May 2004

Klingon interpreter

May 28, 2004

Yesterday I watched last week's ER. One of the medical students had to do a shift in psychiatry and it turned out one of her patients only spoke Klingon, the language of the alien species from the same name in...

Irritating clichés

May 26, 2004

I found an article talking about a poll designed to determine the most irritating English phrases. This is the result: 1 At the end of the day 2 At this moment in time 3 The constant use of "like" 4...

Torture

May 24, 2004

I don't think I will ever tire of the creative ways in which politicians exploit words and language. The war ("situation", "conflict", "military intervention", "freedom operation") in Iraq has provided many opportunities to witness them struggle with the simplest of...

Giclée

May 21, 2004

One of the many delights of the Brighton Festival is the open houses. Every weekend in May, Brighton & Hove artists open their houses for the public to see their work. This year, I've noticed a number of giclée prints,...

Rambla

May 19, 2004

According to my Barcelona guidebook, the name Rambla comes from the Arabic ramla, meaning the dried-up bed of a seasonal river. As time passed, the riverbed was filled in, but its presence is still remembered in the name of Barcelona's...

Career development

May 14, 2004

Tonight, we're off to Barcelona for a few days. I'm very intrigued as to whether I'll be able to retrieve enough of my Spanish to communicate with the locals. I studied it for 8 years, but since I've been in...

Officially a high-flyer

May 13, 2004

I've interpreted in difficult conditions, while feeling tense, nervous, tired and even ill, but I never thought my biggest challenge would be to interpret while feeling like a four year old on Christmas morning. In a helicopter. Yesterday, I was...

Translating The Office

May 11, 2004

One of the best-loved British series of recent years, The Office, has been remade in America. The two series of The Office were a huge success in Britain, but this article in the Guardian seems to suggest that its American...

Language and diplomacy

May 7, 2004

A couple of weeks ago on Word of Mouth (Radio 4), there was a very interesting piece about the role of the French and the English languages in diplomacy. French was widely used in international diplomacy for two main reasons:...

Caesarean

May 5, 2004

Last week, I read an article about the rising number of Caesarean sections being performed in the UK. Curious as to whether it had anything to do with Caesar, the roman Emperor, I turned to the OED and found this:...

Snooker

May 4, 2004

The Snooker World Championship is now finished. It was on for two weeks, with games shown all day and into the evening. Bliss, pure bliss. Nothing can glue to me to my sofa more than this most British of games,...