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If you are in search of some idle online linguistic browsing guaranteed to boost morale, take a deep dive into the magnificent “positive lexicography” project curated by Dr Tim Lomas. This is a collection of untranslatable words related specifically to wellbeing, highlighting the relationship between untranslatable words and positive psychology.…

BBC’s Law in Action programme recently described an interesting linguistic quirk in Scottish law, which is currently under scrutiny. Under Scots law, jury trials can issue one of three verdicts; the defendant can be convicted (found “guilty”), or alternatively they can be acquitted in one of two ways (“not guilty”,…

Such are the vagaries of the Twitter algorithm you can never quite be sure what will pop up on your timeline. Sometimes it successfully manages to supply you with content that genuinely piques your interest and so it was that a tweet by the Northern Ireland Minister of Justice Naomi…

While digging into a bit of historical linguistics, I was reminded of the fact that Frisian is English’s closest relative on the continent, with Scots staking a claim to a similarly close kinship within the British Isles (assuming you are prepared to classify Scots as a language in its own…

This blog has delighted in linguistic pedantry before, but the bar has been set to a whole new height by a group in Quito, Ecuador who go out correcting the punctuation and grammar they find in graffiti around the city. Meet the graffiti grammar vigilantes. [caption id="attachment_161491" align="alignleft" width="300"] graffiti…

This blog is partial to a bit of ripe language, as discussed in relation to Emma Byrne’s book Swearing is good for you, and all linguists love a good dictionary, so here we combine these passions with a look at a new English dictionary of ancient Greek. Cambridge University Press…

Looming large on the horizon are post-Brexit changes to the UK border regime that you may have forgotten about with the current focus on Covid-19 travel rules. From October 1 this year, new passport and visa regulations come into effect, including the requirement that all EU travellers have a full…

Whenever I stumble across something quirky and interesting about language and translation, I make a little note so I can include it in a blog post. This is a great system but, to be honest, most of the bits and bobs I collect are not worth a whole post and…

Campaigns for changes to vocabulary to help drive socio-political change are nothing new (see previous blog on requests to modify “sexist” dictionary definitions). As Professor Sally McConnell-Ginet puts it: “Linguistic and social change go hand in hand because linguistic practices are fundamental to social practices more generally.” Campaigners for greater…

Here we delve into the charming world of the contranym, a word that has two distinct meanings that are contradictory or opposite. These words are also referred to as auto-antonyms or Janus words (after the god with two faces). Classic examples in English include cleave, which can mean to adhere…