Month: July 2013

  • Povs: a seasonal helping

    Try your hand at our quiz here The end of 2012 is nigh; so it’s a fitting time to reflect on the tastiness of the generous portions of popular orange vegetables dished up by the world of news in recent months. For the uninitiated, popular orange vegetables (Povs) are gratuitous synonyms employed often on subsequent […]

  • Christmas Pov quiz

    Do you know your beleaguered politicians? Try our quiz Jamie Fahey via Media: Mind your language | theguardian.com http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/quiz/2012/dec/20/language

  • Please give up your seats for articles less able to stand | Mind your language

    Anything and everything is ‘yours’ these days – it’s a relentless barrage of personalisation “Welcome aboard your 17.53 London Overground service to Stratford. Your estimated arrival time is 18.54. Please keep your personal belongings with you at all times. CCTV is in operation for your personal safety and security. Your next stop is Kew Gardens. […]

  • Hanukah or Chanukah? Have the chutzpah to embrace Yiddish

    A vocabulary bereft of schmooze, schlep, shtick, klutz, spiel, maven or glitch would be much the poorer Happy Hanukah! Or should that be Chanukah? Chastened by misspelling cwtch in a previous post, I double-checked every Yiddish word – and opened a can of worms. Guardian Style prefers the former (although the latter occasionally sneaks past), […]

  • Found in Translation By HAMID DABASHI (NYT 28/7/2013

    THE STONE July 28, 2013, 5:00 The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers on issues both timely and timeless. Though it is common to lament the shortcomings of reading an important work in any language other than the original and of the “impossibility” of translation,

  • The Economist: The revival of Latin Resurrexit vere A dead language is alive and kicking online and on the airwaves

    Jul 27th 2013 WHEN Pope Benedict XVI resigned in February he used Latin, giving a scoop to Giovanna Chirri, the only journalist present who understood his words. That was a timely reminder of Latin’s unlikely survival—and revival—as a living language.