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  • Posted by Jonathan Marks to Is there a case for ‘publically’? Part 1 on December 05, 2013 Alan: What about words like 'basically', 'ironically', 'practically', 'realistically', 'specifically'? These are usually pronounced with no vowel before the '-ly', so maybe they should be written 'basicly', 'ironicly' etc.? (See Part 2 of John Williams' article.) You say you "have a tendency to pronounce words close to their spelling", and that you think it's "generally a good idea if spelling is as close as possible to speech". Well, if spelling was as close as possible...
  • Posted by Macmillan Dictionary to Notes from a small Chinese woman on December 05, 2013 John: I think this definition will clarify the meaning of 'icing sugar' http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/icing-sugar
  • Posted by Alan Stinchcombe to Is there a case for ‘publically’? Part 1 on December 04, 2013 As someone who has a tendency to pronounce words close to their spelling, I have to remind myself that spoken language preceded writing by millennia. So, notwithstanding the vagaries of English pronunciation, I think it's generally a good idea if spelling is as close as possible to speech. Does anyone actually pronounce "publicly" with four syllables: "pub-lic-al-ly"? If not, I prefer the spelling "publicly".
  • Posted by John Bucklar to Notes from a small Chinese woman on December 02, 2013 Can you tell me what "ice sugar" is made from and how it differs from white sugar?
  • Posted by Michael Rundell to Stories behind Words: Ruby, Britney ... and Andy too on November 29, 2013 Great post, Liz. As Julie says, the great mystery is how far rhyming slang is used in real discourse, or whether it's just the London equivalent of "stage Irish" ("Top of the morning to you") or Scottish ("Hoots mon") etc. Another source, in the 1980s, was the TV series "Minder", whose anti-hero Arthur Daley was known for it, as the Wikipedia article on the show says: "other features were Arthur's constant rhyming...

  • Language tip of the week: baby

    In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. These tips are usually based on areas of English which learners find difficult, e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, synonyms, etc. This week’s language tip helps with talking and writing about having a baby: talking about a baby unborn child […]

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  • Stories behind Words: chortle and galumph

    It’s not that unusual for people to ask me how they can get a word into the dictionary. That’s easy, I tell them. Get lots of different people to use it in lots of different places and in it will go. Actually it’s not easy at all, as can be seen from the complete failure […]

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  • Loving it! The Love English Awards – update 1

    This year’s Macmillan Dictionary Love English Awards has really kicked off. We’ve received nearly 200 nominations for ‘best blog’ and ‘best website’ about the English language, and it’s nice to see so many returning blog/website nominations as well as several new kids on the block. Some of the nominations we received were for Macmillan Dictionary […]

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  • Word roots and routes: tell and count

    Next in a series of posts exploring some of the ‘roots’ and ‘routes’ of English vocabulary. Tell and count, of Germanic and Latinate origin respectively, have followed similar routes in English. The original idea behind tell is ‘to put in order’ and this has led in two main directions: 1. The predominant meaning is to […]

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  • Language and words in the news – 29th November, 2013

    This post contains a selection of links related to language and words in the news. These can be items from the latest news, blog posts or interesting websites related to global English, language change, education in general, and language learning and teaching in particular. Feel free to contact us if you would like to submit […]

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  • Open Dictionary word of the month: shelfie

    The word of the month for November will of course have to be shelfie. If you are here reading this blog then you are probably a fan of words, and whether you’re learning English or are an old pro you’ll probably be aware that Oxford Dictionaries recently announced that selfie was their choice for word […]

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  • Language tip of the week: picture

    In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. These tips are usually based on areas of English which learners find difficult, e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, synonyms, etc. This week’s language tip helps with words used to talk and write about pictures: painting: a picture that is […]

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  • Stories behind Words: Ruby, Britney … and Andy too

    It’s Friday night. Fancy a ruby washed down with a couple of britneys? Baffled? What if I reminded you that Britney’s surname is Spears (which rhymes with beers), and told you that Ruby is Ruby Murray, another popular female singer, but one whose heyday was in the 50s? And Murray rhymes with curry … there, […]

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  • Learn English through our monthly topic: November

    If you’re an English language student or teacher then you’ll get a lot out of following our Learn English feed on Facebook and Twitter. When you’re learning a new language it’s hard to know where to start. We’re sharing a useful tip every day that is focussed around a monthly topic. So far there’s been […]

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  • The grumbling heart of ‘curmudgeon’

    Everyone knows a curmudgeon or two, and some of us would consider ourselves one, at least part-time. Defined in Macmillan Dictionary as ‘someone who gets annoyed easily, especially an old person’, the word crops up regularly in relation to language usage. We see a word or phrase used sloppily, or inept punctuation from someone who […]

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  • Language tip of the week: contribute

    In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. These tips are usually based on areas of English which learners find difficult, e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, synonyms, etc. This week’s language tip helps with the verb contribute: Don’t use a verb in the infinitive after contribute. Use […]

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  • Flashbulb memories, grassy knolls and conspiracy theories

    In an article in Prospect magazine titled “What were the causes of 9/11?”, the author, Peter Bergen, notes that the terrorist attacks of September 2001 gave rise to numerous conspiracy theories. Which is not really surprising, when people were struggling “to explain what otherwise appears inexplicable”. Discussing these theories, Bergen continues: The usual suspects have […]

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