May 2006

Standing stone

May 30, 2006

Standing stone: a large block of stone set upright; a menhir, monolith. Menhir is actually the French word for "standing stone". It comes from Breton men (stone) and hir (long). This is an example of a standing stone circle, taken...

By the way...

May 22, 2006

I’m interpreting tomorrow and Wednesday for kids from a French school who are coming to spend the week with their English counterparts. Workshops have been organised to make them more aware of the threats the environment is facing, and we’re...

English as the national language of the USA

May 19, 2006

English would be declared the "national language" of the United States under a measure the Senate approved Thursday, a largely symbolic move that supporters said would promote unity and encourage assimilation by immigrants. I don't know what I think about...

Corbeau

May 16, 2006

Thanks to Technologies du langage, I now know why writers of poison-pen letters are called corbeaux (crows) in French. Between 1917 and 1922, a woman wrote anonymous letters to several people in Tulle, a small town in Corrèze. Everyone started...

Why I love working in an office #4

May 12, 2006

Because whenever something weird and wonderful is going on in Brighton, it's just around the corner from work. Today and tomorrow, all sorts of strange creatures will be roaming the streets of Brighton. More! More! I. Must. Not. Leave. My....

Madame and mademoiselle

May 8, 2006

There is currently a linguistic debate in France around the use of the word mademoiselle; a petition has been started demanding that administrative documents should no longer have the choice between mademoiselle and madame; they should only offer madame. I...