Lavengro

Top ten 29-1-13

Hors de concours: Sulphur or sulfur?

Heading the top ten, Alphabetical order is not always what it might seem while the question of owning or renting ebooks and Amazon has caused some comment. Language services, competence and money-making are not always compatible. Is the word people singular or plural? For English-speakers there is no doubt. Nor is there for Spanish-speakers although their certainty has a different view. Derby and the rest remains in the list with an explanation of why Derby is pronounced Darby in Britain. Countable and uncountable nouns – an exception enters the top ten with a mention of some abstract nouns that are uncountable but nevertheless have an indefinite article while oats, peas, beans and barley discusses the varying countable or uncountable nature of these nouns. Judgement and judgment are two ways of spelling the same word but there seems to be a subtle distinction in legal usage. Is ’for free’ right or wrong? It makes some people angry but my own view is found here. And finally, the comparative frequency of initial letters in English and Spanish is of interest to a surprising number of readers.

At the bottom of the list and worth revisiting How is the weather like? asks La Vanguardia reminds us that Spanish newspapers don’t always get English language right while What a coup! shows that knowledge in British newspapers is not always what it might be. Language pedantry is nothing new as we see in Fings ain’t what they used to be. The English subjunctive is a mysterious beast; some people say it doesn’t exist but whether or not it does, attempts to use or not use it can be ambiguous. Charging ahead describes a pitfall of language confusion and in general Brits & languages do not go together well, with real economic consequences. Language is a medium not the message and in Parlez-vous frananglais? I look at a language called frananglais (yes really) from Cameroon. Do logic and language go together? Only up to a point. Forming a lid sort on Nespresso – yes indeed! We see why proper translators are still essential.

Top Ten 7-12-2012

Hors de concours: Sulphur or sulfur?

 

The Judgement or Judgment of Paris

Number one is a recent post about the spelling of Judgement and judgment, with special reference to legal usage. Alphabetical order stays in second place with a look at problems that can arise in alphabetising translations. Commas and relative clauses is number three with a strange example from the Guardian newspaper. Clients who think they know best are an occasional problem for translators who, quite naturally, think that they know more about the English language than their clients do. Oats, peas, beans and barley makes a welcome appearance; are these words countable or uncountable? The terms master and captain are both used to describe the officer in command of a merchant ship but which is correct? Why is Derby pronounced Darby in Britain? Derby and the rest explains. Whether you love him or loathe him, Stephen Fry on language pedantry has some interesting views and some very innovative design on his YouTube presentation. Apostrophes, or their misuse, annoy pedants; I say we should abolish the things. I mean apostrophes of course, but abolishing pedants would be a good idea too. English is an Indo-European language and an IE family tree shows how all such languages are related.

Bottom of the list and well deserving a new lease of life, some peculiarities of advertising language make their appearance. The idea of having fun with modal verbs may seem strange but here we see that native speakers have problems too. Terrorist cetaceans in the north-east of England – what can that be? Is it acceptable to use they forms with singular reference, i.e. using they with anyone? A.E.I.O.U. has a special meaning in Austria, along with some unusual numerals. We have more pedantry in between you and ? (is it between you and me or you and I?) and while everyone knows about survival of the fittest, what does it mean? We have an unusual reference to the geography of German railways travelling from Frankfurt to Frankfurt and a problem with Amazon and ebooks. And finally, the Queens English Society is no more although its pedants have not all gone away.

Top Ten: 22-11-2012

Sulphur or sulfur? has proved to be such a runaway success that I have declared it hors de concours.

A recent post about a translation problem that I had concerning clients who think they know best has proved remarkably popular with alphabetical order following it. My discussion of the gender of ships (should a ship be referred to with feminine pronouns?) has been attracting readers. Number four is one of the series of screenshots from my books, in this case the article about the word folk from A Guide to English Language Usage. Commas and relative clauses come next with a strange example from the Guardian newspaper and apostrophes are an eternal bugbear for pedants. My view is clear: ‘Apostrophes in English are a menace and should be abolished.’ Harp Marx was no doubt a good, true and loyal man so my post entitled Harpo Marx a false friend looks at the falsity of friends from the language point of view. Is the word people singular or plural? It can be either and I look at this odd phenomenon in the context of Sunday’s election in Catalonia. Derby and the rest, which discusses the pronunciation of that name and others in British English, is the only member of this list to have survived from last time while coming in at number ten we have a pernicketiness of pedants – surely the correct word for them.

Not surprisingly, the Top Ten tend to be recent posts so I will go to the bottom of the pile to find some older ones that are still well worth looking at. First off, there is my apology to the Dhivehi language; to find out what I am apologising for please follow the link in the post. Of that ilk is one of those expressions that has gained a new life meaning something different from what it meant originally. Confusion in Oxford dictionaries? Well … I am a Cambridge man myself … Seriously though, Oxford dictionaries are one of the joys of the English language but sometimes things can be a little odd – as with any undertaking on that scale. Checking things is always a good thing for a translator to do and a comma catastrophe can wreck even the most important advertising material. The Word of the Year for 2009 was bailout and it came with some fascinating others. Brits and languages don’t usually mix easily, but language learning is not as good in Spain as it could be and one Spanish MEP discovered the problems with learning English. Problems with numbers have a language aspect and homophones are lying in wait for the unwary. That’s ten but I can’t resist mentioning the post about zero taller ants and other eggcorns.

(Zero taller ants!)

Top ten: 3 November 2012

Sulphur or sulfur? and Alphabetical order retain their position at the top. Problems with selling and buying books on Amazon are represented by Renting ebooks and Amazon, Selling ebooks on Amazon and Amazon and ebooks.

A newcomer to the Top Ten is Derby and the rest, which discusses the pronunciation of that name and others in British English. Other new listings are Compare – to or with?, discussing which preposition should be used with compare; the problems facing a Barcelona newspaper that tries to welcome Russian tourists in their own language in El Periódico tries out its Russian; and the uncertainty surrounding if not comes up in If not is ambiguous

The question of whether or not it is right to say that you got something for free is the subject of For free right or wrong?, which comes in again at number 10 this time.

Top Ten

The ten most popular posts recently:

Sulphur or sulfur?

Alphabetical order

Monday eGELU: a, A

Ebook of A Guide to English Language Usage

The hippo and the feather

For free right or wrong?

A diplomatic problem

Homophones

Why you shouldnt use Google to translate menus

Oats, peas, beans and barley