Blog

My daughter recently revealed that a friend had become an unlikely corona virus lockdown hero by adopting two geckos that were due to be “disposed of” due to the closure of her local pet store. This was the perfect excuse for my husband to recount for the thousandth time the…

When the world undergoes rapid change, language also evolves at pace to keep up. Over the last few months, we have all seen our vocabulary enriched with various scientific and sociological terminology to describe the experience of dealing with the corona virus. Much of this new vocabulary involves existing words…

Typos can crop up even in documents that have been carefully proofed, particularly if the typographic mistake involves a real alternative word. So, translators should not be surprised to come across them in their source texts. The number of typos can be a good indication of how much care the…

Instead of scrolling blankly through Twitter during my solo lunch hour, I am now surrounded by stuck-at-home family with the result that actual conversations take place. A new favourite activity is “Where’s that word from?” and I have been appointed chief etymologist with research responsibilities. Often etymological origins are lost…

The recent blog post about portmanteaus could have included the ubiquitous “podcast”, a blend of iPod and broadcast, coined in about 2004 to describe digital audio files available to download for listening. You might be less familiar with another portmanteau phenomenon: the “podfasters”. These are people whose time is so…

Contemporary concerns over climate change and the threat of extreme weather conditions may not be entirely new. Researchers attempting to decipher the runic inscriptions on the Rök stone from Scandinavia now believe it may refer to fear of an impending climate crisis. They suggest that the 9th century stone alludes…

Vocal fry has been my latest experience of frequency illusion, or the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, as it is sometimes known. In other words, the experience of learning about something new then encountering references to it absolutely everywhere. Maybe this blog post will trigger a similar experience for you. Anyway, back to…

When reading accounts of seismic historical events, I have always been struck by the extent to which ordinary people go about their daily business in a way that is remarkably unchanged. As we witness exactly this kind of tumultuous period in real time, I am sure the same observation will…

Humans are inherently tribal. We seek out other people like us and our sense of belonging is often reinforced by the language we use to communicate with our chosen group. This is the premise for Susie Dent’s wonderful exploration of the language used by Britain’s “Modern Tribes”. Whether these groups…

  English is a global language and inevitably has influenced vocabulary in other languages. For whatever reason, there often seems to be a certain cachet associated with English phrases and lexical items. In German, marketing texts in particular have a fondness for lobbing in English vocabulary. Unfortunately for the translator,…