Did you ever wonder why we use the word sound with this meaning?
No? Well luckily for you, I have! Continue reading
Of Sound Body and Mind
language thoughts
What’s Your Fav Abbreviation?
I’ll tell you what’s not mine: fav.
Let me explain why. Continue reading
Straightforward
While writing yesterday, I paused to think of le mot juste, and it turned out that straightforward was juste the mot I needed. I paused again, then, to think a little more about that word, straightforward.
It’s quite a straightforward word, isn’t it? Continue reading
Dearly Beloved…
You probably won’t be amazed if I tell you that the past simple and past participle forms of regular verbs in English are formed by adding -d or -ed. You also wouldn’t be very surprised if I told you that that E is usually silent, except when it follows a T or D (e.g. contrast commenced and finished with started and ended).
What about a word like beloved then? Continue reading
Orientation
Feeling disoriented? Well if it’s early in the morning, just look for where the sun’s rising, and face that way, and then you’ll be oriented again. Quite literally. 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
Bon Voyage!
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
English-Language Thoughts 