This hotel room has been painted over with emulsion so many times that it seems to be smaller than it ought to be. I meet Jim in the breakfast room. We eat, then drive to a car park below the mountain. We put on our boots and climb gently for an hour or so. Leaning … Continue reading Elidir
Tag: language
A letter to a would-be King Cnut of language
Dear Dominic You and I got into a discussion about the abuse of the word literally. I suggested that you look at something I wrote about learning language by osmosis. Language is what people speak, I suggested, not what the rules say. You didn't see it that way. You made an analogy with shopping: [...] … Continue reading A letter to a would-be King Cnut of language
Osmosis
Remember how people used to get annoyed when kids made a statement into a question by adding an interrogative upturn at the end? Well I just did that? While explaining to a waitress what happened to my pot of tea? How did I get infected with that shit? And how did I get infected with … Continue reading Osmosis
