Ten US political terms to baffle Brits

19th Jan 2021

(Updated from 7 US political terms to baffle the Brits, published on 7th November 2020) The United States will inaugurate a new president on January 20th when Joe Biden will be sworn in as the forty-sixth person to hold the office. While observers in Europe… Read More

Word exploration: vaccines, vaccinations and jabs

15th Jan 2021

In what the PM has described as a ‘final sprint’, the new year got off to a flying start with a COVID-19 vaccination rollout underway across the UK. In early January, Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh were vaccinated. The Palace decided… Read More

Spanish word of the week: gracias

13th Jan 2021

This week’s Spanish word of the week is  las gracias PLURAL NOUN thanks Of course, as an exclamation gracias is one of the first words you learn in Spanish: Te lo doy, si te gusta tanto – ¡Gracias! I’ll give it to you if you like it so… Read More

From filk to derp: discover the latest words added to the Collins Dictionary

8th Jan 2021

Why do we need to keep adding new words to the English language? Can’t we just make do with the ones we have already? These are reasonable questions, but the fact is that new words do keep entering the language. To illustrate why this happens, let’s look at a cross-section… Read More

Spanish word of the week: reyes

6th Jan 2021

This week’s Spanish word of the week is  los reyes PL NOUN kings; king and queen Los reyes is the Spanish plural form of el rey: Descienden de emperadores y reyes. They are the descendants of emperors and kings. The king is el rey and the queen is… Read More

Spanish word of the week: alma

30th Dec 2020

This week’s Spanish word of the week is  el alma NOUN soul The basic meaning of alma is your soul in a spiritual sense: La cara es el espejo del alma. The face is the mirror of the soul. una oración por su alma a prayer for his soul… Read More

New hope for the New Year

28th Dec 2020

New Year’s Eve is traditionally when we fix our gaze firmly forward in hope, having cast a backward glance at the year just ended. Which, despite the negatives, saw a healthy increase in good-neighbourliness and kindness as demonstrated, for instance, by caremongering. I feel hopeful that… Read More

Spanish word of the week: chimenea

23rd Dec 2020

This week’s Spanish word of the week is  la chimenea NOUN chimney; fireplace Una chimenea can mean either a chimney or a fireplace. The context will generally show which meaning is intended: Sale humo por la chimenea. There’s smoke coming out of the chimney. una hermosa perspectiva de tejados… Read More

Food for thought this Christmas

21st Dec 2020

I don’t know about you, but I’m already salivating at the prospect of Christmas food. The first pangs start early in December with the nostalgia rush I get upon spotting dinky net bags of mixed nuts for sale. Perhaps folk are deterred by the faff of cracking them open to… Read More