Category: Words and Language
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Figurative Speech: Metonymy
This is an interesting one. In many ways, a metonymy is the opposite of a metaphor but they both do the same thing. A metaphor compares a thing to something unrelated by way of implication or suggestion (a brilliant shining diamond bore down in them from the sky) and a simile is a direct comparison…
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Quirks of the English Language: Place Names With Weird Pronunciation
As I like to travel about quite a bit (mostly by train at the moment, but I do drive) I’m often struck by the weird and wonderful place names I see around. As part of my MA in Landscape Archaeology, I did study some place name etymology and I often find myself trying to work…
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Figurative Speech: Oxymorons
Oxymorons – they can be amusing or ironic, or they can give you a headache as you try to get your head around them. We use oxymorons all the time. They are terms that make sense initially, but appear to present a contradiction by fusing together two different and opposing words or terms.
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Words With Different Meanings (US vs UK): Cider Edition
As a west country lad, it is pretty much expected of me to like cider. I freely admit to this being a recent addition to my alcohol tastes. I have friends in Bristol, lived in Devon for five years and my girlfriend lives in Cornwall.
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Figurative Speech: Portmanteau
What is portmanteau? Doesn’t that sound a little posh to be an English word? What sort of strange airy-fairy linguistics stuff are you presenting us now, Matt, in the name of edutainment? There you go, there’s the first one for you – edutainment. Portmanteau in its original meaning refers to a type of bag that…
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Figurative Speech: Idioms
We love idioms in English and it’s often a peculiarity that confuses non-native speakers when they hear us using them without a second thought for how they confuse people. What do we mean by idioms? It means when we use bywords that are unrelated to what they actually mean; it has figurative meaning but is not…
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Figurative Speech: Paradox
Paradoxes make my head hurt – at least the scientific ones do – and a couple of years ago I went to a talk at Winchester Discovery Centre on the world’s greatest paradoxes given, no less, than by Jim Al Khalili. Those are not the sorts of paradoxes I want to talk about here. I…
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The Power of Words: The Language of Politics
Around election time, the language of our politicians changes. We all know how much they use spin and photo opportunities to sway us to vote for them, but I’ve noticed that certain words get used more than at any other time during a Parliament.
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Figurative Speech: Alliteration
What is alliteration and how do we use it? It is the use of a sequence of words where the consonant sounds are similar or each word in the sentence begins with the same letter or letters. The words may not sound the same, but by starting with the same letter(s) it feels as if…
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Happy Saturnalia! Roman Festive Food
My post on Roman street food from earlier in the year proved hugely popular and I am dying to try out some recipes. One of my New Year’s Resolutions will most likely to be a bit more adventurous in the kitchen. As most people know, Christmas as we know it today is the fusion of…
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