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Word for Wednesday: Pumpkin

Our Word for Wednesday theme for October is Halloween. The word Halloween likely dates to the seventeenth century but was popularised in the Burns poem ‘Halloween’ which was written in 1785. It is a Scottish abbreviation of ‘Allhallow-even’ which means ‘Eve of the All Saints’. ‘Hallow’ means ‘holy person’ or ‘saint’. Our first Halloween-themed word of the month is pumpkin. A pumpkin is a round orange Autumn squash that has become associated with Halloween due to the time of year it matures. Pumpkins are used in both sweet and savoury dishes. Since 2003, when Starbucks first introduced the drink,...

Let’s Take a Look at American English

Happy 4th of July to our American subscribers! Earlier in the week we shared a BBC article that explored whether English spelling should be made simpler. If you find yourself agreeing that English is more complicated than it needs to be, you’re not alone. Longtime readers of our blog might remember our article on the creation of Webster’s dictionary. In An Independent American Language, we wrote: 'With his dictionary and other spelling books, Noah Webster wanted to emphasise that now America was no longer under the rule of Great Britain, its language should also be independent. Many of the changes involved shortening words and changing odd-looking spellings to ...

Word for Wednesday: Bonfire

Here in Britain, on November 5th, we have the rather morbid tradition of celebrating Guy Fawkes Night. At schools, children recite poems such as this: “Remember, remember the fifth of November Gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason, why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot.” On 5th November 1605, Guy Fawkes was arrested while guarding explosives that the Gunpowder Plot had placed underneath the House of Lords. To celebrate the failed assassination attempt on King James I, people lit bonfires around London. Today, people still mark the occasion with bonfires and fireworks. Some people even build and burn and effigy of Guy Fawkes made from old clothes. The word b...

Pyro-what?

Tonight is bonfire night, that means the skies tonight across Britain will be illuminated, playing host to a wide array of wails, cackles and screeches to the accompaniment of thunderous booms, snaps and bangs. I’m not really selling it am I? For the pyromaniacs out there, the fifth of November is always spectacle to behold, with displays becoming increasingly impressive every year. Extravagant pyrotechnics aside, there are a handful of other traditions associated with bonfire night: the burning of Guy Fawkes effigies upon the bonfires themselves, toffee apples (a delicious favourite of mine) and of course, sparklers; which allow us to embrace our inner Prometheus, at arm’s...

Dyslexia Awareness Week

What is Dyslexia Awareness Week? In Britain, the week between the 3rd and 9th of November marks Dyslexia Awareness Week and this year’s theme is “Dyslexia Matters”. The event aims to raise awareness about how to create a dyslexia-friendly environment in school and the work place. If you think you are in the position to help make your school or workplace more dyslexia-friendly, the British Dyslexia Association have a selection of resources you might find useful. You can find them here. What resources does Spellzone have to support someone with dyslexia? While Spellzone does not claim to be a complete cure all for dyslexics, our spelling course is suitable for dys...

Word for Wednesday: Enquiry or Inquiry?

One common cause of confusion in the English language are the words, enquiry and inquiry and their brothers enquire and inquire. So, when is it enquire and when is it inquire? Traditionally, ‘enquire’ is a formalized synonym for the word ‘ask’, whereas ‘inquiry’ is typically used as a substitute for ‘investigation’. It might be useful to remember in-quiry means in-vestigation. In everyday usage, there is little distinction between the two and you can usually get away with using them interchangeably. Inquiry is something of an Americanism, and in Britain we tend to lean towards the word enquiry, it seems that neither are strictly inc...

Nonsense words from British children's literature

Here in Britain, we love nonsense words - our children’s literature, in particular, is full of them. A few weeks ago I looked at the nonsense word ‘Quidditch’ from the Harry Potter series and my last post was on Roald Dahl’s inventive use of language in The BFG. Here are three more examples of children’s writers who have invented nonsense words: Edward Lear, the poet and author, is well known for his creative use of nonsense words. My personal favourite example appears in a few of his works, the most famous being his poem The Owl and the Pussycat: ‘They dined on mince, and slices of quince Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in ha...

American Idioms

One of the reasons English is so difficult to learn is because it is a language full of idioms. An idiom is a combination of words that has a figurative meaning separate from the actual definitions of the words used. There are an estimated 25,000 idioms in the English language. Here in Britain, the influence of the American film and television industry has led to many so-called ‘Americanisms’ being adopted into day-to-day language. It is not uncommon for a Brit to metaphorically talk about ‘touching base’ or ‘striking out’ without ever actually having seen a ball game. Today, to end our month dedicated to American language, we’re going to take a l...

A Word for Wednesday: Budget

This week in Britain, all eyes are on Chancellor George Osborne’s fourth budget statement as Britain’s growth forecast is halved. On a brighter note our word for Wednesday is ‘budget’. Isn’t a bit of etymology slightly more uplifting than the growth forecast? As a noun, the word budget means an estimated financial expenditure over a determined period of time. ‘We have a budget of £10,000 to start this company’ As a verb, one can ‘budget’ their funds for an event they know will be costly. ‘We need to budget our holiday costs carefully’ As an adjective, budget describes an inexpensive or lower quality item. ‘It’s only a budget laptop as I only need the Internet.’ The w...