Author Archives: Ingrid Tieken

Strong verb questions

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Ingrid Tieken

It seems we’re getting interested in strong verbs! Earlier on in this blog we reported on variation between snuck and sneaked, and on the use of went for gone, still quite common in eighteenth-century English but possibly on the increase … Continue reading →

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Have went?

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Ingrid Tieken

Several people in the attitudes survey I have been carrying out commented in their texts that they often hear have went and even see it written down sometimes. These people are all teachers, all in their late fifties, early sixties, … Continue reading →

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Jack Lynch on proper English

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Ingrid Tieken

Clearing up my mail box, I found a New York Times book review of Jack Lynch’s  book THE LEXICOGRAPHER’S DILEMMA. The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, From Shakespeare to ‘South Park’ (Walker & Company, 2009). Useful for anyone interested in our … Continue reading →

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Touchy about questions of usage

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Ingrid Tieken

In a wonderful new book that came out last year, called The Language Wars: A History of Proper English, Henry Hitchings writes that “English-speakers are touchy about questions of usage” (p. 4). What English speakers does he mean, I wonder, Brits, … Continue reading →

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Annoying Anglocreep

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Ingrid Tieken

So the irritation is mutual! We’ve reported several times on Americanisms in British English in this blog, but if you want to read on the increase of British expressions in American English (toff, cheers, brilliant, loo), take a look at … Continue reading →

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Partridge being polite?

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Ingrid Tieken

In the dedication to the buyer of the first edition of his Concise Usage & Abusage which I reported on the other day, Partridge complements Conrad van Hoewijk on his command of English: this Dutchman really doesn’t need to buy a usage guide, is what the … Continue reading →

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4th Bridging the Unbridgeable Lunch Lecture

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Ingrid Tieken

Our fourth lunch lecture will take place on 29 October 2012, from 12 to 1 pm, in van Wijkplaats 4, room 004.  This time, the lunch lecture will take the shape of a small mini-symposium, with two papers on usage … Continue reading →

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A Partridge first edition

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Ingrid Tieken

It sometimes pays off to visit second-hand bookshops in search of usage guides: yesterday, I found a first edition of The Concise Usage & Abusage by Eric Partridge. A signed copy as well! The book was published in 1954, there is a … Continue reading →

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Another prescriptivist joke

Posted on October 6, 2012 by Ingrid Tieken

For a paper I’m giving at the LUCL Colloquium on 2 November, I started to analyse the response I got to the Attitudes Survey I have been carrying out since early May this year. The response, btw, has been truly … Continue reading →

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Britishisms (try pronouncing this!)

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Ingrid Tieken

One of our readers alerted us this morning to an article in the online BBC News Magazine called “Britishisms and the Britishisation of American English“. She commented: “Isn’t it interesting how it’s the opposite to what I looked at in my … Continue reading →

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