Tag: lexis

More fictional characters who appear in everyday English

Written by Hugh Dellar on December 20, 2023. Posted in Chunk of the day, Chunks. 1 Comment on More fictional characters who appear in everyday English

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, we’ll look at five famous characters and consider how they’ve passed into the language. First up is one of the most iconic detectives of all time – Sherlock Holmes. Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes is famous for his powers of observation and deduction, his razor-sharp mind, and his logical reasoning. He’s also been portrayed countless...

Word of the day: Harry Pottered out

Written by Hugh Dellar on December 6, 2023. Posted in Chunks, Word of the day. No Comments on 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. The week had been based around the Harry Potter books, so kids had made their own costumes, acted out various scenes and so on. “By the end of the five days“, she said, “I was totally Harry Pottered out!” In other words, she’d had enough of Harry Potter....

From a trickle to a flood: water metaphors and their emotional pull

Written by Hugh Dellar on December 5, 2023. Posted in Chunk of the day, Chunks. No Comments on 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 about the fact that the country needs immigrants . . . and that without significant amounts of immigration, the economy in general and the NHS and the care sector in particular would be in grave danger of collapsing. Instead what we get is the worst possible people exploiting the suffering of those fleeing conflict or hardship abroad and demonising the...

One is most bemused: hedging and the strange function of ‘one’

Written by Hugh Dellar on November 10, 2023. Posted in Lexis, Opinions. 2 Comments on 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 he was settling in and suggesting that he was a credit to us and that he must’ve had a great upbringing. My response to this slightly over-the-top praise? ‘Many thanks for this. Very pleased to hear he’s finding his feet OK. Not sure we can take that much credit for the way he’s turned out, to be honest, but one does what one can.’ It was this last turn...

Everyday English drawn from Greek mythology

Written by Hugh Dellar on October 13, 2023. Posted in Chunks, Phrase of the day. 4 Comments on Everyday English drawn from Greek mythology

A while back, I wrote a blog post about words and expressions that come from literature, but have passed into everyday use. Today, inspired by a recent conversation with my daughter, who’s currently obsessed with Greek mythology, I wanted to dig a bit deeper into the way the ideas from old myths and stories become embedded in the language and understood even by those unfamiliar with their origins. One morning, I was having breakfast with my kids and the news was on the radio. My daughter heard the newsreader claim that ‘the NHS (the National Health Service) will be the government’s...

Literary figures in everyday speech

Written by Hugh Dellar on January 18, 2023. Posted in Chunks, Phrase of the day. 2 Comments on 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 in opposition to the state can land you in hot water. Share an anti-government meme or express support for Ukraine or the Women, Life, Freedom protesters and you might find the secret police knocking on your door in the small hours. Many people living inside such countries are all-too well aware of the fact that Big Brother is always watching you. Now,...

Why teachers shouldn’t prefer blonde

Written by Hugh Dellar on November 5, 2014. Posted in Opinions, Vocabulary Choice. 7 Comments on Why teachers shouldn’t prefer blonde

I recently asked a couple of colleagues which word they thought was more frequent – arise or blonde. Almost immediately, the answer blonde came back. However, despite the confidence of the response, according to the British National Corpus (BNC) and various dictionaries, my colleagues were wrong! Arise is in fact nine times more frequent than blonde in the BNC. There is some evidence to suggest that my colleagues are not alone. Teachers (and students) are not very good at recognising frequency of words (see McCrostie 2007). Examples you can think of, rather than frequency One of...