Google adapts its terms and conditions – and its language
I’ve got Google.com set up as my browser home page. I usually just glance at the little announcements under the logo and search box. However,
Category: English
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Punctuation botheration (2)
It seems Birmingham isn’t the only city having bother with place name apostrophes, as shown by the Londonist website’s post on Should King’s Cross Have
What’s in a name: spelling “Gaddafi”
The “As a Linguist” blog has a new post, Wait, who just died?, on the problematic pronunciation and spelling of Colonel Gaddafi’s name. I’ve been “translating” his name
Punctuation botheration (as resolved by Victor Borge)
UK local authorities seem to have a fraught relationship with punctuation and spelling. Birmingham City Council decided in January 2009 to remove the possessive apostrophe
Who are you calling feisty?!?
Yikes! I was browsing through the Online Etymology Dictionary for -le frequentatives the other day, as you do, and eventually arrived at the etyolomogical definition
Faffing around: frequently added frequentatives
For Christmas 2010, my son bought me Michael Quinion’s book Why is Q Always Followed by U?. It’s not the sort of book you’d read
Bewitched, bothered, bewildered and bamboozled
Ofgem, the UK energy regulator, has carried out a review of energy companies’ pricing practices. The review found that competition is being stifled by a combination
English-Italian blues
Tuesday’s post (15 March) was inspired by Newcastle University’s study of Japanese- and English-speakers’ perceptions of the word “blue”. From an English-Italian translation perspective, “blue”
Styling your style guide: Christmas gifts for stylish writing
The 16th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS) was published this year. There are of course many wonderful style guides: some are
Gifted in translation (4): Glorious Goldoni
As I’ve been putting together the last few posts on books as Christmas gifts, it’s been a lovely surprise to discover so many publishing houses