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Today’s topic is the language that we use to describe people and actions that are morally good and morally bad.
Continue reading “Worthy and wicked (Words meaning ‘good’ and ‘bad’)”
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My last post looked at the language that we use to describe people and animals who are physically strong and weak. Today’s post focuses on words for things that are strong and weak. Continue reading “Sturdy or flimsy? (Words for strong and weak things)”
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Today’s post has a rather positive feel to it as I’m looking at the language we use to describe luck and feeling lucky.
Continue reading “Do I feel lucky? (Ways of talking about luck)”
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by Liz Walter
Zoologists tell us that if you watch a group of chickens, you can place them in order of importance because birds with a high status peck those with a lower status. While humans don’t peck or – usually at any rate – physically harm one another to demonstrate power, we do use the phrase pecking order to talk about social hierarchy, in other words how important one person is in relation to others.
Continue reading “The pecking order: talking about how important people are (1)”
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We’ve all had the experience of looking forward to something and expecting it to be great but finding, when it happens, that it’s a disappointment. Conversely, we all know what it’s like to have low expectations of something but find that it’s much better than we were expecting. This post looks at language in this area and includes both single words and phrases.
Continue reading “Did it live up to your expectations? (Talking about disappointment)”
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by Liz Walter
My last post looked at words and phrases for things that cost a lot of money. Today’s post looks at ways of describing things that don’t cost much.
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One of several things we do on this blog is look at the various ways we say the same – or a similar – thing. As the saying goes, variety is the spice of life! Today’s post will provide you with a range of ways to say ‘gradually’, including phrases and single words.
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Today’s post deals with the language around a feeling that we all experience from time to time, embarrassment – that is, the feeling of being ashamed or shy in the company of others.
Continue reading “Cringeworthy and toe-curling (The language of embarrassment)”
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by Liz Walter
Today’s post is about ways of talking about someone’s intelligence. Interestingly, there are some subtle differences in the way British and American speakers use what are probably the two most common synonyms for intelligent: clever and smart.
Continue reading “Wise, brainy, or astute: words for describing intelligent people”
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by Liz Walter
Today’s post is about words we use for fastening and unfastening things.
The verbs fasten and attach are very general. It doesn’t matter what you use to join the parts together: it could be glue, buttons, string – anything! Secure is also general and emphasizes how strongly the things are joined. Continue reading “Binding, nailing, and gluing: talking about fastening things together”