Posts Tagged ‘words’
The Scottish Government has just published the results of a poll to identify the nation’s favourite Scots word. The winner was “dreich”, which means “wet”, “cold” and/or “gloomy”. I’m not sure if that describes the Scottish weather, or just our character. Respondents were asked to choose their favourite from a list of 8 Scots language […]
Filed under: Language | 6 Comments
Tags: Language, poll, Scotland, scots, Scots language, Scottish Government, words
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 […]
Filed under: English, Language | 15 Comments
Tags: Business, buzzwords, English, jargon, Language, nouning, verbing, words
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 of feisty (I was looking for “fizzle”, but one’s as bad as the other, frankly). feisty 1896, “aggressive, exuberant, touchy,” Amer.Eng., with -y (2) + feist “small dog,” earlier fice, […]
Filed under: English, Language | Leave a Comment
Tags: English, etymology, feisty, Language, words
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 in one sitting, but it’s ideal for dipping into on short train or bus journeys or in dentists’ waiting rooms when the other patients have nabbed the only 2 interesting […]
Filed under: English, Language | 4 Comments
Tags: English, etylomolgy, frequentatives, Language, words
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” is an interesting word, and something of a false friend. The Italian “blu” refers to dark or navy blue, while “azzurro” is used for other shades of the colour. And […]
Filed under: English, Italian, Language, Translation | 2 Comments
Tags: azzurro, blues, English, false friends, Italian, Judy Holiday, Language, music, Translation, words
Words to good effect 