Romantic language and words in the news – 18th February, 2011

For a change, this week’s post brings you news around the topic of romantic English. Items come 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 a link for us to include. We’d love to hear from you!

Global English

Emily Bronte’s words about love voted best romantic line in English literature
A poll of 2,000 adults commissioned by Warner Home Video … showed 20 per cent of respondents chose the line: “whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”

Rhymes for “love”
“Love” rhymes with “dove”, “glove”, “above” and “shove”. It is true that poets who print their stuff instead of having it sung take a mean advantage by ringing in words like “prove” and “move”; but the lyricist is not allowed to do that.

Language teaching and resources

What is love?
Are you a romantic at heart? Or do you feel that we are all victims of a love myth in which outlooks have been influenced by Hollywood films, pop songs and art throughout the ages? In this clip, actor Meg Ryan and chat show host Michael Parkinson clash on this issue.

Language change and slang

Linguists Intrigued By Acronyms Being Spoken Aloud
“A mother of teenagers is pathetically grateful for an ‘I love you’ no matter what form it takes …”

+ related radio programme (on Wisconsin Public Radio)
From “L-O-L” to “O-M-G,” the acronyms we use in email and texting are slowly creeping into our speech . . . and politicians and news anchors are no exception. … When did we start talking like text messages?

Improve your English

Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve
Are you wearing your heart on your sleeve? If you are, then you’re showing your emotions openly, not hiding them inside.

Romantic Expressions in English
French may be the language of love, but English also has its share of romantic expressions. Here are some handy phrases to use when you talk about your girlfriend or boyfriend.

Books, words, science and the history of language

Oldest Love Letter in History
The lettering is not always easy to decipher, and transcripts of the manuscript vary somewhat as a result. Even though this is the fifteenth century, we still see the occasional use of the Anglo-Saxon letter thorn, as well as some of the old abbreviations …

Dial 5683 for Love: Dialing Certain Numbers on a Cell Phone Changes Your Emotional State
A psychological scientist in Germany has found a way that cell phones, and specifically texting, have hacked into our brains. Just by typing the numbers that correspond to the letters in a word like “love,” we can activate the meaning of that word in our minds.

Couples Sometimes Communicate No Better Than Strangers
“People commonly believe that they communicate better with close friends than with strangers. That closeness can lead people to overestimate how well they communicate, a phenomenon we term the ‘closeness-communication bias,'”