January 2004
Like pinning jelly to a wall
January 29, 2004
Blaming Tony Blair is like trying to pin jelly to a wall. I heard this expression earlier today on Radio 4. The journalist was commenting on how miraculously Tony Blair had been absolved by the Hutton enquiry into the death...
Oche
January 27, 2004
We visited friends in Walthamstow (East London) this weekend and in the afternoon, we went out to the pub to play pool. We found a little gem: not only did it have a pool table but also a darts board!...
Word of Mouth
January 26, 2004
Thanks Andy for letting me know about Word of Mouth, a half-hour weekly program on Radio 4, “Radio 4's open door on the world of words and the way we speak”. I listened online to the most recent program and...
Baby-foot
January 23, 2004
Aren’t false anglicisms a real oddity? Last night, I was explaining to a friend that my greatest ambition in life is to have a games room in my home with a pool table and a baby-foot. “A what?” he said....
Understatement
January 21, 2004
“We’re now going to try and land, cabin crew take your seats for landing.” We’d been circling Biarritz for 20 minutes, waiting for the storm raging below us to abate, and “trying to land” wasn’t a prospect that was filling...
It might look like a holiday, but...
January 16, 2004
Tomorrow, I’m going to France until Tuesday. This is not a holiday, and in fact, I’m taking a laptop with me, as I’m still working on that 45,000 word project, and I’m planning on working in the mornings. I’m going...
Grandiose
January 14, 2004
Grandiose is another word of Latin origin. I heard it mentioned during the lunchtime news in the context of George Bush’s plans for the colonisation of Mars. An American scientist called them a “grandiose waste of money”. Immediately my little...
Totality
January 12, 2004
Tony Blair: "I stand by the totality of what I said at that time." This choice of words by the British Prime Minister has been ridiculed by his political opponents, who have taken great delight in accusing him of playing...
Le Fish & Chips
January 9, 2004
We all know that the English owe the French very many wonderful things. I was delighted to hear that the beloved seaside favourite, the fish & chips, is one of them! It’s actually a mix of French frites and Jewish...
Adaptation
January 8, 2004
Lorelai: I kept information from you. Rory: Information that I should have had. Lorelai: It would’ve come out eventually, Like the Iran-Contra Scandal. Rory: So you’re Oliver North. Lorelai: No, I’m Fawn Hall. Rory: Mom. Lorelai: She was much prettier...
Spa
January 5, 2004
I managed to spend the entire holiday without feeling too guilty about not doing anything and was rewarded with a 45,000 word project when I finally allowed myself to get back to my computer. The deadline is tight but the...