November 24, 2010
by Graham
8 Comments
Simon Armitage is a poet who is now presenting TV documentaries, particularly on what might be called ‘poetic’ subjects. I have recently watched one on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and now one tracing the journey of Ulysses through … Continue reading
November 14, 2010
by Graham
5 Comments
Still watching TV programmes that I’ve previously recorded, I’ve just caught up with two episodes of the BBC series on the Pre-Raphaelites. One of the experts used in the programmes was Alison Smith, Curator at Tate Britain. She had two … Continue reading
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 26, 2010
by Graham
1 Comment
Now that my far-from-expert piano playing is no longer needed for a few weeks, I’ve been catching up on reading the various phonetic blogs I usually follow, and have found my name mentioned a couple of times. In particular by … 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