Americanisms
When Kingsley Amis needed a new insult, he reached for the taboo
‘It’s up there on the shelf you can’t reach,’ said my husband in an unhelpfully helpful tone. The ‘it’ was…
What two little words that combine virtue signalling and denunciation?
The inventor of the verse form known as the clerihew, Edmund Clerihew Bentley, had a way with this seemingly simple…
Letters: The Assad option, and a pre-nup for Taki
Don’t write off Assad Sir: Ahmed Rashid refers to our ‘Arab allies’ supporting al-Qaeda (‘The plan to back al-Qaeda against…
That annoying ‘likely’ is more old-fashioned than American
What, asks Christian Major of Bromley, Kent, do I think of ‘this new, I assume American, fad for using the…
Is Boris Johnson standing for Parliament — or running for it?
‘Boris Johnson broke cover yesterday to declare that he will run for parliament,’ the Times reported last week. The Mirror…
When did we stop ‘tossing’ coins?
What kind of scientists do school inspectors not need to be? ‘Inspectors don’t need to be rocket scientists.’ For what…
