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
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
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.
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
1. “There’s a plug under your table. Yeah, just there, yeah!”
2. “Sorry, is there a plug beside you there?”
“Yeah.”
I heard both of these utterances at the weekend: the first in a pub on Saturday, and the second on a bus on Sunday. Nothing strange about that, except for one thing: in both cases the people were lying!!! Continue reading
Do Ti La Sol Fa Mi Re Do!
Beautifully done! (and yes, it is Sol, not So!)
Even if you haven’t seen The Sound of Music, you’re probably quite familiar with this little method of assigning syllables to the seven major musical notes.
It’s known as solfège, and is used to help a musician distinguish between different pitches of notes. It’s not something I’d ever given much thought about until one day, likely while I was living in Belgium, I saw The Sound of Music dubbed into French… Continue reading
Oh, hi there.
It’s been a while, I know. I’ve been busy, and I think I wanted a little break from writing.
But then an idea comes, and here we are! Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 