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Category Archive for 'Language'

Apologies for my absence.  I’ve been pre-occupied over the ‘holidays’ with a couple of other writing tasks that I needed to complete.  Having finished them today I found myself with a few idle hours before returning to work tomorrow and started amusing myself with dreadful similes to tweet.
For those of us who have forgotten, a simile [...]

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Language Snobs?

I think that people are sometimes snobbish about language. For me, words and phrases are like clothes in a wardrobe. In terms of linguistic benefits, there are at least two possible results of having an education: you have more clothes in your wardrobe to choose from; and you may choose your garments with [...]

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Spelling ‘island’

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You Want To Teach?

I left teaching over 8 years ago, but the most abiding memories are the times when I was reduced to tears (on 3 occasions quite literally), by some of the devastatingly funny things that were said, or written.
I am grateful to Sarah Ebner at SchoolGate and Summersdale publishing for the following exam blunders:

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What has to happen for you to feel really loved?
Think back for a moment as to how love was expressed in the family that you grew up in.  If your parents wanted to show love to you or to family members, or to each other, what did they do?
In my family, love didn’t particularly involve [...]

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Children have just one job in life. Between birth and the age of 21 they have to concentrate mainly on just one thing - stroke collecting.
In this context a stroke is anything that is positive and life-affirming. It could be a smile, the fact that someone remembers their name, a trip to the seaside, a [...]

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Bargate

 
I’ve been away for a few days, happily wandering around the city of York - happy, that is, until I saw a snack bar.
 
There was nothing wrong with the particular establishment (perhaps apart from its run-down look and linguisitcally dated title), but the words ’snack bar’ caused some momentary confusion.
Anywhere else, a snack bar would [...]

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Sorry, but this amused me.
The Guardian is running a  competition to see what witty slogans readers can come up with as alternatives to the existing slogans on the Atheist Bus Advertising Campaign.  Supporters of the original campaign, which had the slogan, “THERE’S PROBABLY NO GOD. NOW STOP WORRYING AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE.” could perhaps do with [...]

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Poetry, like prostitution, has been around for thousands of year (though I’d be willing to bet that prostitution was probably there first).  And both will continue for thousands more, despite the best efforts of zealots to promote it (as in the case of poetry) or stop it (as in the case of prostitution).  However, whereas the [...]

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Our Debt to Pedantry

Why is ‘island’ spelled with an ’s’?
No, this isn’t a joke question. It’s not like: “Why does ‘bath’ have a silent ‘p’?” It is a question that did used to worry me. I would often be asked it. I taught English in the UK for a number of years to school [...]

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