http://www.linguism.co.uk Language in a word Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:28:53 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Jack Windsor Lewis (here) either acclaims me as or accuses me of - according to your point of view - being a champion player of the rant against unusual pronunciations. He also names John Maidment in the same context. I can't speak for John, of course, but my rants are ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/coerced-pronunciation I don't know why, after all these years, I should still be surprised by odd pronunciations, but I am. Two that have recently come my way, both from the BBC, are eviscerate, pronounced /iˈvɪskəreɪt/ by Simon Sebag Montefiore presenting the first of a series of programmes on the history of ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/eviscerating-cholera I thought that would get your attention! The substance that these controversial objects are made from is causing some confusion. There are two separate materials: silicon and silicone. Silicon is a non-metallic element, symbolised by Si, used for its properties as a semi-conductor in electronic circuits, and therefore in the insides of ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/breast-implants John Wells'  blog post yesterday deals with ejectives in English. He's kind enough to mention my own post on this subject some time ago, but I'm surprised he believes that I think it's a recent phenomenon. I wrote then "I suppose I first became properly aware of ejectives being used ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/ejectives-again For the benefit of those who can't receive BBC1 television, I shall start by saying that Garrow's Law is a period courtroom drama, set in late 18th entury London. Garrow is a young barrister intent on improving the quality of justice for poorer people, and he is based, apparently, on ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/garrows-law A report on BBC's regional news programme for East Anglia yesterday evening (10 November 2011), and unfortunately not available for watching again after 6 o'clock GMT on 11 November (so you can't check what I'm about to say after that time) drew attention to a potential breakthrough in the treatment ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/clever-scientists Caroline Hawley, reporting from Libya for the BBC has a couple of times recently said that the new rulers had "wrestled" control of the country from Gaddafi. She is not, of course, the only person to confuse the two words wrest and wrestle, to the extent that it can't be long ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/wrest-or-wrestle Standing in the check-out queue at my local supermarket yesterday afternoon, I noticed that the person behind me was buying a Jamie Oliver knife block set. Like many products these days, it is labelled in several languages. The German, however, was easier to understand than usual. Why does it say that ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/this-is-a-must-have-thing We're all used to the so-called intrusive r in English - the 'r' pronounced after a word ending in /ɑː, ɔː, ɜː, ə/ when the following word also begins with a vowel. A few days ago, I heard one which was new to me, although perhaps it has just passed ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/an-unusual-intrusive-r The newspapers and news and current affairs programmes this week are full of Labour "apologising" for the mistakes they made during their period of office between 1997 and 2010. I do not remember politicians ever apologising for their own actions in government over the time when I have been taking ... http://www.linguism.co.uk/language/political-language