They have a word for that in German / Scots / German… (things you can’t say in English Kummerspeck; Guddle & Bourach; Schnapsidee & Fremdschämen)
If you look at the statistics around the English language you’d think that we already have more than enough words in this ‘language of the World’. However as much as we like to think of English as the biggest and best of all the World languages, it turns out there’s just some things you can’t express in one word … but you can in other languages. Kummerspeck(German); Guddle & Bourach (Scots); Schnapsidee (German); Fremdschämen (German)
The Way We Speak – Why we use Adjectives in a certain way
There is a rule we all seem to follow unconsciously to do with English adjective order. A blueprint discovered by writer Mark Forsyth.
[opinion – size – age – shape – colour – origin – material – purpose]
What’s the Origin of the Term OK ?
“OK” – the all-purpose American expression that became an all-purpose English expression that became an all-purpose expression in dozens of other languages. It’s amazing that we ever got along without it at all. But we did. Until 1839.
Why do we say Ping-Pong not Pong-Ping, Zig-Zag not Zag-Zig or Flip-Flops and not Flop-Flips?
Today we might use the term ‘ding-dong’ for the sound of a bell or maybe an argument. We’d never of course use ‘dong-ding’ just as we can never ‘dally-dilly’ or ‘shally-shilly’ or even have a ‘song-sing’. Nor would we ever walk in a ‘zag-zig’ whilst wearing ‘flop-flips’ But why ?
Wordsmith – Test your Guernsey French
Guernsey French is theoretically the mother tongue of our island home, Guernsey. However it is dying out rapidly. So how many of these Guernsey French words do you know (or can guess)? Improve and test your Patois wordpower by matching each of the words below to one of the multiple possible definitions.
Wordsmith – Test your Guernsey French
Guernsey French is theoretically the mother tongue of our island home, Guernsey. However it is dying out rapidly. So how many of these Guernsey French words do you know (or can guess)? Improve and test your Patois wordpower by matching each of the words below to one of the multiple possible definitions.
Wordsmith – Test your Guernsey French
Guernsey French is theoretically the mother tongue of our island home, Guernsey. However it is dying out rapidly. So how many of these Guernsey French words do you know (or can guess)? Improve and test your Patois wordpower by matching each of the words below to one of the multiple possible definitions.
The Semi-Colon – What’s the Point? & How to Use it
One of the most misunderstood punctuation marks in in the English Language – the Semi-Colon. So, whats the point of it and how should it be used ?
Wordsmith – Test your Guernsey French
Guernsey French is theoretically the mother tongue of our island home, Guernsey. However it is dying out rapidly. So how many of these Guernsey French words do you know (or can guess)? Improve and test your Patois wordpower by matching each of the words below to one of the multiple possible definitions.
English Words that Used To Have Vastly Different Meanings To What We Understand Today
How would you rate your vocabulary ? Average; Better than Average ; Exceptional ?
It may not matter how good you think your command of English is because in this article we reveal some surprising revelations about some of the words, you may have thought you had a thorough understanding of, had, in point of fact, some VERY different meanings in the past.
English Language History : What Caused the Great Vowel Shift?
English is arguably the single most important and influential language in today’s world. It does however contain many vagaries and annoying inconsistencies. One of which is the variations of how vowel combinations should be pronounced. For example, the ‘ea’ in ‘bread’ is pronounced the same as the ‘e’ in ‘bred,’ and not the same as the ‘ea’ in ‘break. This is down to “The Great Vowel Shift”
Wordsmith – Test your ‘Celluloid Vocabulary’
Improve and test your wordpower against a list of rather unusual english words.
Origins of Some English Eponyms : Titch, Platonic, Maudlin, Machiavellian
Eponyms are one of the most fascinating examples of how the English language gains new words. In this article we take a colourful look at the phenomenon that is the eponym gathering together the stories of the people behind the words that have passed into our everyday vocabulary : Titch; Platonic; Maudlin and Machiavellian.
5 Words Introduced to the English Language by Rudyard Kipling
Shakespeare is often credited as a the most prolific contributor of many of the words we use today in the English language. However he’s not the only venerable writer to do so. Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book, was also a highly prolific contributor, coining and popularising many words and phrases still in use in modern English.
English Words that Used To Have Vastly Different Meanings To What We Understand Today
How would you rate your vocabulary ? Average; Better than Average ; Exceptional ?
It may not matter how good you think your command of English is because in this article we reveal some surprising revelations about some of the words, you may have thought you had a thorough understanding of, had, in point of fact, some VERY different meanings in the past.
