A Shakespeare sonnet

That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long

— William Shakespeare, (26 April 1564 (baptized) – 23 April 1616)

Fains, fainites, barley, pax, and other truce terms

Children playing in street, New York / Wikimedia Commons

“Pax!” we would shout, often out of breath and usually with our fingers crossed and held aloft for all our tag-mates to see. It might have been a stitch, or a shoelace that had come untied: something made us have to excuse ourselves from the game — just temporarily, for a brief and necessary time-out — and no-one, not even our arch opponents, could catch us or call us out during the time we had called for our own truce. I’m sure it’s something most of us remember from our playtime in the schoolyard. Continue reading →

Days of the week

Annibale Carracci: Jupiter and Juno / Wikimedia Commons

Have you ever wondered how the days of the week were named? In ancient Rome they were named after the planets, which in turn were named after gods. In most cases, a Germanic name resulted from the Roman god’s name being replaced by that of a similar or equivalent Germanic god. Each one is explained below, along with some common phrases that employ the day’s name. Enjoy. Continue reading →

“Wens and hypertrophied members” (courtesy Fowler & Fowler)

Guess how many Wens are in this photo … (answer below)

In a section called “Euphony” in their book The King’s English, H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler give the following advice to writers, under a rather bizarre subheading: Continue reading →

Curbside Haiku

On West 57th Street, Manhattan, New York.

Nationality (and very un-PC) expressions

“A Texan, a Russian and a New Yorker go into a restaurant in London. The waiter tells them … “(You can read the rest of the joke here, but please come back to Glosso when you’ve finished.)

We all enjoy a bit of harmless, humorous ethno-cultural stereotyping once in a while, especially when it comes in the form of these “three nationalities” jokes. So it’s not surprising that there are also a number of popular verbal expressions that make use and fun of national cliches. Just like their jokey compatriots, these phrases are generally disrespectful of the peoples they’re targeting; in fact, some of them are downright racist and likely to cause offence. So be warned when you read this post, and please don’t shoot the messenger. Glosso presents the most common nationality expressions — many of which go back decades or even centuries — with their definitions and their origins where known or offered. If we’ve missed any, please add to the comments section below. Continue reading →

It sucks …

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

When we say something sucks — i.e. when something’s not good in a big way — are we being rather rude and referring to a particular kind of sex act? Or does this slang use of the verb have other more benign origins? (Warning: sexual vocabulary ahead.) Continue reading →

In the news … March 25

TGIF: That Gerund Is Funky. In this month’s language usage news, we have a high-profile hold-out on the use of the singular “their”; the word okay and its origins; a list of horrid words; a vulgar word finds its way into the OED; a spelling mistake that thwarted a bank heist; bad spelling used for effect in an ad campaign; Donald Trump’s 6th-grade linguistic skills; and a spelling quiz from a fine New York institution. (Warning: explicit vocabulary ahead.) Continue reading →

High fives (on Glossophilia’s 5th birthday)

From CakesbyKiley.com

It’s Glossophilia’s 5th birthday! To celebrate the occasion, we’ve thought of 16 expressions that use the word five (or fifth). Interestingly, most of them originated (and are still only heard) in America: how many of these are in use across the pond? If we’ve missed any, please add them in the comments section below. Continue reading →

How to pronounce “process” (as explained by John Oliver to Stephen Colbert)

(John Oliver on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, March 14, 2016)

You tell him, John …

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