Inspired by the OVO Energy Tour of Britain 2018 cycle race, which whizzed through leafy Warwickshire this week, I thought I’d check to see how many cycling phrases, idioms or other expressions I could find. Quite a few, as it turns out. Admittedly one or two are somewhat tenuous, because they could apply to other sports […]
I don’t write books, plays or poems (and probably never will) but I am still a writer. Many famous quotes about writing are as relevant to copywriters as they are to creative writers, because the fundamental art of writing – and the trials and tribulations involved – is the same for both. Here are a […]
If you’re a grammar pedant like me, signs like this – or ones advertising CD’s For Sale – will most likely make your toes curl and set your teeth on edge. Yet the majority of people have become so used to…
Most people will be familiar with the terms gaggle of geese, litter of puppies, pride of lions and school of dolphins. Yet there are many other collective nouns for animals – known as “terms of venery” – that are less…
One of the many differences between British English and American English that’s always intrigued me is autumn vs. fall. We use winter, spring and summer on both sides of the pond. Yet we can’t seem to agree what to call this time of the year. So now that autumn has officially begun, I thought I’d do a bit of […]
Today is International Left-Handers Day, which was first celebrated in 1992 to promote awareness of left-handedness. From scissors and cooking utensils to musical instruments and computer mice, left-handed people are disadvantaged as they constantly adapt to a right-handed world. And…
Geraldine had the flexibility to understand what we were trying to convey and find a way of doing so in a succinct, polished and effective way – a true wordsmith. Sally Dhillon, Career-Mums Related Posted in Uncategorised
As a linguist, I’m always fascinated by how people in other countries use completely different words to effectively say the same thing. For this week’s blog post, I’ve therefore rounded up the many versions of Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas or Season’s Greetings that will be seen and heard around Europe over the festive period. You’ve […]
Than or then? These two words might look – and even sound – quite similar, but every day I see people mix them up. Not only is this a grammatical howler, but it can also give a totally different meaning to their sentence.… Posted in Grammar, Tips Tagged with: than, then, words
Do you ever wonder what job or profession you might be doing now if your career had taken a different direction? Perhaps if you’d got better grades at school or had accepted job offer A versus job offer B? From time to time, I’ve pondered what alternative career path I might have followed. After all, […]
As someone who loves social media and cakes, I enjoyed this recent article on PR Daily featuring four fabulous social network-inspired creations. And it got me thinking: what word or writing-related edibles are out there? The answer is loads. Here’s…
Most people are familiar with acronyms, homonyms, pseudonyms and synonyms. But there are several other words with the suffix –onym that I’ve only recently discovered. As a linguist and bit of a word nerd, my natural instinct is to investigate further…
Losing the hammer. Blanking an end. Staying in the house. What on earth does it all mean? It can only be one thing… curling lingo. If, like me, you’ve been enjoying watching the British curling teams in action at the…
The English language is positively brimming with acronyms, such as ASAP, B2B, FAQ and TLC. And OMG, don’t even get me started on text speak, like BRB, LOL, ROFL et al! But did you know that what many people refer to as acronyms are, in fact, abbreviations or initialisms? What are abbreviations? Abbreviations are a […]