Category Archives: LANGUAGE

The World’s Worst Novel

Posted on April 27, 2014 by xty

So bad it doesn’t have a title.  Or an ending.  Or a middle. Chapter One – Revised  

Posted in LANGUAGE, LIFE, RANDOM, WORLD'S WORST NOVEL | 143 Comments

So this guy was yacking about money on the telly last night

Posted on March 14, 2014 by xty

and he mentioned that old saying, or combo of sayings for a mixed metaphor smorgasbord, “the early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.”  They were discussing bitcoin and whether it was toast (I thought it … Continue reading →

Posted in LANGUAGE, RANDOM | 92 Comments

Word of the Day Archive, and a cure for insomnia, all in one

Posted on January 1, 2014 by xty

Scroll down for the introduction to this mess.  And hello.  I am going to stack my words of the day here, for reference, as I should have been doing from the beginning.  Enjoy [ha, ed.] →  →  →  →  →  → … Continue reading →

Posted in LANGUAGE, WORD OF THE DAY | 15 Comments

A Crossword made from the Words of the Day! I’ll bet you’re as excited as I am …

Posted on December 31, 2013 by xty

I couldn’t find an interactive one, sorry to say.  But I will put up my Word of the Day Archive, which contains all the answers, in a bit. Happy New Year’s Eve

Posted in LANGUAGE, RANDOM | 4 Comments

A short list of linguistic pet peeves, and then [yada yada yada, ed.]

Posted on December 10, 2013 by xty

From my extremely smart but frustrating neighbour’s son: pre-heat:  you cannot heat something before you heat it. From my extremely smart and precise son: coin wash: you are not laundering your money. From Flanders and Swann: fork-lift: what do you … Continue reading →

Posted in LANGUAGE, LIFE, RANDOM | 9 Comments

If you’ve got nothing nice to say …

Posted on November 30, 2013 by xty

Easy to say … but is it nice to say?  Maybe.  Easy to do?  No.  But what if you only have something nice to say?  Maybe the advice should be the same … The word ‘nice’ has a poor reputation … Continue reading →

Posted in LANGUAGE, LIFE, RANDOM | 27 Comments

Here’s something cool I learnt in Latin

Posted on November 11, 2013 by xty

And it has a great name too: the Passive Periphrastic. It has stayed with me not just because it has a wonderful name, like Englebert Humperdink, a stage name if you will believe it, but because it explains the origin … Continue reading →

Posted in LANGUAGE, LIFE, RANDOM | 42 Comments