Language Lovers

Festive Traditions

Christmas is coming … Ah! British Christmas. So cosy, so nostalgic. What’s not to love about this time of year? Christmas cards and carols and Christmas trees and cake and plum pudding and turkey and cranberry sauce and mulled wine and kissing under the mistletoe and Boxing Day walks. And… Read More

Language and the book of life

During the final rallies of her election campaign, US presidential candidate Kamala Harris drew on one metaphor time and time again. She said that she was determined, or she saw a nation determined, ‘to turn the page on hatred and division’. It’s an effective rallying call. It certainly sounded positive,… Read More

Decoding the generations: the language of Gen Z and Gen Alpha

It’s undeniable, modern life moves fast. One moment you’re updating your MSN status and carefully curating your top friends on MySpace, the next you’re endlessly scrolling TikTok or Reels wondering what someone ate and trying to figure out if your skinny jeans are… Read More

British Pudding Day

Pease pudding hot… Saturday 9 November marks British Pudding Day. It’s at the weekend, giving anyone who likes cooking the leisure to prepare a proper pudding. Puddings are central to British culture. So central that we plonk them in nursery rhymes (see the heading above) and in proverbs (the proof… Read More

A year when hedonism and anxiety combine

Lacking in confidence? Feeling a bit sub-par? I have just the mindset for you, and it’s encapsulated in a single word: brat. Brat is different things to different people; a spiky attitude, a garish aesthetic, even a campaign slogan (the phrase “Kamala IS Brat” proved snappy enough to go politically… Read More

Formula One™ and the vocabulary of motor racing

This year is a major one for Formula One racing. There’ll be more Grand Prix (GP) races than ever before – twenty-four in twenty-one countries – including the final of the series in Abu Dhabi this December. In the British Grand Prix on the legendary Silverstone circuit in… Read More

The lazy, hazy days of summer

During August – which in some luckier parts of Britain is finally producing seasonable weather – two ‘days’ encourage us to switch off, dial down and generally ease off on normal activities. National Lazy Day falls on 10 August, followed cold on… Read More

Paris 2024™

Between 26 July and 11 August sports fans the world over will be abuzz as France hosts what is officially the twenty-third Olympiad™ – in Paris, in sixteen other sites across France and on French Tahiti, where the windsurfing competition will take place. In French, the games are… Read More

Welcome to the ton: 7 new Bridgerton words

Dear reader, we are honoured to welcome you back to the ton! Last time we spoke, we gave you 9 words to sweep you into the world of Bridgerton, and now, with season 3 streaming on Netflix, we thought it was high time to return to everyone’s favourite Regency-era… Read More