Since the floods last month in China, the writer of the following email has no the house, has no the farmland and has been living in a bamboo hut and eating wild vegetables. Fortunately for us his G5 and high-speed connection survived, although I am not sure I completely understand what he is trying to…
There are thirty UK jobs listed on LanguageJobs.com, which describes itself as “the job search portal designed for language professionals and multilingual talent“: Bricklayers, carpenters, labourers Uk – London Quality building contractors with experience of conservatory installations including base, brickwork, and erecting, URGENTLY required. Good pay rates!!! Please conntact: ds@mnminternational.org Job type: Full-Time Type of…
When I skimmed this column by Ralph Routon on Amarillo.com, I assumed that it consisted completely of single-sentence paragraphs, but unfortunately he’s thrown in a couple of multi-sentencers halfway through. Tabloids do it, American teachers may have encouraged it with their practice of making pupils create a backbone to be fleshed into paragraphs, but I’m…
Even phenomenally successful paranoid loons like Mr Moore–having his sheikh and eating it–fail to achieve their market potential because of the sheer diversity of irrational fear clamouring for comfort. Enter Fabio Rinaldi: Les Gnomes de Zurich contrôlent les Moonistes qui contrôlent le KGB qui contrôle les Boys Scouts et les Punk Rockers tandis que le…
The bad news is that the UK is about to become a net importer of hydrocarbons; the good news, that we are now selling services to fascist regimes in Central Asia as well as colonising the lexicons of Middle Eastern analysts who, it seems, have stopped measuring oil supplies in barrels: The impact of the…
Discreet enquiries suggest that Chuck D is out of the office and being a Public Enemy on a beach somewhere until September, so we’re going to have to sort this one two three four out ourselves. I completely agree with Eric Bakovic and Mark Liberman that the big problem facing the phrase “Ain’t how that…
Re this post by Eric Bakovic, I reckon that when Chuck D of Public Enemy sings Ain’t how that God planned it? he is using “how that” where standard English speakers would use “how”, and that the pronoun “that” is assumed in the “ain’t” or what precedes it. The “how that”/”how” swap turns up in…