World Hearing Day

Thursday 3 March is World Hearing Day. This is an annual event organised by the WHO (World Health Organization) to promote awareness of hearing loss and advocate for measures to avoid it. This year’s slogan is ‘To hear for life,… Read More

Spanish word of the week: historia

This week’s Spanish word of the week is 'historia', which is a noun that means 'history' or 'story'. Read More

9 new words in Collins Dictionary, February 2022

Not for the first time, concerns about our climate and environment are writ large in a batch of additions to Collins English Dictionary online. We find sets of parallel terms: ‘green hydrogen’ is produced without emissions of carbon dioxide, and one of its counterparts, ‘blue hydrogen’, is produced with relatively… Read More

Spanish word of the week: hueso

This week’s Spanish word of the week is 'hueso'. 'Hueso' is a noun that means 'bone; stone'.  Read More

Pearls before Swine

Recently the consumer research company Perspectus Global commissioned a survey about English phrases. They asked 2,000 people aged 18 to 50 whether they used any of a list of fifty expressions. The list was ranked with the least used phrases at the top. Thus, 78 per cent of respondents said… Read More

Spanish word of the week: destino

This week’s Spanish word of the week is 'destino', which is a noun that means 'destination; posting; destiny'. Read More

Six Nations Championship: the lexicon of rugby

The British have invented so many sports (how many can you think of? I make it fifteen1) and exported them to the four corners of the globe. Sometimes, sadly for some, cosmic irony dictates that the adopter is superior to the exporter, as in the recent case of… Read More

Spanish word of the week: pensar

This week's word of the week is 'pensar', which is a verb that means 'to think'. Read More

Spanish word of the week: confianza

This week's word of the week is 'confianza', which is a noun that means 'confidence' or 'trust'. Read More