Language
European and Indian languages seem to be related in the very distant past. Linguists are able, for example, to trace…
Language
The word ‘map’ no longer means just a bit of cartography – it now also means ‘minor attracted person’. In…
Language
The word ‘sovereignty’ is recorded as part of the English language since at least 1340 – a very old word…
Woke language
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) once said: ‘The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.’ And if the woke…
Language
When radicals want to upend society they often cloak their intentions under kind-sounding words. So, if the plan is to…
Language
British journalist Richard Godwin has alerted me to what may be the trendiest word of the moment: ‘namecore’. This is…
Language
As the contest to replace Boris Johnson draws towards its protracted close, we should remember that many of the original…
Language
A Speccie reader has alerted me to the use of an odd word ‘alum’ to refer to the graduates of…
Language
It was Will Self (writing in The Speccie) who drew my attention to the new word ‘uberise.’ He says he…
Language
No sooner had the words ‘blue murder’ appeared on the cover of this august journal than a Speccie reader was…
Language
Here is a delightful phrase which may well become a familiar idiom in English language: ‘weather dependent economy’. I encountered…
Language
No language column can ignore Professor Brendan Murphy’s extraordinary 78-word definition of ‘woman’. As you know, when he was questioned…
Language
Is it time to revisit how we define the word ‘racism’? Early in the 20th century the settled definition became…
Language
We live in a world that seems to have largely abandoned punctuation – those small marks between words that help…
Language
The word ‘emergency’ has been part of the English language since around 1630. Its most common political use today is…
Language
‘Bike shedding’ was coined by British historian and author C. Northcote Parkinson, famous for his book Parkinson’s Law (1957), but…
Language
News reports tell us there has been a small furore over a list of ‘derogatory and offensive terms’ included in…
Language
We all know ‘adult’ the noun, and we know what an ‘adult’ is (‘because,’ as a friend said to me,…
Language
Now a new and (I think) much needed expression: ‘disagreement consent’. It’s a play on a more familiar expression I…
Language
The current prominence of the word ‘gaffe’ is due to the Gaffe Meister himself – Joe Biden. But on investigation…
Language
Here it is! I have finally found one word that will describe the Liberal party in its present state— ‘agathokakological’.…
Language
The word ‘fatigue’ has been part of the English language since at least 1693. It comes from a French source…
Language
The expression ‘to walk back’ has exploded over the news recently. We have been told by the news media that…
Language
A reader (Rosie) has drawn my attention to a new(ish) word: ‘coddiwomple’. Rosie wrote to say that she has been…
Language
Have you noticed the trend to refer to some Australians as ‘First Nations’ people? Those Australians were once called ‘Aboriginal’…
