Category Archives: Language

In a feat of ipsiflagellant Narcissism that shouldn’t be possible in only four words, the seemingly innocent phrase “free gift with purchase” manages both to restate itself unnecessarily and to contradict itself. Which makes it a redundant oxymoron. The species … Continue reading →

The Synergese language, an English-Robotic pidgin favoured by the corporate underclasses of North-America, is notable for its peculiar treatment of first person pronouns. When the first person is juxtaposed with the third in either subject or predicate, the ‘me’ or … Continue reading →

Yesterday, I met a doctor named Langlois, which he pronounced ‘Lang-wah’. That would be an English pronunciation of the French word for an Englishman. I wonder what he calls himself in French.

Any blog with philological pretensions has to put in an indignant note on this story. It appears that the Oxford University Press, of all presses, no longer includes words related to Christianity, Empire or the countryside in its Junior Dictionary. … Continue reading →

I realized a few months ago, during a rather unproductive debate about homosexuality, what the average university student means by “strong opinion”. It’s an opinion that you actually think is true, at the expense of other opinions contradicting it. Regular-strength … Continue reading →

This is one of the funniest spoofs I’ve read. Rowan Williams should be proud to be the subject.

This is possibly the best-written encyclopedia entry on Groundhogs that I’ve ever read. I wonder if it’s possible to find other entries by the same guy.