Mind your language
Double dutch: the many meanings of ‘Holland’
The title of the keenly awaited volume of memoirs by John Martin Robinson sounds like a crossword clue: Holland Blind…
The poetry behind ‘leather and prunella’
‘Oh, yes,’ said my husband, enthusiastically, ‘a loathsome disease. The tongue goes black and dry.’ He was referring to an…
The ding-dong over being ‘pinged’
‘Ping, ping, ping went the bell,’ sang my husband, making his eyes wide and jigging in his best imitation of…
Do the England team play football, footer, footie – or soccer?
I have never been a soccer mom, described in the Washington Post as ‘the overburdened, middle-income working mother who ferries…
Does it matter if Priti Patel drops her Gs?
In 1923 in Whose Body? we were introduced to Lord Peter Wimsey on his way to an auction where he…
Critical thinking: the difference between ‘critique’ and ‘criticise’
Six years ago I wrote here about critique, as a noun or verb, and things have gone from bad to…
Critical issue: the complex language of gender
Seeing my husband in his armchair snoozing, as his unacknowledged habit is, head back, mouth open, stertorous and blotchy, it…
The difference between ‘sliver’ and ‘slither’ is a piece of cake
When people say a slither of cake, do they not remember that snakes slither? ‘Slither slide; sliver small piece,’ says…
Are we overusing ‘overhaul’?
Last week, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer were overhauling their stores. Football clubs were madly overhauling teams and we…
How the Great British Bake Off inspired Great British Railways
‘Why didn’t they call it Very British Railways?’ asked my husband. Unwittingly (as in most of his remarks), he had…
‘Level’ has a bumpy history
‘I must level with you, level with the British public, many more families are going to lose loved ones.’ That…
Shakespeare didn’t need to know the difference between ‘its’ and ‘it’s’
An item on the BBC news site didn’t mean what it said: ‘The latest move is part of a wider…
The shifting language of shame
As his tweed jacket flapped open to one side of his stomach, my husband stood up unsteadily and arched his…
The dirty truth about ‘sleaze’
‘Sleaze, sleaze, sleaze!’ exclaimed Sir Keir Starmer in Prime Minister’s Questions last week, hoping that a triple serving might stick.…
What’s so great about ‘super’?
‘Wizard,’ said William. ‘Super,’ said Ginger, in William and the Moon Rocket (1954). More recently we have had Alex Salmond,…
How ‘ACAB’ links David Bowie and BLM
A favourite piece of graffiti to spray on the Cenotaph or the plinth of Churchill’s nearby statue is ACAB. It…
The uncomfortable truth about ‘shonky’
A reader sent in a television preview from the Daily Star for Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds in which ‘Brad Pitt leads…
Where did Alex Salmond’s ‘Alba’ party get its name from?
‘What, old monkey-face!’ said my husband with unnecessary lack of gallantry. He was referring to the 18th Duchess of Alba,…
Vibrant
‘Think yourself lucky,’ said my husband when I told him about poor John Stuart Mill’s mother, who had nine children…
‘Sacred space’ has become a crowded marketplace
‘This is the book that horses wish every equestrian would read,’ says the blurb for Sacred Spaces: Communion with the…
The concrete truth about ‘Formica’
If I ever again accompany my husband to a medical conference in Spain, and want to tell my hosts that…
The word ‘like’ is in crisis
‘Blame Kingsley Amis,’ said my husband, with the carelessness of one defying a man out of earshot. The blame, such…
‘Espouse’ has become divorced from its meaning
What do people think espouse means? It looks fairly plain, since spouses are to have and to hold, or indeed…
From bread to Kate Bingham: the evolution of ‘nimble’
‘I’ll stick to being Brazilian,’ said my husband. It was a family joke. Every time a politician on the radio…
The rudeness of calling Jane Austen by her surname
I agree with Charles Moore (The Spectator, 6 February) that it is a shame the Times is dropping its use…
