Category: Words and Language
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The Power of Words: Not / Coming Out
Hi long term readers. Remember this series? No? Well, the last one was in 2017. Before that it was 2015 so I guess I am way overdue. “Coming out” – two words that say so much without saying very much at all.
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Indie Film Review: The Jam (The UK’s First Ever One Man Production)
Joining Twitter has introduced me to a range of independent creatives. These are mostly writers, and I’ve discovered an enormous supportive community of BAME, LGBT, disability, and other communities of writers supporting each other through thick and thin.
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Cornwall and the Linguistic Diaspora
You can sometimes find acquaintance and commonality in the most unusual places. I first found Alexis Chateau’s blog around two years ago. I can’t quite remember how, maybe it was the chronicles of her travels around the southern US states. Yet it ended up being her posts on Jamaican culture that I found the most…
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What Have the Victorians Ever Done For Christmas?!
Quite a lot, actually. In fact, we could say that modern Christmas is almost entirely the invention of these stoic death-obsessed ancestors. The Tudors, our medieval and Roman ancestors certainly had their part to play, the festive season wouldn’t be what it is without the Victorian pioneers, particularly Prince Albert and Charles Dickens.
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The Power of Words: Best and Worst Political Slogans
Words are powerful. I’ve written on the subject of political oratory repeatedly. Two years ago, I discussed my discomfort with the media’s character assassination of Jeremy Corbyn being “unelectable”, for example, and in the run-up to the General Election in 2015, I listed some common politician stock phrases. Here, I want to discuss election campaign…
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Have Yourself a Tudor Little Christmas – All About Tudor Food
Following on from my hugely popular Saturnalia and medieval Christmas posts of recent years (both of which followed on from a post on Roman Street Food), I’m jumping forward again. This time, we go to those flamboyant and merry Tudors. Although we in England tend to associate Christmas with the Victorians, the Tudors certainly knew…
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Words & Terms I Wish Advertisers Would Throw on a Fire
This is going to be one of my “Grinds My Gears” type posts. Some types of business speak really grind my gears, as I have already discussed. Advertising though is a whole other kettle of fish. There are some words and terms that I really would not be upset if I never encountered them again.
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Origins of the English Language: The Norman Conquest
Other titles in this series: Anglo-Saxons; Vikings Let’s get one thing out of the way before we start… whether you call him William: Duke of Normany, William the Bastard or William the Conqueror the man who invaded England from Normandy was not French. He hated the French and they hated him. He was actually of…
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Happy Christmastide – A Look at Medieval Christmas Food
Last year, I wrote a blog post on Saturnalia and Roman festive food. I mentioned in the comments that I hoped to write an article on medieval Christmas food as a companion piece. A year later and here it is! Hmm, should I perhaps aim to do a Tudor and a Victorian one this year…
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Here’s Some West Country Regional Slang My Lover!
There’s something really wonderful about the English language’s history of regional slang. It came from this tiny island and has been affected by Romans, Saxons, Vikings, Normans (and I am still putting together my latest in this series so I won’t delve into this aspect too much). What is had done though, is brought rise…
MG Mason Creative 