Language is always changing, but when it does, how do we spell it? Greg Dickson reckons the form toats is the way to go. Wholeheartedly.
READ MOREA flood of interesting place names
The recent flooding around southern NSW and northern Victoria has brought a few of Australia’s more interesting place names into the news. Some of them are interesting just for being a bit longer than the normal place name, such as Tallygaroopna. Digging a little further, a number of unusual place names pop out, mostly from local indigenous languages – Boomahnoomoonah, Koonoomoo, Numurrkah, and more.
That said, some of them not only look unusual, but are pronounced in an unusual way.
READ MOREUntie mi, Barry
She got a text message from a Kriol-speaking relative but she didn’t know who. The number wasn’t stored in her phone. So she replied with a ‘who’s this?’ type message and then the reply came, “Untie mi, Barry”
READ MORE
Apostrophe of the week
Sent in by Luke Tennent of Darwin, this pearler comes from a gym in Darwin. What better way to admire the newly-found freedom apostrophe’s feel thesedays than to marvel at this sign while abluting. Thanks to Luke for also explaining to Caroline why he was taking photo’s in the men’s room of her gym. Seen [...]
READ MOREWhat’s prescriptivism all about, anyway?
James McElvenny writes: The world of blogging – as I’m sure Fully (sic)’s readers have already noticed – consists largely of rants and counter-rants. A favourite counter-rant for a modern, scientific and progressive-minded blog like this one is to have a go at linguistic prescriptivists, those who work themselves up into a rage because other [...]
READ MORE
Apostrophe of the Week
Greg Dickson writes: Not usually thought of as a national leader in pushing language change (well … punctuation change really), Katherine, NT, again comes through with a gem. This one is from the toilets at the Katherine Hotel. Have you spotted a rogue apostrophe in your travel’s? Take a pic and send it to us [...]
READ MORE
If you love you’re apostrophe, set it free!
Greg Dickson writes: The poor old apostrophe. It’s becoming quite controversial these days. Once upon a time it had a happy secure home where all it would ever do was tell you that someone owned something or it would show you that were squishing two words together.
READ MORE
Ass vs Arse
Piers Kelly writes: …let me explain why I like ‘arse’. For me it’s all about the ‘r’. It leaps off the page with a meaty trill, evoking at once the hairy bum of a commando-kilted highlander and the war cry of a Cornish pirate.
READ MORE
