June 30, 2012
by Graham
3 Comments
Tentacle, barnacle, manacle: all words that are stressed on the first syllable. But now, in a Today programme interview on BBC Radio 4, our erstwhile Foreign Secretary, brother of the current leader of Her Majesty’s loyal opposition, has brought us … Continue reading
June 26, 2012
by Graham
5 Comments
This weekend’s papers have brought up (quite inadvertently on their part) a problem caused by the development of non-rhotic accents: “High Street banks are often reluctant to invest in what they see as risky and uncharted territory” (Mail on Sunday, … Continue reading
June 17, 2012
by Graham
8 Comments
On Saturdays, The Independent newspaper has a column called “Errors and Omissions”, which discusses infelicities in the language used in the paper over the previous seven days. Yesterday it discussed the use (or not) of the definite article with “Ukraine”. … Continue reading
June 4, 2012
by Graham
9 Comments
Two years ago, I wrote a post on the Queen’s English Society as it set up an “English Academy”, and I ended my post “Who will prove the futility of the Queen’s English Society’s efforts to its members?” We now … Continue reading