Linguistic fun

“The English have for centuries been a mystery to the peoples of other countries, and failure to solve this mystery has led the stranger to use all sorts of epithets.” In June 1945 this sentence began the dictation passage in an exam paper for the Certificate in Proficiency in English. Around then my father, a…

New living metaphor seen in the wild

May 9, 2017

Texts

Linguistic fun, Living metaphors

Hope you all caught this bit of news from the local elections last week. The Liberal Democrats took overall controll of Northumberland County Council although the result was at first a dead heat in terms of seats – 33 to the Conservatives, and 33 to their opponents combined. The South Blyth ward was still tied after two…

Best living metaphors caught on the fly

Feb 20, 2017

Living metaphors, Texts

Linguistic fun, Living metaphors

Living metaphors for me aren’t actually metaphors at all. They’re events, sights or occurrences which suddenly (in a flash) reveal the origin of an elaborate metaphor that has got so tired through overuse the original meaning is usually buried too deep to surface. (I got 5 dull metaphors in that last sentence.) I was walking…

What’s this all about?

Dec 10, 2015

Texts

Elephant and Castle, Linguistic fun

A blog about experts, language and metaphors, inspired by a billboard seen in South East London near the Elephant and Castle proclaiming ‘Elephant dentist struck off’. No connection with actual elephants or dentists.

An English Mystery

New living metaphor seen in the wild

Best living metaphors caught on the fly

What’s this all about?