The English language is dynamic. This means it is always changing. Older words fall into obsolescence, for example malagrugrous which in Scotland once meant dismal, is no longer used. This is counteracted by the development, usually through popular culture, of new words. It wasn’t too long ago that our » Read More
Top 10 Books on the English Language
Top 10 Books on the English Language Need to buy a book about the English language but don’t know which one to buy or which review to trust? This is my list of the top ten books on the English language. I have most of them on my book shelf » Read More
Disappearing Words
Disappearing words – do you ever wonder how words get pushed out of the dictionary to make way for new words? Well, just like animals or plants, words are put on an endangered words list as revealed by this article on the Guardian, “Dictionary compilers create endangered words list”. » Read More
Pseudodictionary
I recently wrote about what I term ‘mongrel language’, which refers to the convergence of the two languages used in a bilingual environment. I also described how new ‘mongrel’ words are coined when a term is lacking in one of the two languages. The most famous set of made-up » Read More
English Slang – All 6.7kgs of It!
Do you have a wish list of books you’d like to own? In the reference section, you definitely need a few dictionaries. They have a sort of comforting sturdiness about them. Well, slangophiles (I’m pretty certain that’s not an actual word), here’s one dictionary you’ll definitely want on your » Read More