October 2021 - Page 2 of 2 - Language Miscellany

Good course, bad course

I recently made a surprising discovery. A very good course for independent language learners and a very bad one were both written by the same person. A very good course In the mid 80s, my wife gave me Colloquial Hungarian, by Arthur H Whitney. This was a 1982 reprint of a course book first published…… Continue reading Good course, bad course

Franglais watch

I guess “badger” is a verb not a carnivore.Seen at Basel airport in 2013Franglais is a name used for excessive or unnecessary use of English words or expressions in French.

Different accent or bad diction?

I’ve written before about confusion about the term dropping your g’s. The Time columnist Claire Foges waded into this debate on 20 September. Her article argues that people can improve their life chances by learning to speak and write what she calls Standard English. I agree with her on that. But her comments show some…… Continue reading Different accent or bad diction?

Yes, it does. Thanks for a good writing tip from the master of conciseness (concision? being concise? brevity? Though I'm…

Does inserting "then" in your second attempt work? "She then married Louis Searl."

I cannot remember the last time I put gloves in the glove box.

It could sometimes be translated by the adjective "country", as in "country dance", but it wouldn't often be appropriate. This…

Thanks. What nuances exist in champêtre but not in rustic or rural? (or viced versa)