October 18, 2010
by Graham
4 Comments
In last week’s In Our Time, (Radio 4, Thursday 14 October) one of Melvyn Bragg’s guests was Tim Blanning, Emeritus Professor of Modern European History at Cambridge University The discussion was about the Sturm und Drang movement in 18th Century … Continue reading
September 28, 2010
by Graham
1 Comment
Dr Jonathan Foyle, presenting a BBC 4 TV programme on the public buildings of the north of England, repeatedly pronounced the Athenaeum in Liverpool as /æθəˈneɪəm/, although his interviewees, members of the club, used the more anglicized /æθəˈniːəm/. I attributed … Continue reading
September 18, 2010
by Graham
15 Comments
Catching up on some TV programmes recorded while I’ve been away, I’ve inevitably found some usages to comment on. First a common confusion of two words, but this time in the less usual way: prostate and prostrate. It’s quite common … Continue reading
July 28, 2010
by Graham
1 Comment
Over the last couple of weeks, the name of the tragic child James Bulger has come back into the news after nearly twenty years, because one of his killers, Jon Venables, has been found guilty of child pornography crimes. As … Continue reading
July 14, 2010
by Graham
0 comments
Apologies for my long silence – my musical life has taken over recently (three concerts down, and another on Saturday). As I’m not a natural performer, I’ve had to do lots of practice, something I’m not used to! The Queen’s … Continue reading
June 9, 2010
by Graham
14 Comments
I’ve been having run-ins with the Queen’s English Society since the early 1980s. Now they have raised their head again with the setting up of an English Academy, which the Society will run, and which is intended to be on … Continue reading
April 22, 2010
by Graham
4 Comments
I’ve just been listening to “In Our Time” on BBC Radio 4 (the latest one available as a podcast, 22 April 2010), and was struck yet again how inconsistent English speakers are in their treatment of Latin names. The discussion … Continue reading
April 20, 2010
by Graham
13 Comments
I notice that BBC Radio 4 announcers regularly pronounce Ms O’Leary’s family name as /əʊˈlɛəri/. I suppose from her accent that this is what she calls herself, but I’m wondering if following suit when one does not have an Irish … Continue reading
March 22, 2010
by Graham
3 Comments
At about 8.20 this morning, on the Today programme, Nick Robinson (the BBC’s Political Editor) said that the opposition parties would want to ‘hone in’ on the revelations that Stephen Byers (former Minister for Transport) had been caught claiming to … Continue reading
March 1, 2010
by Graham
0 comments
John Humphrys has been sounding off about the English language – again. Why is it that reporters – journalists – believe that because language is their stock in trade, therefore they know all about it? This particular article, published in … Continue reading