Feeling disoriented? Well if it’s early in the morning, just look for where the sun’s rising, and face that way, and then you’ll be oriented again. Quite literally. Continue reading
Orientation
word origins
Naples
Lovely, isn’t it? In Italian of course, it’s Napoli. And while the English and Italian names for the city are quite similar, I’ve often wondered: why does Naples have an S at the end of it? Continue reading
Bon Voyage!
Or perhaps buon viaggio would be more appropriate, considering that when this is published, I’ll be on a flight from Dublin to Rome for a few days of well-earned rest. So you won’t hear from me for about a week or so, but rest assured my immersion in Italian will give me lots of fresh ideas to write about!
For now, let’s think about how we’d say bon voyage in English. Well, bon voyage of course, we’ve borrowed it from French. Or you could say have a nice trip, or safe journey, but you probably wouldn’t use the word voyage (the English word, not French), would you? Continue reading
Young and Old, Old and New
I keep thinking about surnames, even though I’ve written about them quite a few times now. I think I find them so interesting because in the past, when they were granted to people, there was a degree of conscious thought behind them, and they were quite literal and descriptive, compared to first names. Recently, I’ve been pondering the surnames Young and Oldman. Continue reading
Blue Riband
A Toast!
You can have lovely buttered toast for breakfast, but you can also raise a toast to someone. Why do we use the word toast in such completely different ways? Continue reading
Counsel or Council?
It’s spelled counsel, of course. Look, I could easily write a lot of words about how stupid Donald Trump is. Mostly because it’s true. But instead, let’s have a look at why the poor man has such trouble with the word counsel.
English-Language Thoughts 