contributorOrin Hargraves
Orin Hargraves is an independent lexicographer and contributor to numerous dictionaries published in the US, the UK, and Europe. He is also the author of Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions (Oxford), the definitive guide to British and American differences, and Slang Rules! (Merriam-Webster), a practical guide for English learners. In addition to writing the Language Lounge column, Orin also writes for the Macmillan Dictionary Blog. Click here to visit his website.
The stay-at-home orders of recent months have meant a lot more time to deep-dive into etymologies, and this has led me to reflect on a thing I hadn't noticed as much before: English has a surfeit of expressions for the idea 1 + 1.
Continue reading...
Article Topics:
Do the profound insights made by J. L. Austin and Paul Grice have any application to "conversations" in which the traffic in words is by definition all or nearly all one-way?
Continue reading...
Article Topics:Language LoungeA Monthly Column for Word LoversI May Not Know Grammar, But I Know What I Like  April 3, 2020
We'll all be doing each other a great favor by paying most of our attention to the substance of what others say, and the least of our attention to the way they say it.
Continue reading...
Article Topics:Language LoungeA Monthly Column for Word LoversI've Been Working on the Railroad March 9, 2020
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the merger of four railroads in the United States to create the longest railroad in the world by number of miles served. I note the anniversary as an item of linguistic curiosity, in light of the many ways that railroads and trains have made their way into popular and figurative English.
Continue reading...
Article Topics:
If you've visited the world of online dating you may have noticed the disparities between the ways males and females present themselves, and the disparities between the ways that they seem to want to appear to each other.
Continue reading...
Article Topics:Language LoungeA Monthly Column for Word LoversDubiously Distinguished January 1, 2020 By Orin Hargraves
We are now far beyond the day when a product might be distinguished from its competitors with descriptors such as mild, strong, or rich. Lately I'm noticing what is surely a very common trope in consumer marketing: the enhancement of an adjectival descriptor for a product by introducing it with an adverbial.
Continue reading...
Article Topics:
The famed copy editor's personal memoir is a joy to read and an inspiration to anyone who has toyed with the idea, but not yet taken the plunge, of learning a second language.
Continue reading...
|
