Q is unique among the letters of the English alphabet in that it always has to be partnered with another letter (not counting loanwords like Quran, Qatar, and Iraq).
Why does it always have to be followed by a U? Continue reading
Why does Q Need U?
word origins
Join the Queue
Or, get in line, if you’re of an American persuasion.
Queue is an interesting word. Continue reading
Suit Yourself!
I’m going to wear a suit tomorrow. I don’t often, so it’ll be a rare treat, no doubt, for the general public who might be passing by. When I say suit, you probably think of a man wearing a matching jacket, trousers, and shirt, with optional tie. But if you think about it, there are many other ways to use the word suit, aren’t there…? Continue reading
The Popemobile Lost a Wheel
I saw something on TV today about two men who built the Popemobile for John Paul II when he visited Ireland in 1979. The Popemobile is the name given to a variety of vehicles in which various popes have been driven about in public. Over the last few days, as people have been talking about the upcoming visit of the current Pope, Francis, to Ireland, I’ve begun to realise that people take this word somewhat more seriously than I thought. Continue reading
You Dirty Rat!
No, I won’t get political. I promise. I mean yes, this post was directly inspired by the fact that it’s just been announced that the former lawyer of the current president of the United States has pleased guilty to violating campaign law at the direction of said president, which reminded me of him recently calling someone in a roughly similar position a rat on Twitter recently.
No, I won’t get political. But I do wonder why we call someone who betrays others by giving up information a rat… Continue reading
On the Scent
The verb sentire in Italian is an interesting one. I’ve come across it a few times recently on Duolingo, meaning to hear. I could see how it was related to English words associated with feelings like (to) sense, sensitive, sentiment(al) etc., but found it curious that in Italian it seemed to be used only to refer to one sense. Seemed to anyway… Continue reading
Hello Kitty
Obviously I was joking yesterday when I said I’d write about the origins of the name Hello Kitty. But immediately I did think that I knew something interesting about the word kitten. Let me illustrate. Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 