Language Lovers

Spanish word of the week: cometa

In another in our series of blog posts on Spanish nouns whose gender varies according to meaning we look at cometa. You can listen to the pronunciation of cometa in the audio clip below: You’re most likely to see un cometa (masculine) at night, since it… Read More

‘100 Words for Rain’ by Alex Johnson

Rain, rain, go away! Come again another day! British weather, eh! Who would have it? March this year, though rainy and dismal, was not in fact the rainiest March on record. That happened in 1947. But now that spring is springing upon us fast, it’s been a delight to delve,… Read More

9 weird and wonderful collective nouns

A pride of lions. A gaggle of geese. A murder of crows. The English language is full of peculiarities, but collective nouns are among the most remarkable. But what is a collective noun? Collective nouns are used to refer to a group of people or things, with some of the… Read More

Traversing the language of fantasy

With fantasy dominating the bestseller lists, it’s easy to imagine that major bestsellers such as Sarah J. Maas, Rebecca Yarros, and George R.R. Martin are a 21st-century phenomenon. In reality, fantasy writing has been capturing imaginations since long before the romantasy takeover. Human history is steeped… Read More

National puppy day

National Puppy Day falls on 23 March, as it has ever since its inaugural year of 2006, but this year it falls on a Saturday. Which means that dog owners will probably be lucky enough to have more time than ever to pamper their perfect pooch. Read More

False friends: 7 deceptive English words

As a great actor once said, ‘You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.’ It’s universally acknowledged that English is a tricky language to master – even for native English speakers – thanks to its vast number of rules, illogical language patterns,… Read More

Japanese words in English

Here’s a pub quiz question for you: What’s the only (real) country that is also a verb? Have you got it yet? I’ll put you out of your misery. It’s Japan. Collins English Dictionary defines the verb as ‘to lacquer with japan or any similar varnish’. And ‘japan’ as a… Read More

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi: wonderful Welsh words

The 1st of March is St David’s Day, named for the patron saint of Wales. David (or Dewi in Welsh) was a 6th-century bishop from South-West Wales who was renowned as a preacher and founder of monasteries in ancient Britain and Brittany. Today, St David’s Day is a celebration of… Read More
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