Do you want to keep track of some the most important issues in the world today? Maybe you could pick up an issue of the magazine The Big Issue to read about them.
Issue. Continue reading
Big Issue!
languages
He Walked Through the Door
‘OW!! That hurt!’ he said.
A little earlier, the song “Pure Shores” by All Saints came on the radio. Amid the waves of turn-of-the-millennium nostalgia, one section struck me: Continue reading
In Concert
I was thinking about the word concert recently. A very common word, but it struck me that, like so many others, we use it in different ways without really noticing. Continue reading
I’ll Just Get That for You Now
I’ve written a few times before about both the past and the future. But I keep thinking about how weirdly English can deal with both tenses. Continue reading
Horoscope
I saw this word today, and thought straight away that its origins were pretty clear.
-scope is clearly related to watching or looking (periscope, telescope etc.) And horo- must be related to time (hour). And that’s the case.
It comes from the Greek horoskopos, made up of hora (hour, season, period of time) and skopos (watcher, that which is watched). There was one thing I was slightly wrong about though. Continue reading
Whoa!
I thought about the word wow a little while ago. I’m not sure why it came to me: I don’t recall being particularly surprised by anything today. Continue reading
Catchphrase!
I briefly considered the word catchphrase today. Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 