A blog about translation, writing and language in all its glorious aspects
I became an “empty-nester” when my daughter moved away in September to attend Leeds College of Music. Harry, our son, had left two years earlier. So lots of changes — emotional changes and practical ones too (for example, loading up the washing machine far less often and struggling to get to 30 items to qualify for …
Continue reading “Empty-nest syndrome – a linguistic side-effect”
It’s been a while since I wrote about my (and your) favourite or least favourite words. But at Glasgow’s State of the City Economy Conference last week (9 Nov), some of the buzzwords and -phrases used by the speakers set my teeth on edge. And then I read a Macmillan Dictionary blog post on nouning and verbing, so …
Merriam-Webster’s “Trend Watch” reported a spike in lookups of the word “hunker” in the run-up to Hurricane (Superstorm?) Sandy. They give this CNN headline as an example: “From Maine to South Carolina, states hunker down for storm.” Here’s the definition of hunker, from the Online Etymology Dictionary: hunker (v.) “to squat, crouch,” 1720, Scottish, of uncertain …
Continue reading “Coping with Sandy: Hunkering and coorie-ing”
Do you ever find that a certain word or phrase keeps cropping up in your work? In your source material, I mean, not your end-product. For me right now it’s “credibility” (or credibilità, to be precise). That’s because I do a lot of translation and editing for Italian government organisations and Italy is focused on …
Continue reading “Word of the moment: it’s just (in)credible.”
Have you ever wondered why English beat Latin to become the world’s lingua franca? Here’s Eddie Izzard’s explanation. Warning: Not Safe for Work, contains strong language. By Marian Dougan
The organisers of the 2012 Olympic Games are making a big effort to ensure that the whole of the United Kingdom feels included in the event. There was a great fuss on the BBC news yesterday (18 May) about the arrival and planned relay — covering the length and breadth of the UK, with a …
Earl Bush served for many years as press secretary for Richard J. Daley, a controversial mayor of Chicago who was a forerunner to another Bush, George W., in his mangling of the English language. Examples are: “Gentlemen, get the thing straight once and for all — the policeman isn’t there to create disorder, the policeman …
Continue reading “Translators’ and editors’ skill-set: add mind-reading”
Ruth Webber, a friend and generous source of marketing wisdom, moved from Scotland to Australia earlier this year. So a new city and country to discover, and a new variant of English to explore. Here are Ruth’s first impressions of English, Australian-style. English as she is spoke in Sydney. Having been in Sydney all of …
Continue reading “English, Australian-style: impressions from Down Under”
A recent article in the New York Times entitled “They’re, Like, Way Ahead of the Linguistic Currrrve” suggests that there’s a lot more method in teenage-girl-speak than young women are usually given credit for. The article’s worth reading (especially if you’ve got a teenage daughter…). The author cites a Saturday Night Live sketch with Maya …
Continue reading “Global. It’s, like, a relative concept. Whatevs.”
A buzzword, according to Merriam Webster’s online dictionary, is: 1. a voguish word or phrase —called also buzz phrase 2. an important-sounding usually technical word or phrase often of little meaning used chiefly to impress laymen You can tell by the definitions that Merriam Webster isn’t very keen on buzzwords/phrases. Neither am I. And two …