You’ve Got Mail

Another little detail I noticed on the poster that inspired yesterday’s post: FOR BOOKING MAIL…

Nothing really remarkable there, but I was curious about the use of to mail as a verb. Again, that’s not really revolutionary, but I did notice the lack of an E. Just mail, not email.  Continue reading

Inhibition

OK, so as per yesterday, inhibition isn’t really the opposite of exhibition. Of course there’s still a basic relationship of contrast between the two. Continue reading

The Most Unkindest Cut of All

At some point yesterday I came across the expression in the title of this post. I can’t remember where exactly, but it’s a pretty common phrase. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen or heard it, but this time, something seemed strange. Then I realised what it was: the most unkindest cut!? 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

Citizen and Subject

While writing about the word citizen, via denizen recently, I naturally thought of the word citizen in contrast to subject. Naturally, when describing people, they’re quite different. Continue reading

ise or ize?

I know this one! I hear you say. -ise is British English, and -ize is American English. That’s it, isn’t it?

Basically yes, but also no, not really. Continue reading

I Really don’t Care, do U?

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?

Continue reading