Look, I know this is being published on a Thursday, but in my defence I’m writing this on a Wednesday and the idea came to me this afternoon.
Hump Day
language learning
Remuneration
That’s right. Not renumeration: remuneration.
This is probably among the most-commonly misspelled words in English, and it’s easy to understand why.
Astronomy and Astrology
You may already know the difference between these two words, but I think that they can be easily confused, so it’s useful to make a distinction. To put it most simply: astronomy is real, and astrology isn’t.
What do you Call a French Muggle?
Un non-magique, apparently.
Before I go any farther, I should explain that I’m talking about Harry Potter.
AD/BC
You’re probably familiar with these abbreviations, used to indicate if a year took place either on or after AD 1, or before it. You probably also know that BC stands for Before Christ, as our current calendar system is based on the assumption that Jesus Christ was born in AD 1. What about AD though?
Where does the Word News Come From?
Well, let’s start with where it doesn’t come from.
It’s not, as you might have heard, an acronym of North, East, West, and South. This is a popular misconception, usually claimed to be based on the idea that news comes from all directions.
While this sounds cute, it’s really not the way words are formed at all. As I’ve pointed out before.
Instead, the truth is a bit stranger.
Spam!
I had a most shocking experience recently. I’m fortunate to be a part of a lovely bloggers’ group, Blogs in Bloom. People share their blog posts, and social-media links, and everyone is invited to read, share, and comment.
Of course you let the people know that you’ve read, or liked, or shared their post, by commenting under their link. Something simple like Commented! or Read and liked! At first, anyway…
English-Language Thoughts 