Marmite and its unconvincing etymology

 

Beyond the Joke, when reviewing last year’s comedy offerings, wrote that “[Ricky] Gervais might be a Marmite comedian but the success of Humanity shows that a hell of a lot of people love Marmite. Politically challenging, controversial but also laugh out loud funny.” Brits will confirm that many plays and musical theater productions (in the UK, not anywhere else) get tagged these days as “Marmite shows”. What does that mean? And is there a connection with the Marmite name’s origin? [Update, March 8: Thanks to a hat-tip from John Leake on Glosso’s Facebook page, we’ve also got the origin of Bovril — Marmite’s cousin: scroll to the bottom to see its etymology.] Continue reading →

Bad boy fillers

Here’s the second in Glosso’s mini-series about “extra-curricular” speech phrases, habits and social cues that add nuance and extra clues to what we’re actually saying. Let’s look at fillers. What’s your – er – filler? Is it “uh”, “um”, “like”, or “OK”? We all use them — don’t kid yourself if you think you don’t. But do these bad boys really deserve the poor reputation they carry around with them? You might be surprised to discover some of the good stuff they offer. Continue reading →

Weasel words

Wikimedia Commons

During the year that I lived in Nigeria in the early ’80s, I was known affectionately as Weasel. People tell me it wasn’t because I was partial to using weasel words; evidence supports the commonly-held belief that my first name had something to do with it. Welcome to weasel words, which – as any good linguist will tell you – pepper the language of advertisers, marketeers and politicians, among others. This is the first of a few Glosso posts that will be taking a look at a whole category of words and phrases — including, for example, kadigans, fillers, and phatic expressions (sic) — that serve a social, cognitive or emotional purpose other than the actual message being communicated in words. They can be subliminal or subconscious; they can be subversive, misleading, or even helpful – to either the speaker or the listener. And you use them all the time without even realizing it …  Continue reading →

In the news (Nov 26), including a list of best grammar blogs

Ellen Jovin / Facebook

In the news this past week: a grammar guru solves the world’s grammar problems on the streets of New York City; Jonathan Franzen gets Twitter’s knickers in a twist with his rules for aspiring writers; how Calvin Harris has managed to keep his accent; and Glosso is listed among 5 best blogs for language learning …  Continue reading →

Killer Queen & Royal Jelly: What’s turpentine got to do with it?

 

Gelatin dessert / Wikimedia

With Bohemian Rhapsody becoming the second-highest grossing music biopic of all time, Freddie Mercury and Queen are back in the news and on the airwaves. There’s a word in the chorus of “Killer Queen” (“Mercury’s piano-led paean to a Moët-quaffing courtesan”*) that I’ve only just realized I’ve been hearing wrong all these years. And I had always assumed Freddie knew something I didn’t when he sang the French loan word. How could I have been so wrong? Continue reading →

Highbrow: a person to regard with admiration or disdain?

phrenology

Highbrow and lowbrow come from phrenology, the 19th-century peudo-science of regarding the shape of the skull as a key to intelligence. Is highbrow — that man of high thoughts and high culture — the sort of person we all aspire to be? Or is the highbrow with his pretensions of superiority an object of disdain? Continue reading →

Glosso’s menu

 

 

For Glosso readers regular and new:

Glossophilia wants to draw your attention to its menu, which allows you to choose and read particular categories of post with a simple tap or key-stroke. Whether you’re into glorious gaffes, the differences between Brit-speak and Ameri-speak, the origins of words and phrases, or stories about grammar and language that are making headline news, you can find it all organized and easy to find at Glosso.

Using the menu at the top of the computer screen (as illustrated above) or in the drop-down menu on mobile devices, you can choose to see posts that fall into the following most popular categories:

“Yanks vs Brits”: posts about differences between British English and American English

“In the news”: stories about words, language and language usage that are hitting the headlines

“Glosso’s got the gaffes”: typos, grammatical errors and other amusing language slip-ups that are making us laugh — or cringe

“Top posts”: Posts that have attracted the most readers from around the world (188 countries) over the past 7 years

In the “categories” section to the right of the web screen (and at the bottom of the mobile site) you can see  additional categories of Glosso posts*, which filter as follows: Etymology; Fonts & typefaces; Grammar; Jokes and puns; Language; Manners; Names; Nit-picking; Poems, prose & song; Pronunciation; Punctuation; Quizzes; Spelling; and Words, phrases & expressions.

Enjoy your time on the blog, and please feel free to contribute your thoughts, theories or questions and start discussions with fellow glossophiles in the comments section.

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Please note that most posts fall into more than one category.