It’s not at all uncommon to come across homonyms in English: words that are spelled and pronounced identically, but have entirely different meanings. Today though, I thought for the first time about a rather curious example of this: light. Continue reading
I was listening to Radiohead this afternoon, specifically their most recent album, A Moon Shaped Pool (it’s pretty good).
I’d noticed, as I often have before, the pun in the lyrics of the song “Decks Dark:” in split infinity. A play, of course, on split infinitive, but it made a question come to my mind that had never occurred to me before: what’s the link between the words infinity and infinitive? Continue reading
By now, you’re probably well aware that I’ve always got time for an interesting etymology.
You’re also probably equally aware that I’m always wary of an apparent etymology that just seems too good to be true.
Yesterday, I came across what I assumed was a case of the latter. Continue reading
I was reading this afternoon, when the word gingerly made me pause. It’s a word I’ve come across countless times before, but today was the first time I asked myself – What does it have to do with ginger? Continue reading
A common question that comes up in the English-language classroom is, what’s the difference between seeing and looking? And sometimes watching is thrown in there for good measure.
Explaining them is pretty straightforward. Continue reading
Hello from quarantine!
Yes, I’m currently under quarantine here in Palermo, as part of the national lockdown in Italy to curb the spread of COVID-19. Continue reading
Have you heard any heartwarming histories about the letter H?
It’s a surprisingly interesting letter, and one you end up thinking about a lot if you deal with language like Italian or French, in which the letter is usually silent when it appears at the beginning of a word. Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 