This post is the 6th instalment of the Irish leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 5 of Teach Yourself Irish. For previous instalments, please see https://languagemiscellany.com/tag/irish/ It covers: the demonstrative sin (‘that’) possessive phrases ‘above’ and ‘below’ more on prepositions ‘very’ ann (‘there’) cá bhfuil? (‘where is?) verbs: (1) perfect tense; (2)…… Continue reading Irish challenge (6)
Author: Peter Clark
Prescribing a proscription
The UK government recently proscribed an Iranian state organisation, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). I was listening the other day to a BBC radio presenter discussing this with a BBC journalist. Both of them repeatedly said prescribe /prɪˈskraɪb/rather than proscribe /proʊˈskraɪb/. When talking slowly and precisely, people might pronounce prescribe as /prɪˈskraɪb/, but when…… Continue reading Prescribing a proscription
Enjoyable history of English letters
Danny Bate’s recent book Why Q needs U: a history of our letters and how we use them (2025) is an entertaining guide to the histories and shapes of the letters in the modern English alphabet. It contains 26 chapters (‘numbered’, unsurprisingly, A to Z), and an introduction and an epilogue. Content Each chapter address…… Continue reading Enjoyable history of English letters
Welsh challenge (6)
This post is the 6th instalment of the Welsh leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 5 of Colloquial Welsh. For earlier instalments, please see Welsh Archives – Language Miscellany For a few words and phrases, there are differences between north (N) and south (S) Wales.I’ve used bold type below to highlight words…… Continue reading Welsh challenge (6)
The Italian Language Today
The Italian Language Today, by Anna Laura Lepschy and Giulio Lepschy (2nd edition, 1988) is a useful guide for anyone who has been through a basic to intermediate Italian course. The book has 2 parts: part one The Linguistic Situation in Italy has 4 sections: Italian today; a historical view; Italian dialects; varieties of…… Continue reading The Italian Language Today
A missing negative leads into a trap
A sports writer got into a tangle trying to describe Croatian football star Luka Modrić in a piece published in The Times on 16 June 2026. He described Modrić as the ‘first man in more than a decade—after leading Croatia to the 2018 World Cup Final—to take the Ballon d’Or from either Lionel Messi or…… Continue reading A missing negative leads into a trap
Irish challenge (5)
This post is the 5th instalment of the Irish leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 4 of Teach Yourself Irish. For previous instalments, please see https://languagemiscellany.com/tag/irish/ The demonstrative seo To introduce a person or present a thing, use seo (‘this’) without a verb:Seo Tomás (‘this is Thomas’). In Munster and Connacht, a…… Continue reading Irish challenge (5)
Please leave your room until 11 o’clock
We saw this sign at the front desk in our hotel on a recent trip to Luxembourg. Please leave your room till 11:00 a.m. One thing the sign says is: ‘Please leave your room till 11:00 am.’ That says the opposite of what is intended: intended meaning: please leave your room permanently before 11:00 am.…… Continue reading Please leave your room until 11 o’clock
How to write, badly
About a dozen years ago, I was excited to hear about a new book called Learn to write Badly: How to Succeed in the Social Sciences, Michael Billig (2013). I bought a copy and read it immediately, thinking it would give me some useful insights into why many social scientists write poorly. To my annoyance,…… Continue reading How to write, badly
Welsh challenge (5)
This post is the 5th instalment of the Welsh leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 4 of Colloquial Welsh. For earlier instalments, please see Welsh Archives – Language Miscellany Mutation Table 1 provides a reminder of the aspirate and nasal mutations discussed in earlier instalments. Table 1. Aspirate and nasal mutations RadicalAspirateNasalcchnghpphmhtthnhg ngb md n…… Continue reading Welsh challenge (5)