Editor, writer, lapsed biologist. Tweets on language, books, nature, nonsense. Writes ☞ @MacDictionary, @stronglang, others. https://t.co/DpgAzCZ1gm
Feb 5, 2021 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
This sexist nonsense again. Facty thread time ⚠️ 1/12? theguardian.com/sport/2021/feb…
There's a popular belief that women talk more than men, but it's a myth with no good evidence to support it.
Studies tend to show that women and men talk roughly the same amount – or, if anything, men talk more 2/12
Feb 13, 2020 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
Speaking of Irish English, this satire did the rounds after Brexit. I'll add annotations below for anyone unfamiliar with the dialect (or interested in the details) 👇 wurst.lu/irish-english-…1. "the unity of the 27 remaining countries is 'grand' despite Brexit"
"Grand" in Irish English is a general-purpose term of approval, satisfaction, or affirmation: stancarey.wordpress.com/2019/06/27/a-g…
Mar 14, 2019 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Much of Neil Postman's "The Disappearance of Childhood" is about the effects of TV, but I like the early chapters on the growth of literacy and the emergence of childhood as a social idea and how it manifested in art, language, institutions, etc.
(Children did not constitute a separate category the way they do now; they were just seen as small and in some ways incapable people.)
Sep 27, 2018 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Why do we stand on our tiptoes and not our toetips?
I've been avoiding Twitter but where else am I going to ask these vital questions about wonky morphology
Sep 27, 2017 • 36 tweets • 13 min read
A to Z of English usage myths.
It'll be a busy hour. Mute the conversation or #usagemyths if you want out. Thread ↓
A is for ALTERNATIVE. Peevers say you can't have more than two alternatives, because Latin. This is the etymological fallacy. #usagemyths
