This morning, perhaps influenced by the current anticipation for the upcoming Joker film, it occurred to me that the word joker sounds very similar to the Italian verb giocare. Continue reading
Joker
languages
Talk with the Animals
I came across a video of one former English-Premiership footballer interviewing another. On Twitter, I think. And for some reason I stopped to listen to a little of it. Continue reading
Brexit Senza Accordo
It’s hard to avoid Brexit at the moment. I don’t intend to add to the commentary that’s already out there. Suffice it to say it’s a colossal mistake.
Anyway, I was listening to the news on the radio this morning, and the expression no-deal Brexit was mentioned (probably already for the fifth time today). As any innocuous word or phrase tends to do, this got me thinking. Continue reading
Copy and Paste
I was writing an email at work today (I’ll spare you the details) which included a pretty basic phrase. As soon as I’d written it however, I immediately deleted it and rewrote it, changing it only slightly, but in a way that, to me in the moment, made it correct. What was that phrase?
Copy and pasted. Continue reading
Amazon
If you’re reading this shortly after publication, then I don’t need to tell you about the horrific tragedy of the fires deliberately set in the Amazon Rainforest.
Focusing just on the name Amazon, I’ve often briefly wondered why the name was shared by the South American river and rainforest, as well the Ancient Greek all-female warrior tribe. Continue reading
Quite a Predicament
I saw the word predicament recently, and thought that it would be an interesting case for a little bit of etymology figuring-out. It looks so Latin, with such clearly separate sections, each of which could have its own meaning, and which could all be added up to clearly show the meaning of the word as whole. Continue reading
A Lot or Alot?
A lot.
It’s two words. This one’s easy.
But of course, a lot of people make the mistake of writing alot instead of a lot. And I’m curious as to why. Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 