Once again my 9 year old daughter’s homework has prompted me to think about language and learning, as in earlier pieces about Adverbs and Homophones. She has studied apostrophes before and it was part of her homework again last week. It’s a good example of something where the broad principles are straightforward, and can be… Continue reading Apostrophes
Concordance: it’s both an abstract noun (something you can’t see, hear or touch) and a concrete noun (something you can see, hear or touch). An alternative description for a concrete noun is “something that you can put in a wheelbarrow” (though it might need to be a very big wheelbarrow). The abstract meaning of concordance… Continue reading Word of the week: concordance
In a recent TV news item about the junior doctors’ strike the presenter spoke about operations being cancelled. The presenter said, “Routine operations, such as hip replacements and knee replacements” were being cancelled. My immediate thought was, “Since when has a hip replacement been routine?” but maybe I’m just not familiar enough with medical terminology.… Continue reading “Routine Operations”
For me April is a month of anniversaries and memorable dates, some of which I have written about as the month has progressed. Today is a day for reflecting on The Clash, one of the great bands, and on meeting two of their three front men, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones. (I haven’t met the… Continue reading Memories of The Clash
Following on from previous pieces about finding “coincidences” in the things that I have read, seen or heard (links appear at the end of this post) here are a few observations from April, a month in which I didn’t listen to as much, or read as much, as in previous months. I have left Toni… Continue reading April’s “Coincidence Corner”
I had some phone troubles at the start of the month. After a few games of pinball at a local coffee shop, with the children, I put on my jacket to find two of the three components of the phone – the back cover and the battery – were lying on the floor beside my… Continue reading Farewell WhatsApp
This month’s earworms are just snatches of songs, a few lines here and there that I sing involuntarily. The first is Ne-Yo’s “So Sick”, a song I didn’t hear when it first came out. It was a UK #1 ten years ago this month, when my wife had her last Big Birthday, and when she… Continue reading April’s Earworms: Ne-Yo, Culture and Kitty Kallen
On this date 24 years ago (26 April 1992) Leeds United won the last Football League Championship before the arrival of the Premier League. I have followed the team since the 1960s, and this feels like a good day to copy my childhood memories about the club from my book “1000 Memories” to this Blog.… Continue reading A Sporting Anniversary
Most of the local cinemas I went to in my childhood are now gone. There were two cinemas on Shepherds Bush Green. The smaller one became a Walkabout (Australian pub) and now stands empty; the larger one became a Bingo Hall, stood empty for many years, and now the building has been modified and turned… Continue reading 10 Meatballs Escape from Alcatraz
Kosher foods are those that conform to Jewish law (kashrut, Jewish dietary law). For any adults reading these lines the word kosher could probably be counted as Universal Knowledge. Twenty years ago I used the word to mean safe (legit, on-the-level), in the way that Arthur Daley in “Minder” might describe a business transaction. Before… Continue reading Word of the week: kosher
