Kel Richards

Language

15 February 2025 9:00 am

As Joe Biden rushed (sorry, stumbled) out of the doors of the White House, he flung around things called ‘pre-emptive…

Language

8 February 2025 9:00 am

We are still at the beginning of 2025, but Brendan O’Neill has already named his ‘most irritating phrase of the…

Language

1 February 2025 9:00 am

I’ve been intrigued recently by the verb ‘to unsee’. It turns up as a trendy way of saying that something…

Language

25 January 2025 9:00 am

We missed it! Back on January 18 we should have been celebrating National Thesaurus Day. Mind you, the day is…

Language

18 January 2025 9:00 am

It is easy to miss the fact that a good deal of slang has a long-forgotten rhyming component (and is…

Language

11 January 2025 9:00 am

At the start of each year, Lake Superior State University publishes a list of ‘Banished Words.’ These are the words…

Language

4 January 2025 9:00 am

The verb ‘to unsee’ turns up as a snappy, or trendy, way of saying that something is unforgettable—in a bad…

Language

14 December 2024 9:00 am

The clever lexicographers at the Australian National Dictionary Centre have chosen ‘Colesworths’ as their Word of the Year 2024. They…

Language

7 December 2024 9:00 am

Speccie reader Louise has been in touch with an intelligent question that must have occurred to many of us over…

Language

30 November 2024 9:00 am

Speccie reader Doug writes to ask about ‘mansplaining’. This comes from the same feminist language cauldron as ‘toxic masculinity’ (meaning…

Language

23 November 2024 9:00 am

Here’ s a style guide suggestion – it’s time to resurrect the word ‘Aboriginal’. With a lower case ‘a’ this…

Language

16 November 2024 9:00 am

I never thought I’d grow up to be a Grumpy Old Man – but look how good I am at…

Language

9 November 2024 9:00 am

A Speccie reader (Greg) has asked me to say something about the expression ‘AI’, meaning artificial intelligence. The expression is…

Language

2 November 2024 9:00 am

When human rights commissions were established both federally and in all the states, we assumed this was a good thing…

Language

26 October 2024 9:00 am

I have recently come across the worst case of language vandalism I’ve encountered for many years. Namely, the claim that…

Language

19 October 2024 9:00 am

Given the time of year we must once again be ready to pull sour faces and make rude noises when…

Language

5 October 2024 9:00 am

Speccie reader Peter has written asking me to write something about ‘begs the question’, which, he says, is ‘regularly misused…

Language

28 September 2024 9:00 am

Speccie reader Raymond has asked me to explain the meaning of the compound noun ‘common sense.’ It was Aristotle who…

Language

21 September 2024 9:00 am

Can ‘difficult’ be used as a verb? Surely not, I hear you mutter. But on the web I encountered the…

Language

14 September 2024 9:00 am

Strangely, the latest word Kamala Harris has chosen to apply to Donald Trump is ‘unserious’. (Or perhaps it was her…

Language

7 September 2024 9:00 am

Speccie reader Alan has asked me to explain ‘toxic masculinity’ adding ‘why is there never any mention of toxic femininity?’.…

Language

31 August 2024 9:00 am

Speccie reader John is puzzled by an American expression that we’ve heard only recently in Australia: when a politician is…

Language

24 August 2024 9:00 am

Kamala Harris keeps telling us she wants ‘equity’ not ‘equality.’ What does she mean? She is using ‘equality’ to means…

Language

17 August 2024 9:00 am

There are times when I am tempted to think that English, in general terms, is richer and more colourful than…

Language

10 August 2024 9:00 am

A Speccie reader has been in touch to complain about the use of the expressions ‘wind farm’ and ‘solar farm’.…