standard we desire, we say it doesn’t cut the mustard? Continue reading
More football. Don’t worry, I’m not going to write something about football every day for the next month. I’m really not that interested in it. But I was struck today by the use of an adjective that’s often used in sport: Continue reading
It’s football time again! I can’t believe it’s only been two years since I last thought about the English language and football.
Are you excited about the World Cup? Continue reading
No, not, nothing, neither, nor, none, nil, no-one, nobody, nowhere.
Notice a pattern?
Why do so many negative words begin with N? Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 