Commenting on developments in the English language
by Liz Walter
I’ve written a couple of posts on collocations (word partners) recently, and a reader suggested some specific collocation topics, one of which was the environment. Climate change is in the news a lot, particularly because of the campaigning of the Swedish schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg. So here are some collocations to help you talk about this vitally important topic.
Steve noun [U]
/sti:v/
the nickname for a recently discovered natural appearance of purple lights in the sky, similar to the aurora borealis and aurora australis
Featuring an elongated purple stream and sometimes a green, picket fence-like structure, this odd illumination can be seen lingering at latitudes far lower than typical aurorae. Bemused space physicists couldn’t ascertain whether the entity was a genuine aurora, albeit a weirdly shaped one, or something else entirely. Now, research suggests that perhaps neither answer is correct: Steve could instead be an electrical hybrid.[www.nationalgrographic.com, 3 May 2019]
Goldilocks star noun [C]
UK /ˈgəʊl.dɪ.lɒks.ˌstɑːʳ/ US /ˈgoʊl.di.lɑːks.ˌstɑːr/
a type of star that astronomers consider has exactly the right combination of features to support life
Astronomers want to know which stars are the most likely to have habitable planets. These stars can be thought of as Goldilocks stars that are just right – at least in some ways – for potentially life-supporting planets. … A new peer-reviewed study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters … might help to narrow down the search for Goldilocks stars.
[earthsky.org, 17 March 2019]
space grease noun [U]
/ˈspeɪs.griːs/
a particular type of matter found in space made up of molecules of carbon with a greasy consistency
A team of eight scientists recreated and analyzed material similar to interstellar dust, and used it to estimated how many grease-like carbon molecules … are in interstellar space, beyond the bounds of our solar system. The estimated amount of “space grease” in the Milky Way far exceeded expectations: 10 billion trillion trillion tonnes – or enough to fill 40 trillion trillion trillion packs of butter.
[www.cnn.com, 28 June 2018]
On this blog, we often look at the various English words and phrases that we use to express the same concept. This week we’re focusing on the word ‘interesting’. There are lots of synonyms (or rather, ‘near-synonyms’) for this adjective but most carry an extra meaning. In this post, I’ll try to show the differences in meaning between these near-synonyms and provide you with a range of ‘interesting’ vocabulary!
Continue reading “Absorbing and thought-provoking: words meaning ‘interesting’”
microstress noun [C]
UK /ˌmaɪ.krəʊ.ˈstres/ US /ˈmaɪ.kroʊ.ˌstres/
a small act or event that makes someone feel frustrated or anxious and that can combine with other similar acts or events over time to cause emotional harm
As much as we may be living our lives according to the Big Picture, it is the Small Stuff that tends to come between us… . Those tiny, daily, grrrr-type irritations, that some clever folk at Mind International have labelled microstresses. According to their poll, Brits spend the equivalent of 27 days a year worrying about microstresses – yup, that’s just under two hours a day, every day feeling tense. It’s the small stuff like losing your keys, missing a train, forgetting your gym card, running late for a meeting or your car breaking down.
[www.thinrichhappy.com, 9 February 2018]
rage room noun [C]
/ˈreɪdʒ.ˌruːm/
a room where people can pay to smash up objects with the aim of feeling less stressed afterwards
Before discovering the rage room, I tried all kinds of ways to deal with stress: karaoke, trampoline, dodgeball, the gym. Going to the gym is about getting healthy, looking good, but when I’m smashing up toasters, the intent is different. When I behave like a caveman, I leave any negativity behind.
[www.theguardian.com, 29 March 2019]
pyt exclamation
/pʊt/
a Danish word used in response to a stressful situation to tell oneself or someone else not to worry
Pyt can reduce stress because it is a sincere attempt to encourage yourself and others to not get bogged down by minor daily frustrations. One Danish business leader has suggested that knowing when to say “pyt” at work can lead to more job satisfaction.
[www.popsci.com, 1 March 2019]
by Liz Walter
There are a surprising number of idioms that contain the word ‘ball’. This post looks at some of the most useful ones.
It seems appropriate to start with the idiom get/start the ball rolling, which means to do something to make an activity start or to encourage other people to do something similar to you:
I’m hoping we can all share our ideas today. Who would like to start the ball rolling? Continue reading “The ball’s in your court now: idioms with ‘ball’”
mommune noun [C]
UK /ˈmɒm.juːn/ US /ˈmɑː.mjuːn/
a group of mothers who live together with their children, sharing possessions and responsibilities
And so, more by accident than design, the women hit on a new domestic set-up: the “mommune” … . And for the next two years, the three of them and their six children shared their lives: Vicky in the spare room, Nicola a weekend resident and daily visitor. “We were a family,” Janet says. “We went to the supermarket together, cooked together, ate together, shared childcare. Our parents met.” The children, she adds, “became like siblings”.
[www.theguardian.com, 29 September 2018]
mumsplainer noun [C]
UK /ˈmʌm.spleɪnəʳ/ or momsplainer US /ˈmɑːm.spleɪnɚ/
a mother who gives unwanted advice or explains something about pregnancy, childbirth etc. to someone, often a pregnant woman or new parent, that he or she already understands
Just wondering… Is ‘mumsplain’ a word…. My gripe with this particular mumsplainer is she ONLY interacts with me when it is to criticise.
[twitter.com, 3 April 2017]
birth striker noun [C]
UK /ˌbɜːθ.ˈstraɪ.kəʳ/ US /ˌbɝːθ.ˈstraɪ.kɚ/
a woman who chooses not to have children because she is concerned about the world’s population being too big
My friend … is another “birth striker”, deciding when she was about 21 that she didn’t want to have children. “At the time lots of friends and family told me that as I got older, the biological clock would start ticking,” she recalls. “But actually the opposite has happened. The older I’ve got the more my decision has solidified. There are now a lot of wider issues that I’m passionate about in terms of the planet and climate change that have confirmed that decision for me.”
[www.telegraph.co.uk, 21 April 2019]
How was your day at work or college? Was it useful (=giving positive results)? Did you get a lot done? Perhaps you had a lot of work to do but, for some reason, found it hard to get down to it (=start working with effort). Some days, we work effectively, finding it easy to concentrate. Sadly, not all days are like this! In this post we look at the language that we use to describe good days at work and bad. Continue reading “Working flat out and flagging: describing how we work”
veggie disc noun [C]
/ˈvedʒ.i.ˌdɪsk/
a type of food similar to a hamburger but not containing meat, made by pressing together small pieces of vegetables, seeds, etc. into a flat, round shape
Veggie burgers are for the chop, a Brussels committee has decreed, to be replaced by the less palatable-sounding “veggie discs” … after a vote in the European Parliament … approved a ban on producers of vegetarian food using nomenclature usually deployed to describe meat.
[www.theguardian.com, 4 April 2019]
motherless meat noun [C or U]
UK /ˌmʌð.ᵊ.ləs.ˈmiːt/ US /ˌmʌð.ɚ.ləs.ˈmiːt/
meat that has been grown in a laboratory from cells and has not come from a live animal
It’s almost certain that if and when the first generation of motherless meats arrive in grocery stores, they will not be steaks, chops, or filets. They will be meatballs, sausages, and extruded nuggets — processed foods that combine laboratory-raised cells with plant proteins, grains, and other ingredients.
[www.newfoodeceonomy.org, 30 July 2018]
bivalvegan noun [C]
/ˌbaɪ.væl.ˈviː.gən/
a vegan who eats certain types of mollusc that do not have a central nervous system and are therefore not considered to have thoughts, feel pain, etc.
Eight years on, and I now live as a bivalvegan … Choosing this diet isn’t a cop out. If I believed for two seconds that eating certain kinds of bivalve was morally wrong and harmful to the planet, I would stop consuming them tomorrow.
[www.earthedupmedia.com, 12 January 2018]
In a post last month, we looked at adjectives and phrases that describe change. This post will look at some of the many verbs that mean ‘change’.
A lot of ‘change’ verbs mean ‘to change slightly’, but some have additional meanings. For example, if you adapt something, you change it slightly for a different use:
Most of the vegetarian options can be adapted for vegans. Continue reading “Evolving and disrupting: verbs meaning ‘change’”
mumoir noun [C]
UK /ˈmʌm.wɑːʳ/ US /ˈmʌm.wɑːr/
a book or other piece of writing based on the writer’s personal knowledge of being a mother
Why this sudden rush of “mumoirs” now? What need are they fulfilling in our society in the late 2010s? Perhaps one purpose is an antidote to the pastel-hued fantasies of motherhood on Instagram, the impossible pressure to “have it all” and present an image of unflustered perfection.
[www.independent.co.uk, 19 April 2019]
chat fiction noun [U]
/ˌtʃæt.ˈfɪk.ʃən/
a type of story that is divided into short sections and delivered to the reader by text message
To be sure, people who read chat fiction are generally not reading Game of Thrones–length tales. The average story length on Hooked is around 1,300 words — intentionally short, to be quickly consumed on the go. But they also offer many serialized stories — essentially “chapters” — so you can get a meatier read.
[www.ozy.com, 22 March 2019]
book stuffing noun [U]
/ˈbʊk.stʌf.ɪŋ/
(of a self-published author) the fraudulent practice of adding extra, usually irrelevant content to a book in order to take advantage of a system that pays the author per word read
Book stuffing is when authors take all their works and stuff them into the back of every other book to artificially inflate their page count. Some authors even stuff in newsletters: the goal is to inflate the page count as much as possible, and thus the payout on KU page reads. Said books are usually offered at 99 cents or free, as the author is looking to get all their money out of KU.
[www.madgeniusclub, 8 April 2019]
Be bright, be ready
