I was sitting here watching the rain, and thinking about those two words, quite and quiet. Obviously they’re… rather confusing for a lot of people, given how similar they look and sound. I wondered if there might be some link between the two. Surely not, I thought. Their meanings are so different: surely this is just one of those cases of words evolving to be similar independently. Surely… Continue reading
I’ve mentioned before that I’m always fascinated by the statistics of this blog, particularly the demographics of my visitors (i.e. you). I discovered recently that via Facebook, I can see some of the cities or particular regions that frequent visitors come from. That’s really interesting, but also kind of scary as I might recognise who some people are based on those places, and then know if they’re reading or not in a particular week.
I’m therefore not going to look at that report too much, but I did notice an interesting name crop up: Mechanicsville, Georgia (U.S). Continue reading
I’ll take any to be honest, I’m not fussy. Ah, but linguistically, which is best? Continue reading
You may have said this today, in frustration perhaps, or in anger. Maybe it wasn’t quite as long as that. Maybe it was just a quick, cathartic Argh! I’m sure it’s something we’ve all said at least a few times in our lives. Did you ever wonder why it’s spelled in such a strange way though? Continue reading
I was enjoying some French conversation last night, on Bastille Day, when someone tried to think of the French translation for sensible. This is a tricky one because there is a French word sensibilité, but it’s a common false friend for French speakers, as it actually means sensitive in English.
That might seem odd to you, because sensible and sensitive are quite different in meaning in English. However, if we take a little trip into the past, we can see that the difference wasn’t always so marked. Continue reading
I heard this phrase this afternoon, and thought, Well, there’s no great mystery with this one. Red-handed refers to having blood on one’s hands from an act of murder or some other violence. No complicated, confusing web of etymology here.
But then I thought, I always think that, and then I look something up and there’s a fascinating, unexpected origin of the expression that I’ll be excited to share with you, dear reader. Continue reading
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
English-Language Thoughts 