Writing about the accents I hear in my head while reading yesterday made me think about another recent case of some literary American/British English differences. Continue reading
He Must Mean Trunk
learning English
Hello Europe!
This evening I was at my parents’ house, watching a little TV after Sunday dinner. I don’t really watch much TV anymore, at least not in the conventional broadcast sense, apart from Sunday afternoons at home. Gaelic football matches are the usual background noise to Sunday-afternoon dinner, but we had it a bit later today, so I found myself watching an interesting nature programme.
Calque or Loanword?
Reading about Anglish yesterday, I realised that one of the most useful methods for proponents of this form of English is creating calques.
What’s a calque, I hear you ask?
Why is the Letter E the Most Common Letter in the English language?
This is a question I’ve been asking myself ruefully these last few days. The E on my keyboard hasn’t been very coöperative, insisting that I bang it at least a few times for it to make the letter E appear on the screen. This has made me really… appreciate, for wont of a better word, just how often we have to use the letter E.
Does Alcohol Make you Better at Speaking a Second Language?
Absolutely.
Literal Translation
The above photo is of a box I came across recently in a shop in Liège, and is a classic example of how literal translation will usually lead you astray.
“So, you’re a teacher?”
-It must be great to have all those long holidays !
-Well no actually, I’m actually busiest in the summer. In fact, I never take a holiday in July or August.
-Oh, so you’re not a proper teacher then ?
-Well…
-What kind of teacher are you then ?
-I’m an English teacher.
-Ah, Shakespeare and all that. You must love books !
-Well actually, not that kind of English teacher.
-Ok… I think I’m going to talk to someone else now…
English-Language Thoughts 