Almost every word in English has a definition and almost every word composition has a description for why it came to be called that. Until that is, the word that…
Would you say English is a careless language? I think the opposite is true. English is a careful language in that its most practiced users choose words with specific intent,…
I love a red herring. And no, I don’t mean because it’s an ideal protein in a low-carb high-protein diet. It’s also great for breakfast. At school I had a…
Zeitgeist is a lovely word to get your teeth into, literally and figuratively. And both syllables require a firm grit. Derived from the German language, the word is surrounded by…
In recent weeks I became curious about the metaphor ‘a ticking time bomb’. There’s something about it that does not ring true. Not true, in that sense but not grammatically…
Rats! If you’ve ever had the problem of rats in your home, you may identify with strongly negative feelings about the small annoying creatures. Thanks to my compulsive TV watching…
Yesterday as I was cursing the spinning instructor for insisting I use muscles I didn’t know I had to save energy, I thought she had lost the plot. Saving energy…
On Monday, I was at a conference which was full of interesting content presented by a number of excellent speakers. One woman, a lawyer, delivered a long and very detailed…
This week a client asked me, “Is it okay to write CEO?” I was a bit taken aback because CEO is one of those ‘words’ that is better known by…
I was recently at an Editing for Inclusivity workshop which aimed to address racial, gender and all other kinds of stereotyping that fills our communication to an embarrassing extent. This…