Linguistics

Linguistics professor John O’Regan on history written in the present tense, and Simon Allen on other documentary annoyancesAdrian Chiles’s article concerning the use of the present tense in television history programmes (I love history programmes. But there’s one trend that makes my blood boil …, 6 September) not only does a disservice to TV historians such as Dan Gold, who “writes history in the present tense” (Letters, 11 September), but also to the innovation and flexibility of the English language.Chiles takes issue with the apparently nonsensical use of the present tense to describe the past. He gives the invented example, “Napoleon walks into the room to find Josephine pl..

In a 70-year crowdsourcing project, a motley global public sent in the words and definitions that would form the first OED. Ogilvie reveals the shocking stories behind the book’s birthHenry Spencer Ashbee owned the largest collection of pornography and erotica in the world. Born in 1834, he began collecting clandestine material as a teenager and eventually amassed so much that he had to store it in a dedicated bachelor pad at Gray’s Inn, where he would invite fellow pornophiles to peruse the collection every Saturday. Ashbee’s unorthodox hobby went further: he sent in words related to genitals, pornography and bondage to the fledgling Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to be included in i..

Post-Brexit politics is shameless, amoral and venal, so perhaps MPs’ language should match our torrid timesThe most surprising thing about Gillian Keegan’s exasperated gush of self-pity – “Does anyone ever say, ‘You know what, you’ve done a fucking good job, because everyone else has sat on their arse and done nothing’?” – wasn’t the swearing. Most people, including politicians, swear casually all the time. Although rarely at the end of a TV interview while the camera is still on, or while they’re still wearing a live microphone, like some gormless pillock.What was interesting was the “should we, shouldn’t we” deployment of asterisks. Some news outlets (including ..

Sunak screwed across the board | Animal behaviour | Spot the ball | Fresher ingredients | Raac in Ancient RomeAnother German word for Rishi Sunak’s situation (Letters, 3 September) is zugzwang, a term in chess for a poor position, where any move would make the current bad situation even worse.Christopher PankhurstWinchester • Zoe Williams’ father, who, she writes, hated Carl Jung (5 September) would have appreciated the cartoon in which one rat says to another: “I’ve really got this psychologist conditioned; every time I press this lever he gives me food.”David CooperNafferton, East Yorkshire Continue reading...

My grandmother Joan Krakover Hall, who has died aged 94, was a passionate teacher and linguist, who worked for a time at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. She was married for more than 50 years to the atomic physicist Theodore Hall, whom she met as a teenager in Chicago after the second world war.As a young scientist working on the Manhattan Project, Ted had passed secrets of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union, believing that a US nuclear monopoly would be highly dangerous. Identified as an agent in 1949, he was never prosecuted by the US authorities and his role remained unknown to the public until the mid-1990s. Continue reading...

It’s not easy to find Welsh speakers in Ohio, but Dafydd Jones was determined to learn the language of his parents and connect with his homeland 3,800 miles awayDafydd Emrys Jones describes himself as a “passionate Welshman”, although he hasn’t lived in the country since childhood. For the past 32 years he has made his home in Cincinnati, Ohio, but the 74-year-old has had “a long journey” to get there. He was born in Wrexham, north Wales, “a city put on the map by the generosity of Ryan Reynolds,” he notes (Reynolds and co-owner Rob McElhenney bought the local football club in 2021). He moved south to Cardiff, then passed through England, Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland..

Readers respond to the charity’s publication of a guide to inclusive languageI applauded Oxfam’s new language guide, sharing it with my networks online and with colleagues working on power shifting and decolonising aid in our sector, who agreed it is excellent and should be used by all.I was not shocked when I read the opinion piece by the chief executive of Oxfam GB, Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah (Oxfam’s job is to end poverty – we refuse to be distracted by the toxic culture wars, 21 March), as there will always be people who get their knickers in a twist over their so-called pride in being white/British/cisgender/heterosexual/relatively wealthy/able bodied etc. Continue reading...

My friend Christine Wilson, who has died aged 78 of a heart attack, was a fellow traveller in setting up one of Norwich’s first park friends’ groups.Christine was born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, to Irene (nee May) and William Wilson, who were both bank clerks. She went to Berkhamsted school for girls and South-West Herts FE College, where she trained as an administrator (1962-63). Continue reading...

WhatsApp betrayal | Johnson ploughs on | Marks and Engel | Another use for turnips | What’s in a nameI am pleased that Matt Hancock feels massively betrayed (Matt Hancock calls Isabel Oakeshott WhatsApp messages leak ‘massive betrayal’, 2 March). Now he knows how we all feel.Dan MartinBishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire• Re Partygate (Boris Johnson in battle for political future amid fresh evidence he misled MPs, 3 March), perhaps Cincinnatus would now be kind enough to return to his plough.Chris AinsworthRawtenstall, Lancashire Continue reading...

Don’t believe it if you think that ours is the last word in languageEnglish speakers sometimes like to think of English as the only language you will ever need, but last week Merriam-Webster, the dictionary compilers, have been intent on finding where it falls short. A tweet asked readers to supply favourite words in other languages for which there is no English translation. The thousands of responses revealed not only descriptive gaps in our lexicon, but also defining cultural deficiencies.We probably already know from bright-eyed Danes about the difficulty of translating their catch-all word for contentment, “hygge”, and from heartfelt Welsh speakers about the unutterable depth of lo..

Colm (AKA Colin) Russell on a lifetime of his name being misunderstood, and Catherine McLoughlin on Bill Bryson’s observation about the Irish languageRe Niamh Ní Hoireabhaird’s article (There is a surefire way for the English to correctly pronounce Irish names. Just ask us. Niamh Ní Hoireabhaird, Opinion, 23 February), I had little problem with my name, Colm, growing up in Wales. My dad, from Killarney, stressed that the name should be “Cullum”, but everyone called me “Collum”, or “Col”, so I stuck with that.It was only when I went to uni, then worked in the civil service in London, that I encountered confusion. The English could not master (or did not want to master?) this..

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhy is the surname Farmer so uncommon when there were large numbers of farmers for so long? Is it because most of them were tenant farmers, and the actual landowners were higher up the social scale with longstanding family names? Gerry Cotter, Morecambe, LancsSend new questions to nq@theguardian.com. Continue reading...

Almost half of the children surveyed by Oxford University Press chose ‘Queen’ as their top word, with ‘happy’ and ‘chaos’ in second and third place “Queen” has been chosen by young people as the Oxford children’s word of the year for 2022.Almost half of children surveyed by Oxford University Press (OUP) chose “Queen” as their word of the year. In second place was “happy”, chosen by 36% of children, with “chaos” coming in third with 14% of the vote. Continue reading...

Just because someone is called Swindells doesn’t mean they’re out to cheat youAfter my column last week on nominative determinism and Marnie Swindells on The Apprentice, I received the following gentle rebuke from reader James Swindells: “My dad assured my siblings and me that our name derives from honest pig farmers in the dales of Derbyshire – where perhaps some of your ancestors might have had something to do with the clumps of trees there. Us Swindells would certainly never seek to cheat anyone out of their money. Obviously, I can’t vouch for anyone called Swindles!” Point taken, Mr S.On the same theme, David Crookes writes: “Last Sunday’s line about Marnie Swindells remi..

My brother, Gerry Nelson, who has died of cancer aged 63, after a short illness, was a researcher in English linguistics who coordinated the worldwide collection of volumes of English language data for linguistic research.Gerry was born in Maynooth, Co Kildare, Ireland, one of four sons of Kathleen (nee Colgan) and Anthony Nelson. Our father was employed as a security guard at Maynooth University, where Gerry studied English before moving to University College Dublin for his PhD, which was in theories of linguistic form in the 18th century. Continue reading...

Ted Hughes poetry reading | Avanti trains | Hoarding toes | A measure of squidge | Deep dive into jargonThe incident of the audience member screaming at the Ilkley festival when Cave Birds was performed (Other Lives, 18 September) is recollected by Philip Larkin in a June 1965 letter to Robert Conquest: “At Ilkley festival, a woman shrieked and vomited during a Ted Hughes reading. I must say that I’ve never felt like shrieking. We had the old crow over at Hull recently, looking like a Christmas present from Easter Island. He’s all right when not reading.” Their memorial stones lie next to each other in Poets’ Corner. Graham ChestersChair, The Philip Larkin Society• I was surprise..

Term resonates with people feeling ‘overwhelmed’ with having to present their best selves“Goblin mode” has been chosen by the public as the 2022 Oxford word of the year. The term, which refers to “a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations”, has become the first word of the year to have been decided by public vote.Given a choice of three words (or phrases/hashtags – “word” is defined fairly loosely), narrowed down by lexicographers from Oxford University Press (OUP), more than 340,000 English speakers around the world cast their vote. Continue reading...

Action man Bear Grylls has come up with new ways of thinking about wake-up calls and cold showersFrom the same source who recently gave me the splendid word “broomsquire” comes another gem – “wood collier”.British Genealogy has the following definition: he “was a labourer (or an apprentice) to a master charcoal burner. Apparently charcoal burning was a highly skilled art and obviously common in the Forest of Dean area”, while the Yorkshire Historical Dictionary says: “John Wayed and Christopher Wayde colyeres agreed … to falle the underwood and ockes and saplynges. However, in those parts of the West Riding where collier could mean coal-miner, the term wood collier had come..

Jim Marshall says ‘the language of the gutter’ came in useful on Burns Night and Sue Leyland recalls speech therapy in Liverpool. Plus a letter from Michael Fraser When I was growing up in Scotland in the 1950s, many of my peers were sent to elocution lessons to help them speak “properly” (I had to fight my way through class barriers into my job. Why has so little changed?, 23 November). My mother was obsessed with the need to lose what she, and many of my teachers, referred to as “the language of the gutter”.The wonderful irony was that growing up in Kilmarnock, with its strong association with the national bard, the focus changed in the run-up to Burns Night. Then, we were all ..

It’s on the shortlist for Oxford University Press’s word of the year. But what on earth does it signify?Oxford University Press has announced its shortlist for word of the year. Its choices are #IStandWith, Metaverse and goblin mode. The first two I am familiar with, but the last... completely stumped. I’ve never seen it or heard it. Apparently, it is “a slang term for a way of behaving that intentionally and shamelessly gives into and indulges in base habits and activities without regard for adhering to social norms or expectations”. I think it used to be known as slobbishness.Now another one for the “community” section of this column. It was announced last week that Instagram..

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsThis week’s question: will we ever set up an outpost on another planet?What would happen if we changed our spellings to match phonetics? Mikal Richerdsun, BrytonSend new questions to nq@theguardian.com. Continue reading...

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhat would happen if we changed our spellings to match phonetics? Mikal Richerdsun, BrytonPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published next Sunday. Continue reading...

A Very British Coup | Loyalty points for charity | Glamorising smoking | Legilium legitimised | António Guterres’s cardiganYour list of Channel 4’s 40 best shows (2 November) describes A Very British Coup as “Alan Plater’s conspiracy thriller”. While it is true that Alan Plater wrote a brilliant script, the television series was based on a novel I published in 1982, six years earlier.Chris MullinCallaly, Northumberland• It is a good idea not to buy things you don’t really need just to get points on your loyalty card (Adrian Chiles, 3 November), but some supermarkets’ cards are worth keeping. For example, with Tesco and Sainsbury’s you can donate your points or vouchers to ..

When will people learn? One is used by the Lone Ranger; the other offers solutions to difficult problemsOn Thursday last week, the Times front page headline ran: “Sunak: Better education can be our silver bullet”. The report went on: “A Downing Street source said Sunak believed that if there were ‘one silver bullet in public policy’ that would improve lives, it would be investment in education and skills.” Long-suffering readers may remember that I deplored this solecism many moons ago. Let me quote the Guardian style guide: “Silver bullet: used to kill a werewolf and by the Lone Ranger.” Yet how many times have I heard this phrase trotted out? More than I care to remember. T..

Matthew Belmonte on NHS Digital’s use of an outdated and offensive term for people with learning disabilitiesThe euphemism treadmill strikes again as NHS Digital is criticised for the use of “mental retardation” as a category in statistics it compiles (‘Insulting’: shock as NHS uses offensive term for people with learning disability, 18 October). Understanding the disjunction between innocuous intent and offensive perceptions of the term “mentally retarded” demands a look through history.Denotationally, the term refers to the empirical fact that, in such individuals, cognitive development has proceeded to less than a typical degree or at less than a typical pace. This denotatio..

Peter Davison first bustled into my life in 1964 through a chance encounter when I was a new undergraduate. In his bibliography and palaeography course, he taught us to read Elizabethan “secretary hand”, described the workings of a 17th-century printing house and explained how it was possible to distinguish the hand of each compositor in a printed Elizabethan text, a task which, in an age before personal computers, involved the enthusiasm, hard slog and attention to detail that characterised so much of what he did. These were evident in his edition of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I in the New Penguin Shakespeare series (1968), which combined scrupulous examination of the early texts wi..

‘We won’t all be sounding the same,’ says researcher after comparison of extensive survey with findings from 70 years agoDialects from southern England are spreading, research has shown, but it isn’t all having your dinner at teatime: the north is also pushing back.Researchers from the University of York, Lancaster University and New York University surveyed more than 14,000 native English speakers and compared how they speak today with findings from similar studies 70 years ago. Continue reading...

The idea that Gaelic is the original language of the whole of Scotland is a myth, writes John EdmondsonI sympathise with Jenny Colgan’s inability to fully embrace Gaelic (The Gaelic language is stunningly beautiful, but I just can’t get my tongue around it, 25 July), but the idea that this is the original language of the whole of Scotland is a myth.It is essentially the Irish (Goidelic or Q-Celtic) version of the Celtic language family. It was carried over to Scotland and largely replaced the P-Celtic Pictish, which was more akin to Welsh. While the people of the Western Isles have a claim on Gaelic as their native language, it would be better for all concerned if Welsh were to be the la..

Karen Grainger laments the end of a programme at Sheffield Hallam that attracted bright students and taught vital skillsWhile it is shocking and regrettable that the English literature degree at Sheffield Hallam University no longer exists, very little attention has been paid to the suspension of the English language degree (Letters, 4 July).This course successfully recruited bright, working-class students who were interested in how both spoken and written language works in society. Students acquired vital transferable skills in communication, as well as in critical and analytical thinking. Graduates went on to careers in speech therapy, marketing, teaching and publishing, to name a few. Con..