The English language is full of quirky idioms and ways of speaking, but surely one of the quirkiest is Cockney rhyming slang. Although most historians agree Cockney rhyming slang originated in the East-end of London in the mid-nineteenth century, there are various theories as to how this particularly British linguistic phenomenon came about. The most common . . . → Read More: Cockney rhyming slang: you won’t Adam and Eve it!
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Sniglets Have you ever heard of Sniglets? The person who coined this term, actor/comedian Rich Hall, described them as “any word that doesn’t appear in the dictionary, but should”. Sniglets featured as part of the satirical comedy show Not Necessarily the News based on the BBC series Not the Nine O’clock News. Many of the Sniglets are often ‘portmanteau . . . → Read More: Time for a little giggle with some ‘Sniglets’ I used the term ‘nought’ the other day in conversation with a non-native English speaker, who looked at me nonplussed* in response. This got me thinking about how many ways there are to express the idea of zero, or nothing, in English, which prompted this blog post. Zero, zilch, zip, nil, nought, nothing – they all mean . . . → Read More: Zero, zilch, zip, nil, nought, nothing … what’s the difference? Reading an article online in the Daily Mail about the release of the US brand ‘Candwich’ led me to consider the practice of joining words together to make new ones. This process is known as portmanteau, itself a word made of two words combined together – it originates from the French word portemanteau, combining porter (to carry) . . . → Read More: Englackers? Portmanteau words I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, the long-standing British radio comedy panel game, is known for its hilarious puns and word-based jokes. One of the best rounds of the show, in my opinion, is the Definitions Round, which sees contestants thinking up alternative funny definitions of words in the English language. A collection of some of . . . → Read More: I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue |
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