Category Archives: news

Just out: English Historical Linguistics, with …

Posted on September 26, 2017 by BtU Admin

… a chapter on prescriptivism. True recognition of an important approach and an interesting perspective on the subject. Congratulations Laurel Brinton!

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First review of Prescription and Tradition in Language

Posted on September 23, 2017 by Ingrid Tieken

A very positive review has recently appeared of our book Prescription and Tradition in Language, in the Kelvingrove Review, issue 16, called “Rise and Fall” (pp. 15-16). The review is by Colin Reilly from the University of Glasgow, who highlights several … Continue reading →

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And here is another …

Posted on September 7, 2017 by Ingrid Tieken

… interview with Carmen Ebner about her PhD thesis, which she successfully defended on Tuesday, this time in the Leiden University weekly Mare. The interview is even announced as a feature article on the front page.

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Interview with Carmen Ebner

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Ingrid Tieken

Carmen was interviewed on her PhD study on the eve of the defence itself. Read all about it in Kennislink and wish her luck for tomorrow! (Thanks for the translation, Adrian!)

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New interface for oldest (?) language advice website

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Ingrid Tieken

Common Errors in English is a website that has been up and running since March 1997, as its maker, Paul Brians, told me. Does that make it the oldest language advice website that has been about? Quite possibly It has … Continue reading →

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A postdating for the OED – with thanks to Kingsley Amis

Posted on August 10, 2017 by Ingrid Tieken

What other words are there for stickler, pedant or pundit, Lonneke van Leest-Kootkar asked in a blogpost last year. Rebecca Gowers, in Horrible Words (2016), chose to use the word griper instead of stickler (a word I will always associate with Lynne Truss). … Continue reading →

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We understood that to “decimate” meant to kill one in 10

Posted on July 29, 2017 by adrianstenton

This is a quotation from a new book, The Beast, by Alexander Starritt, due out on 7 September, and previewed in today’s Guardian by Ian Jack, about a fictionalised sub-editor on the Daily Mail. It might make entertaining reading!

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Another book on how American English is taking over …

Posted on July 23, 2017 by adrianstenton

This is what Profile Books have to say about Matthew Engel’s new book That’s The Way It Crumbles The American Conquest of the English Language Are we tired of hearing that fall is a season, sick of being offered fries … Continue reading →

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Dutch letters to the editor

Posted on July 22, 2017 by Ingrid Tieken

In my experience, letters to the editor are not a frequent phenomenon in Dutch newspapers, at least not when they deal with language, and in any case not in the daily newspaper I read, NRC Handelsblad.  A while ago I … Continue reading →

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The globalisation of American English

Posted on July 13, 2017 by adrianstenton

There’s a piece in today’s Guardian here: Do you want fries with that? Data shows Americanization of English is rising on the use of Google Ngram Viewer to document the spread of American English. It includes a link to the … Continue reading →

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