Author Archive

  • Acting up – and down

    Posted by on October 27, 2011

    Following on from Ben Trawick-Smith’s post earlier in the week, freelance author and lexicographer Andrew Delahunty continues the discussion of the sublanguage of theatre. ____________ I’m a member of an amateur theatre group. Drama is, of course, all about language, the words of the play. But there is also a particular variety of language used [...]

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  • A bad day at the office

    Posted by on March 07, 2011

    Following Stan Carey’s introduction, sporting English month continues with a guest post by Andrew Delahunty, a freelance author and lexicographer. Among Andrew’s many books is Talking Balls: Getting to grips with the language of sport, published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson. _________ It is difficult to explain what happened. It was a bad day at the [...]

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  • Poacher turned gamewinner

    Posted by on June 29, 2010

    England’s World Cup is over, following the team’s 4-1 defeat by Germany last Sunday. According to one online report of the match, ‘The first goal was a tribute to striker Miroslav Klose’s strength and poaching skills.’ Only a few days earlier, England fans had been celebrating a 1-0 victory over Slovenia. The scorer, with a [...]

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  • Too clever by half time

    Posted by on June 15, 2010

    June is not just about South African English. It’s a little bit about football too. In his guest post, Andrew Delahunty, a freelance author and lexicographer, discusses football lingo. Among Andrew’s many books is Talking Balls: Getting to grips with the language of sport published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ________ At last, the 2010 World [...]

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