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Johnson: Is there a single Ukraine?
Is the modern Ukraine one nation? The question is not meant to be provocative. But it is worth asking, since Ukraine is deeply divided on its international destiny: roughly speaking, does it belong more closely to the European Union or to Russia? Political divides cut Ukraine into eastern and western halves. The last two presidential […]
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Close but Not Quite
A slightly unusual word choice can enliven a story. But we should make sure we know what our slightly unusual word actually means. Here are several recent cases where we reached for a word, only to come up with the wrong one or to use it incorrectly. After Deadline http://ift.tt/1e0kyf1
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Too many excuses for an apology
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN February 3, 2014 It seems that just about every day a chief executive, politician or other prominent figure is apologizing for something.
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Avoiding the abyss
DAVID BUCKLAND, the founder of Cape Farewell, hopes to persuade the public to engage with the issue of climate change by using the language of art rather than science from Prospero http://ift.tt/1beu2Xp via IFTTT
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No English word for it? Make up your own, like Shakespeare. Or steal one | Mind your language
If you want a single word that describes wandering around the house wearing a shirt and no trousers, ask a Hungarian Endlessly encyclopaedic as it seems, there are times our beloved English language fails us. Ironically, there are various terms for wordiness: loquacious, garrulous, verbose, voluble, prolix. But when we want our language to be […]
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Johnson: What might have been
THE English poet William Barnes (pictured) is no household name. But that is almost a shame, because he represented a strand that we don’t otherwise see much of: English purism. Imagining what would have happened if he had been more influential makes for an interesting thought experiment. Any language in contact with other languages borrows […]