Language
How ‘ACAB’ links David Bowie and BLM
A favourite piece of graffiti to spray on the Cenotaph or the plinth of Churchill’s nearby statue is ACAB. It…
America isn’t speaking our language
I haven’t yet read the report published by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. But, looking at the recommendations,…
The uncomfortable truth about ‘shonky’
A reader sent in a television preview from the Daily Star for Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds in which ‘Brad Pitt leads…
Where did Alex Salmond’s ‘Alba’ party get its name from?
‘What, old monkey-face!’ said my husband with unnecessary lack of gallantry. He was referring to the 18th Duchess of Alba,…
My French lesson has taken a most unexpected turn
‘Alas, David can’t be here this afternoon,’ I told the French teacher as she let me into her light and…
‘Sacred space’ has become a crowded marketplace
‘This is the book that horses wish every equestrian would read,’ says the blurb for Sacred Spaces: Communion with the…
How to kill the English language
Probably, most of you will have only the dimmest idea what a ‘fronted adverbial’ is. I used one in the…
The concrete truth about ‘Formica’
If I ever again accompany my husband to a medical conference in Spain, and want to tell my hosts that…
‘Espouse’ has become divorced from its meaning
What do people think espouse means? It looks fairly plain, since spouses are to have and to hold, or indeed…
The economics of learning languages
There is a kind of conversation which sounds intelligent, and which makes sense at first hearing, but which deeper thought…
Beware the linguistic Trojan horse
It’s the bane of many an author these days: those newspaper-filler Q&As. One I recently filled out included the question:…
From bread to Kate Bingham: the evolution of ‘nimble’
‘I’ll stick to being Brazilian,’ said my husband. It was a family joke. Every time a politician on the radio…
My French lessons with Lord Nelson
Every Friday afternoon the foreign correspondent and I attend a French lady’s home for our one-hour French lesson. The foreign…
The rudeness of calling Jane Austen by her surname
I agree with Charles Moore (The Spectator, 6 February) that it is a shame the Times is dropping its use…
The dark roots of ‘grim’
‘Thus I refute Bishop Berkeley,’ said my husband, multitasking by kicking the stone and slightly misquoting Samuel Johnson at the…
What should you put at the end of an email?
Suzanne Moore, the Telegraphcolumnist, found it ‘deeply annoying’ when perhaps five years ago she noticed people putting ‘Kind regards’ at…
Are we returning to ‘normalcy’ or ‘normality’?
New normal Why have so many people started saying ‘normalcy’ rather than ‘normality’? — Normalcy has been traced back to…
The small world of Polari
In discussing the German low-life cant called Rotwelsch, Mark Glanville (Books, 9 January) referred in passing to Polari, ‘the language…
Boris Johnson’s face can’t be ‘performative’
Veronica brought me a hundred newspapers so that I could check on one word. Well, she didn’t bring a wheelbarrow,…
The ancient belief in the power of words to protect us
In his 37-book Natural History, Pliny the Elder (d. ad 79) wondered why we wished people ‘Happy new year’ (primum…
Why oranges don’t have ‘segments’
In the aisle of Tesco I stood like one thunderstruck. It was not the print of a man’s naked foot…
The word of the year (whether we like it or not)
In 2015 smombie became the Youth Word of the Year in Germany. In January 2016 a survey found that 92…
The unfortunate misuse of ‘fortuitous’
‘Try the sports pages,’ said my husband, stirring in his armchair. I was looking for examples of fortuitousused as though…
The strange language of this year
‘Forget coronavirus,’ said my husband, ‘the word of the year is strange.’ The strange thing is he’s right. This wasn’t…
Do civil servants need to be 'robust' or 'resilient'?
‘Why do they keep saying they need Brazilians?’ asked my husband, coming up for air from a hazy mixture of…
