There hasn’t been a strike by local refuse collectors (or bin-men as we used to call them) for many years. I can’t remember the last one in our corner of West London; 30 years ago, maybe more. Occasionally in those intervening decades there have been strikes elsewhere in the UK and they will make the… Continue reading “The rubbish is piling up in the street”
Differed, deferred, offered, occurred: words like this featured in my 9-year-old daughter’s Spelling List last weekend, along with swimmer, travelled and others that either repeat the last letter of a verb when used in other forms, or they don’t. It got me thinking about rules of spelling and how we generalize information as we learn.… Continue reading Differed and deferred, offered and occurred
In March I read Patti Smith’s “Just Kids”, her memoir mainly about her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. When she first met him, on her arrival in New York City, she was looking for some friends who had moved on. He was lying on a bed, she told him of her plight and “he rose in… Continue reading Huaraches and Bobby Pins
Biopic and wannabe are two words I came across many times in newspapers and magazines without knowing what they meant, and without any immediate way of looking them up. These days online dictionaries and other resources make it easy to look up any word but it was different in the 1980s. Back then you’d come… Continue reading Biopics and wannabes
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
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”
Partner: this word has changed meaning over the last 30 years, during the time that my brother has lived in Spain. He is married (his wife is Spanish) and he has a Business Partner (an English woman). Over the years, until around 2001, he would refer to the latter as his “partner”. He wasn’t living… Continue reading Word of the week: partner
Some years ago, during a conversation with an old school-friend, the subject turned to languages. He’s been based in Christchurch New Zealand for many years and knows a lot more about Maori culture and language than I will ever know. He told me about the Maori idea of 100 songs to learn a language, and… Continue reading 100 songs to learn a language
This post is over 5 years old. Thanks for stopping by. Please follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ReillySJ) Can you think of 9-letter word with no repeated letters? I’ll give you a minute or two. If you never play with words (anagrams, crosswords, Codewords, games of Scrabble) it might take a while to come up with… Continue reading 9-letter words with no repeated letters
“What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?” For anyone of my age and background that question will bring up memories of the “Derek & Clive” recordings, Dudley Moore and Peter Cook’s curse-laden comic sketches from the 1970s. I see that they’re even on Spotify, with “You Stupid C***” as the top-rated track. I feel rather… Continue reading Jam Boy
The Compartments 