One of my post popular posts ever was 102 great words that aren’t in English but should be! and I’ve written lots on different aspects of both English language Words we still use from Shakespeare! and Tracing words back through time others Languages with no vowels I love words and the meaning of words and especially words that have… Continue reading A Gruntled look at Orphan Negatives.
Tag: Language
Language by the numbers
Following on from my mini-series of posts on the English language, I was contacted by a reader who thought we might all be interested by this great graphic all about languages. I hope that you like it as much as I do!
A World Of Languages
Whilst working on my previous post There’s English and there’s English, I came across this wonderful chart on languages. There are at least 7,102 known languages alive in the world today. Twenty-three of these languages are a mother tongue for more than 50 million people. The 23 languages make up the native tongue of 4.1… Continue reading A World Of Languages
There’s English and there’s English.
Language is very important to all of us, which ever one it is that we speak. Over 20,000 people a year read my old post on 102 Words That Aren’t In English But Should Be 102 Words That Aren’t In English But Should Be. A few weeks ago however a report appeared that put the cat… Continue reading There’s English and there’s English.
Tracing words back through time
Back in the mid 1990’s when I was studying at SOAS, one of the classes that I most enjoyed were those given by Professor Alexander Piatagorsky. He is said to have been the greatest Russian philospher of all time and one of the lesser known but greatest thinkers of the modern world. Sasha was… Continue reading Tracing words back through time
My New Book – Straight from the Horse’s Mouth : 100 Idioms, their Meanings and Origins
Today is one of those wonderful days that can be the highlight of my creative year, the launch day of my latest book. I’ve always enjoyed words and sayings, some of them archaic that seemingly make no sense to us today. The history of language and word usage is the history of us. Straight from… Continue reading My New Book – Straight from the Horse’s Mouth : 100 Idioms, their Meanings and Origins
The Ædifying use of Æ
No, I haven’t been holding down random keys on my keyboard when writing the title of this post though I dare say that it might be the only published article anywhere on the internet today that features Æ.Whilst writing an upcoming blog post, I realised that it contained an awful lot of these things “Æ”.… Continue reading The Ædifying use of Æ
All About Cockneys & The 150 Top Cockney Rhyming Slang Phrases
Almost everyone knows what a Cockney is or at least they think they do. Famously they are the original Londoners known for their cheeky banter, no nonsense approach to life and perhaps being a bit rough. Actually a lot rough. The amount of London gangster films has given to a film genre in… Continue reading All About Cockneys & The 150 Top Cockney Rhyming Slang Phrases
Apricity – The Warmth of Winter Sun
It’s freezing cold outside this morning. At 8.30am the garden is still minus 10C or 10F, the garden is covered in frost and ice and a pale blue stretches across the horizon with a very weak and watery like pale yellow sun is poking up above the horizon. Funnily enough the weather in NW Scotland… Continue reading Apricity – The Warmth of Winter Sun
The Great Scone Debate – How to say it, how to eat it!
Never let it be said that I don’t tackle even the toughest subjects on my blog. Tpday it’s one of those questions that have divided people through the ages, even more so than Brexit, Turmp Vs Clinton or brown sauce and red sauce. It is of course, how do you pronounce that most English of… Continue reading The Great Scone Debate – How to say it, how to eat it!
Stephen Liddell 