Grammar
- Lingapps
I am not a professional but merely an iPad user who thought they could spare a few words about the apps I use and you can read more reviews if interested. I recommend all of these for language students and linguiphiles. Mental Case Flashcards -...
- Rhetorically Speaking 2: Alliteration
Alliteration is the use of the two or more words in sequence that have the same sound in their first syllables. Take this example The snake silently slithered Here the ess sound is repeated three times. The repetition of sounds is very pleasing the to...
- Random Thoughts On 'kiss Me Quick'
Preparing a possible post on flat adverbs (adverbs that take the same form as their adjective equivalents) I started wondering about the origins of the expression 'Kiss me quick'. In Britain, 'Kiss me quick' is perhaps best known...
- Begging The Question - Why All The Fuss?
There are some words and expressions that over time, take on new meanings, either in addition to their old meanings, or more or less replacing their old meanings altogether. An example of the first is awesome, which now has a rather different meaning...
- In Language, Two And Two Can Be Four, Or A Foursome, Or A Quartet Or Maybe Two Couples, But It Doesn't Equal Anything
I recently saw this extraordinary statement on a language blog: We have often noted that often repeated language and grammar errors seem to become “correct” usage. Wouldn’t it be weird if math used that philosophy? When enough people said 2+2=5,...
Grammar
Awesome revisited
It seems I'm not the only one to regret the passing of the sense of sheer wonder that the word awesome used to have before it became 'the contemporary superlative of choice'. Jemima Kiss at the Guardian (whose quote that is) apparently has a similar feeling of loss.
She, like me, evokes the Grand Canyon as being something truly worthy of the description, and also sees the technological industry as the main culprits in its overuse.
And also like me, she wonders what word people will have available when they see something which truly is awesome.
See:
- My original post - Nowadays awesome is not quite as awesome as it used to be.
- The Guardian - SXSW 2011: A crash guide to 'awesome', by Jemima Kiss
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- Lingapps
I am not a professional but merely an iPad user who thought they could spare a few words about the apps I use and you can read more reviews if interested. I recommend all of these for language students and linguiphiles. Mental Case Flashcards -...
- Rhetorically Speaking 2: Alliteration
Alliteration is the use of the two or more words in sequence that have the same sound in their first syllables. Take this example The snake silently slithered Here the ess sound is repeated three times. The repetition of sounds is very pleasing the to...
- Random Thoughts On 'kiss Me Quick'
Preparing a possible post on flat adverbs (adverbs that take the same form as their adjective equivalents) I started wondering about the origins of the expression 'Kiss me quick'. In Britain, 'Kiss me quick' is perhaps best known...
- Begging The Question - Why All The Fuss?
There are some words and expressions that over time, take on new meanings, either in addition to their old meanings, or more or less replacing their old meanings altogether. An example of the first is awesome, which now has a rather different meaning...
- In Language, Two And Two Can Be Four, Or A Foursome, Or A Quartet Or Maybe Two Couples, But It Doesn't Equal Anything
I recently saw this extraordinary statement on a language blog: We have often noted that often repeated language and grammar errors seem to become “correct” usage. Wouldn’t it be weird if math used that philosophy? When enough people said 2+2=5,...