November 10, 2017
by Graham
1 Comment
We appear to be in danger of completely losing what I consider to be a useful distinction between two phrases, one of which seems to be disappearing. Earlier this year, a cyclist, Charlie Alliston, riding an illegal bicycle (it had … Continue reading
January 18, 2017
by gpointon
4 Comments
Following my last post, there seems to have been a spate of malapropisms perpetrated (not perpetuated!) by eminent people on radio and television. The leader of the populist British political party UKIP, Paul Nuttall, described Donald Trump as an anglophobe … Continue reading
January 22, 2016
by gpointon
0 comments
Back in 2007, I wrote about the confusion of the words inter and intern, in the context of going to a funeral. This week, the confusion has surfaced again, but this time the other way round. In her BBC series … Continue reading
December 14, 2013
by Graham
6 Comments
About a month ago, John Maidment wrote about an ambiguous phrase: here Now here is a proverb that has two meanings, and they are quite difficult to distinguish even by their intonation: “No news is good news”. When this means … Continue reading