Unprecedented times. Challenging, uncertain, trying times.
I’m sure you’ve heard it all at this stage, and probably will for a while yet (for any of you reading this in the future, I’m writing this on 9th September 2020, that should tell you everything!) I’m not going to write about the ongoing global pandemic, but rather that a term that I first heard because of it: smart working!
Continue reading
You might understandably be confused if you heard someone say this. At least if you’re in an English-speaking country. Continue reading
Look at him there. Look at his face. Look at how happy he is to have his big, important letter. The North Koreans really understand him perfectly: give him a really big letter, in a really big envelope, flatter him, make him feel important.
I was thinking about this word, and the related word grave, this morning. Like contract, it’s a curiously multi-purpose word.
Reading about Anglish yesterday, I realised that one of the most useful methods for proponents of this form of English is creating calques.
What’s a calque, I hear you ask?
I mentioned yesterday that I wanted to write about English words which are used in French in a slightly different way to how we use them. And this morning I thought, as I’m still using an AZERTY keyboard, I might as well do that today.
I’ve already written about some English words that are used in French, but today I want to focus on three that are a strange combination of seeming logical yet slightly odd to an English speaker’s ear. I should also state that I’m not criticising or mocking French speakers for using these words. Their use makes enough sense for non-native speakers, and once a word enters another language it doesn’t have to follow the rules of its original language. Anyway, the three words are:
English-Language Thoughts 