An expression I learned to love during the time I lived in England was “Bob’s your uncle!” Thanks to international sports events, the saying is better known in the States now than it used to be. You tack it onto a set of instructions that are meant to lead to an easy solution: Question: How … Read more
A reader deplores the mispronunciation and misspelling of the word album as “ablum”: … often misused by DJs and music commentators which is really sad! The word album comes from Latin albus, “white.” In ancient Rome, an “album” was a blank tablet into which edicts and other public matters were inscribed. In the 17th century, … Read more
What do a sheep, a cannon and an aircraft have in common? The answer is that they all – usually – use the same word whether they are in the singular or the plural. If you have one sheep and then you acquire a second sheep, you now have two sheep, not two “sheeps”. Other … Read more
Dave Moloney has asked for a post on the pernicious misuse of the term “hear hear’ as…”Here here”. I’ve tried to find examples of the misspelling “here, here” on the web, but without much success. I did find a CD with the title Here, Here, and Here. If you’ve ever watched a session of the … Read more
It’s quite common for people to use the phrase “one fowl swoop” (or even “one foul swoop”) when they want to convey the idea of an event taking place all at once and very suddenly. But why do we say this? Is the phrase something to do with birds swooping to the ground in a … Read more
Øystein Sveum Moen poses an interesting question about shade and shadow: I constantly end up in discussions whether something’s in the shade or shadow. Is there a clear definition of the difference between these two? Where I come from (Norway) we have a single word covering all forms of light blocking darkness. Both shade and … Read more