language evolution

Bon Voyage!

Niall O'Donnell 1 Comment

Or perhaps buon viaggio would be more appropriate, considering that when this is published, I’ll be on a flight from Dublin to Rome for a few days of well-earned rest. So you won’t hear from me for about a week or so, but rest assured my immersion in Italian will give me lots of fresh ideas to write about!

For now, let’s think about how we’d say bon voyage in English. Well, bon voyage of course, we’ve borrowed it from French. Or you could say have a nice trip, or safe journey, but you probably wouldn’t use the word voyage (the English word, not French), would you? Continue reading →

Does the Moon Have a Name?

Niall O'Donnell 5 Comments

Kind of, yes.

The moon.

That’s its name, basically.

Of course you might say that a lot of planets have moons, and they have distinct names like Ganymede, Europa, and Titan, so why did we never give our own moon a name? Continue reading →

The Metal Umlaut

Niall O'Donnell 8 Comments

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 →

A Toast!

Niall O'Donnell 2 Comments

You can have lovely buttered toast for breakfast, but you can also raise a toast to someone. Why do we use the word toast in such completely different ways? Continue reading →

Of Course!

Niall O'Donnell 11 Comments

Anyone who writes fairly regularly develops certain habits. Repeated words, expressions, stylistic tricks. I’ve noticed that as I write, there are certain things I keep doing. Like using of course a lot, for example. Continue reading →

Ready, Steady, Stop!

Niall O'Donnell 6 Comments

You might understandably be confused if you heard someone say this. At least if you’re in an English-speaking country. Continue reading →

Counsel or Council?

Niall O'Donnell 3 Comments

It’s spelled counsel, of course. Look, I could easily write a lot of words about how stupid Donald Trump is. Mostly because it’s true. But instead, let’s have a look at why the poor man has such trouble with the word counsel.

Continue reading →