An attempt will be made on 4 June to break the world record for the world’s largest dictation event. It will be held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris for 1,700 participants. The existing record-holder is an event for 1,473 participants at the French national stadium (Stade de France) in 2018. https://www.20minutes.fr/paris/4035705-20230510-inscriptions-plus-grande-dictee-monde-champs-elysees-ouvertes As I’ve said before,…… Continue reading Aux Champs-Élysées
Tag: Fun
Obstructing vision with a transparent adverb
One of life’s great mysteries is the offside law in football. It causes a lot of discussion and controversy among football fans and commentators, as well as among players and managers. A comment on a recent controversial decision about offside made me look at the wording of the offside law. I discovered a surprising (and,…… Continue reading Obstructing vision with a transparent adverb
Another error in spaceflight
‘This is another error in spaceflight’. This is what I heard a NASA Planetary Scientist saying on the radio one morning recently. She was talking about the previous day’s unexpectedly short maiden flight by SpaceX’s new rocket Starship. The rocket exploded just a few minutes into the flight, so ‘error’ might seem like the…… Continue reading Another error in spaceflight
Albert Grammar Zone
Seeing this advert in the window of an estate agent in Auckland excited me unreasonably. Is there really a grammar zone in that city? What does it mean? Is some minimum level of grammar a prerequisite for living there? Is bad grammar illegal? Do they tolerate rhetorical questions? The reality is more prosaic, as I…… Continue reading Albert Grammar Zone
Answer to a puzzle
Here is the answer to the puzzle I posted a couple of weeks ago. Puzzle [A man] had sent home a letter simply addressed: WOOD JOHN ENGLAND and it was safely delivered. Those Post Office people are very smart. Can any of you read that address in its completeness? Answer The letter was intended for…… Continue reading Answer to a puzzle
A hatrack for your luggage
On a recent flight, I was bemused by a sign on the overhead containers for carry on luggage. The sign advised caution in opening the ‘hatrack’, so that items wouldn’t fall down. I have never seen this word used before with this meaning. Maybe I have missed out on some new aviation jargon or maybe…… Continue reading A hatrack for your luggage
A hint for last week’s puzzle
Last week, I posted a classic puzzle. Here’s a hint. The puzzle is an early example of the type of puzzle popularised in the game Dingbats. The puzzle [A man] had sent home a letter simply addressed: WOOD JOHN ENGLAND and it was safely delivered. Those Post Office people are very smart. Can any of…… Continue reading A hint for last week’s puzzle
Can you deliver this letter to the right address?
Here is a classic puzzle: [A man] had sent home a letter simply addressed:WOODJOHNENGLANDand it was safely delivered. Those Post Office people are very smart. Can any of you read that address in its completeness? I’ll post a hint next week. I’ll post the answer (and the source) in a couple of weeks.
Pāṇini and Panini
A great grammarian of Sanskrit, Pāṇini, lived sometime around the 6th to the 4th century BCE. Pāṇini is often considered to be the first great descriptive linguist. The name Pāṇini is not to be confused with name of the Italian sandwiches known as panini. https://languagemiscellany.com/2022/06/paninis-apostrophes/ According to a comment made by a user on a…… Continue reading Pāṇini and Panini
Learning by rote for non-rhotic speakers
There are many varieties of English pronunciation. The existence of different varieties has implications for English spelling. A paper by the retired phonetician John Wells discusses some of those implications. https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/accents_spellingreform.htm One of those implications arises from the distinction between rhotic varieties and non-rhotic varieties. In the following positions, rhotic varieties pronounce the sound /r/…… Continue reading Learning by rote for non-rhotic speakers