I was watching some of the Iraq Inquiry last week. And it got me thinking: when do we use inquiry and when do we use enquiry? A quick search online reveals that some institutions use both (yes, I’m talking about you Evening Standard). However, it’s generally considered that enquire is the British spelling and inquire the US spelling. But as we...
This is the card I sent to Turner Ink’s clients and friends this Christmas. If you, or anyone else in the office, want to play Buzzword Bingo, just print out the card below. Enjoy! ...
This week saw the 30th Plain English Campaign award ceremony, held at The Brewery, London, honouring the best and worst in written communications. There was the imaginatively named Web Award for the ‘clearest website’, won this year by the Financial Ombudsman Service. Whilst The Daily Telegraph, BBC Radio 1, and Birmingham Mail were all winners in the media category for excellent journalism. But...
I was watching Stephen Fry’s QI show on TV last night. And the subject of possessive apostrophes in place names, such as King’s Cross Road or Marshall’s Place, came up. Of course, it was only last year that Birmingham City Council did away with apostrophes in their place names. So out goes St Paul’s Square and St Mary’s Road and in...
Want to know what this year’s best word is? Tweep? Obamamania? Jedward? Nah. It’s ‘unfriend’. Blimey. How brutal. Last week, The New Oxford American Dictionary chose ‘unfriend’ – a verb meaning to remove someone as a friend on a social networking site like Facebook – as its word of the year. And what linguistic luminaries did it beat? How about ‘sexting’,...
I have a secret desire to write novels. Ok, that’s not such a secret now. But when I’ve hung up my copywriting boots, my plan is to lock myself away in a drafty attic and bash out a bestselling novel in the style of, I dunno, Jackie Collins or someone. Yes, that’s it. I could write a bonkbuster set in...
Did you know that the English language contains more emotionally positive words than negative words? In fact, it’s about a 60:40 ratio. Surprising that. Considering having a good old moan is practically a national sport. The reason we know this is because the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary has recently been published; and what a beauty it is. Conceived and...
Depressing news in The Independent this week: Overseas students are better at English than British students. According to Professor Bernard Lamb, who carried out the research, British undergraduates are nearly three times more likely to make errors in written English than those from overseas. Depressing? Yes. Surprising? No. After spending a year studying the written work of his students, Lamb was appalled by...
Today is National Poetry Day. This is my favourite poem and I learnt it off my heart when I was six. (Yes, that is a long time ago.) Furry Bear If I were a bear, And a big bear too, I shouldn't much care If it froze or snew; I shouldn't much mind If it snowed or friz - I'd be all fur-lined With a coat like his! For I'd have...
