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About this site The English language is forever changing. New words appear; old ones fall out of use or change their meanings. World Wide Words tries to record at least some part of this shifting wordscape by featuring new words, word histories, the background to words in the news, and the curiosities of native English speech. This is the archive of pieces that have appeared in the free newsletter. Weekly issues include much more than appears here, including discussion by readers, serendipitous encounters with unfamiliar language, and tongue-in-cheek tut-tuttings at errors perpetrated by sloppy writers.

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The case of the missing “u”s in American English Before you consciously became aware of your decision to read this article, your brain was already making the necessary preparations to click the link. There are a few crucial milliseconds between the moment when you’re consciously aware of a plan to act, and the moment you take action. This brief window is thought by some scientists to be the moment in time when we can exercise free will.

Study English in the UK English language courses for everyone With a reputation for academic excellence, combined with a rich cultural heritage and diversity, thriving cities and beautiful countryside, the UK is the perfect destination to learn English. There is a wide range of courses available, suitable for all ages and fluency levels, including: 15 Beautiful Dutch Words and Phrases We Need in English Gezelligheid Although gezelligheid is often equated to cosiness, this catchall concept has considerably more depth than its English counterpart. For the Dutch, gezelligheid represents a broad spectrum of fun, jovial or amicable situations that are united by their sense of personal comfort and togetherness. Lekker

Choose to Be a Hero “A hero is a man who does what he can.” -Romain Rolland Two weeks ago, a group of brave bystanders in Utah banded together to lift a burning car and save a man trapped beneath it. In 2009, a passenger on Northwest Flight 253 leapt onto a burning man to prevent him from detonating an explosive device on Christmas Day.

The Origins of 9 Great British Insults For as long as people have been speaking the English language, they’ve been deploying it to poke fun at one another. Let's dig a little deeper into the grab bag of insults that language has bequeathed us throughout history, and find out where those terms come from. 1. Wazzock The World's Most Spoken Languages And Where They Are Spoken This beautifully illustrated infographic (above), designed by South China Morning Post’s graphics director Alberto Lucas Lopéz, shows the most spoken known languages in the world and where they’re spoken by the 6.3 billion people included in the study. Based on records collated from the database Ethnologue, the infographic illustrates the wide-ranging facts and figures of the world’s living languages catalogued since 1951. “There are at least 7,102 known languages alive in the world today.

Language centre directory We have over 400 members, all fully-accredited language-teaching centres in the state and private sector. Language centres are only eligible to apply for membership once they have passed an Accreditation UK inspection. 20 more awesomely untranslatable words from around the world If only you could use these words in Scrabble. Photo: Jeremy Mates When linguists refer to “untranslatable” words, the idea is not that a word cannot somehow be explained in another language, but that part of the essence of the word is lost as it crosses from one language to another. This often is due to different social and cultural contexts that have shaped how the word is used.

25 Most Romantic Movie Quotes It's Valentine's Day, so it seemed appropriate to gather the most romantic movie lines of all time -- from "Casablanca" to "Four Weddings and a Funeral" to, of course, "The Notebook." "The Notebook" (2004) "So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard.

"Investigating international English from a British viewpoint." by macopa May 14

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