After the positive reception that my last post on literary figures in everyday speech got, I figured it made sense to write a follow-up exploring the way the names of some more fictional characters are used in daily conversation. Today,…
Author Archive
Word of the day: Harry Pottered out
I spent last Friday and Saturday in Bologna, Italy, where I was talking at an excellent conference for English-language teachers. In one of the talks that I saw, a teacher was describing a one-week summer school course for kids that she'd helped organise.…
From a trickle to a flood: water metaphors and their emotional pull
One of the most depressing things about British politics right now – and trust me, there are plenty of things to get depressed about – is the fact that there aren't really any mainstream politicians who're willing to be honest…
One is most bemused: hedging and the strange function of ‘one’
The original idea for this blog post came one afternoon when my wife saw my response to an email we'd both received from the school our son goes to. His new form tutor had written to us saying how well…
Everyday English drawn from Greek mythology
A while back, I wrote a blog post about words and expressions that come from literature, but which have passed into everyday use. Today, inspired by a recent conversation with my daughter, who's currently obsessed with Greek mythology, I wanted…
Literary figures in everyday speech
In one of my recent classes, we were discussing the way in which the use of social media inside authoritarian countries like Russia, China and Iran is almost always monitored, and how posting something that's deemed to be subversive or…
Word of the day: big cheese
At a party last week I was introduced to a foreign businessman who was visiting London. We got talking and started chatting about what we both did. I told him about my work and when I asked what he did, he responded - in…
Teaching through the tears: creating cross-border classes in a time of conflict
I first went to Russia in December 1999 to visit a friend of mine who’d just taken a teaching job there. Little did I know then what a central part in my life the country would come to play over…
Another five things I’ve learned running the ENGLISH QUESTIONS ANSWERED group
Three years ago now, I was talked into setting up a Facebook group called ENGLISH QUESTIONS ANSWERED. It was designed to be a space where anyone at any level could ask questions about how English is used, whether or not…
Chunk of the day: a rite of passage
Generally speaking, I'm not one for complaining about people’s use of language, and certainly not those supposed transgressions of grammar rules such as using like when reporting speech, saying there were less people than expected, or that people are loving…