I suppose I should answer the question I started with yesterday: When is a ban not a ban?
The answer of course, is: when it’s not a ban. Continue reading
Ban
Trump
Politics and the English Language
If the ban were announced with a one week (sic) notice, the “bad” would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad “dudes” out there! – Donald Trump, 30/01/17
First of all, it’s not a travel ban – Sean Spicer, 31/01/17
Political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind – George Orwell, 1946
When is a ban not a ban? Continue reading
Shut the Gate
No-one would ever accuse the average tabloid writer of a great love for the breadth of the English language. They go for a particular sensationalist and informal tone, with a specific vocabulary, and stick with it. Unlike broadsheet journalists, who tend to play it down the middle or go highbrow, they have a particular house style. This is even more true for tabloid sub-editors, who write the headlines, except for the odd occasion when they go above and beyond the call of duty.
I’m thinking of a specific journalistic trend, which, in fairness, isn’t restricted to tabloid journalism. And that trend is the tendency to add the suffix -gate to a word to refer to any manner of scandal. Some notable recent examples include Continue reading
The Best Words
I don’t like to get too overtly political in this blog. While I think everyone should be conscious of what’s going on around them, ultimately this blog is language-focussed, and I prefer to keep it that way. And while it’s hard not to avoid politics at the moment, I want to take a brief look at Donald John Trump, President of the United States of America, but specifically the words he uses. Continue reading
Talking Business
When is good English a disadvantage?
When you’re in business.
Well, it’s not so simple obviously, but I was intrigued by an article on the BBC Capital website entitled Why Foreigners Hate English Speakers (well, the title is actually Native English Speakers are the World’s Worst Communicators, but the former was the carrot to entice me to click on it). Now I knew that the BBC were indulging in a little clickbaiting with such a provocative title, and that the actual content would be a lot milder than it promised, but still, I was curious.
And it was an interesting read. The basic gist of it is that non-native English speakers often have trouble understanding native speakers in business situations. This isn’t too surprising, as a native speaker is going to speak more quickly than a non-native speaker, and use more idioms (which may even be quite localised) which can be hard to understand. This can be particularly problematic for English speakers, as we often don’t have as much experience of learning a language to a reasonable level compared to those who’ve had to learn English, so we don’t usually realise how to adapt our speech to make ourselves fully understood. I see this cause problems all the time, but usually nothing serious. In business, however, it’s a different matter. Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 