Archive for September, 2009
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Posted by Kati Sule on September 28, 2009
E-waste is the new BuzzWord this week on Macmillan Online Dictionary. The term e-waste, an abbreviation for electronic waste, and sometimes also referred to as e-scrap, describes used electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, televisions, etc., that have been discarded. According to estimates by the UN, the world produces up to 50 million tonnes [...]
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Posted by Jonathan Cole on September 25, 2009
This post contains a weekly 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 and language change. Please contact us if you would like to submit a link for us to include. Global English Let me [...]
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Posted by Michael Rundell on September 17, 2009
When you think of the changes English has undergone in just the last ten years, a figure like Samuel Johnson – whose 300th birthday we celebrate on Friday 18th September – may seem remote from contemporary concerns. Everyone enjoys resurrecting Johnson’s more outlandish or amusing definitions, and it’s true that he wasn’t above having the [...]
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Posted by Michael Rundell on September 14, 2009
We need a new definition for celebrity. None of the dictionaries I’ve looked at (ours included) really does justice to the way the word is used nowadays. Celebrity has become a far more common word in the last 20 years or so: statistics show that its frequency has more than doubled since 1990, its use [...]
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Posted by Jonathan Cole on September 11, 2009
This post contains a weekly 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 and language change. Please contact us if you would like to submit a link for us to include. Global English Poor language [...]
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Posted by Kati Sule on September 10, 2009
Simples is the new BuzzWord this week on Macmillan Online Dictionary. A brand-new interjection is on the rise: Simples! The term, a brainchild of the adorable meerkat called Aleksandr Orlov, is a catch-all expression meaning ‘easy, straightforward’. This video is a good example of its use. For more information about the word simples and Aleksandr’s [...]
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Posted by Jonathan Cole on September 09, 2009
The current UK release of the sci-fi / apartheid movie District 9 by Peter Jackson and Neil Blomkamp has brought South African English into the international spotlight. Stuck down near the bottom of the world, with a whole lot of animals, thousands of miles of coastline and not much between us and Antarctica besides whales [...]
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Posted by Stephen Bullon on September 08, 2009
One of the leading UK newspapers is always referred to in the satirical magazine Private Eye as the Grauniad. This is a humorous reference to the supposedly high number of typographical errors that used to be found in the Guardian. Typographical errors have more than one category. There are miskeyings, such as form instead of [...]
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Posted by Finn Kirkland on September 07, 2009
Or perhaps #teachertuesday? Or even #be_nice_wednesday? Does anyone know what on earth I’m on about? I’ll be honest, I’m struggling. But slowly, gradually …, I think I’m getting there. Whilst spending an inordinate amount of time on Twitter the other evening, I have to admit to bamboozling my poor fiancée. For those of us that [...]
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Posted by Jonathan Cole on September 04, 2009
This post contains a weekly 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 and language change. Please contact us if you would like to submit a link for us to include. Global English USA: Clunkers. [...]
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