Did you know that the phrase is toe the line, and not tow the line? It’s a very common mistake, largely because to toe isn’t commonly used a verb in English, whereas to tow can be found more frequently. Plus, you can tow a line, but what does toeing a line even mean? Continue reading
language
One for the Road
After looking at the differences between the English words for animals and the meat we get from them, I was curious about the words we use for alcoholic drinks, and whether they display a similar Germanic/Latin divide. Continue reading
Doing Dutch with Duolingo
It seems like a long time ago when I decided to give a language-learning app a try. I’ve been busy since then, but finally this week I decided I’d download Duolinguo. I thought quite a bit about which language to choose. I knew right away that I already know enough French and Italian to make it difficult to know how much I was actually learning from the app. I thought about choosing a language as far from English as possible, but decided against this as, generally, we tend to learn languages with at least some basic similarities to our mother tongue. Most Europeans will learn another European language, which mostly have some basic links with each other. Continue reading
Chicken – The People’s Food
Cow – Beef
Calf – Veal
Pig – Pork
Deer – Venison
Sheep – Mutton
Chicken – Chicken
Not hard to spot the odd one out, eh? Forgetting about chicken for a moment, have you ever noticed that in English, we have special names for the most-commonly consumed meats, separate from the names of the animals themselves? Continue reading
The Future is Now
How much money have you put aside for a rainy day? Actually don’t answer that: I’d never really ask such a question anyway. But have you ever considered that your native tongue might influence your ability to save money? Continue reading
Kiwi
It’s that age-old question which has long puzzled philosophers – which came first: the kiwifruit or the kiwi bird? Continue reading
International Women’s Day
Happy International Women’s Day! I did think a little about whether it was appropriate to wish one a happy International Women’s Day, seeing as there’s still a lot of work being done around the world to secure women’s rights in a variety of areas. But I think today should be a day for celebration, as well as reflection and protest, so happy International Women’s Day! In honour of the day, I’ve decided to take a look at the word woman, and a little bit at how we gender language. And I hope you won’t accuse of mansplaining: I’m just doing what I usually do, just with a feminine focus today (and I’m observing A Day Without a Woman, so who else could I get to do it!). Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 