Category: Language

Commas: fascinating facts (and a Stop Press)

Fascinating comma fact 1 A comma is not just a punctuation mark, it’s also a type of butterfly, so-named because of the white comma-shaped marking

The Oxford Comma dilemma: a solution?

To those of you still fretting over the Oxford Comma dilemma (and who don’t read the Comments – tsk, tsk!), the “august journal” Speculative Grammarian offers

Oxford commas (2): Live dangerously – take our poll!

Do you use the Oxford (serial) comma? Here’s a sentence with the Oxford comma: My favourite foods are Greek yoghurt, salted almonds, cheese, and dark

Oxford commas (1)

I was puzzled last week to see references on Twitter to the exotic-sounding “Oxford comma”, a new term to me. It turns out (thank you,

If the shoe doesn’t fit (2): eggcorns and etymology

“Shoe-in”, Ben Zimmer points out, belongs to a special family of errors called “eggcorns”: misspellings, mis-hearings or misinterpretations of standard (often idiomatic) words or sayings.

If the shoe doesn’t fit: getting the etymology right

Ben Zimmer’s latest On Language column in the New York Times (Beach-Blanket Lingo, 5 August 2010) examines the terms used by coastal resort residents (from-heres)

Fuzzy words? – not always

A quick PS to yesterday’s post on the use of the Italian adeguamento (correction, adjustment) to signify aumento (increase). Italy’s Regulatory Authority for Electricity and

Fuzzy words

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if local and central governments were truly transparent in their use of language? Italy’s Emilia Romagna Region has just announced an “adeguamento”

Blowing the nation’s trumpet: languages and diplomacy (2)

Blowing the nation’s trumpet is all very well, but sometimes the message sent out to foreign audiences is a bit too rosy. When the Labour

Blowing the nation’s trumpet: languages and public diplomacy (1)

I recently spent 2 days interpreting in Birmingham for an Italian delegation from Italia Lavoro and Regione Marche. They were here to find out more