Word Watch: Concerns
Since the turn of the century, it’s been fascinating to observe how common singular nouns have – for no apparent reason – become plural.
Since the turn of the century, it’s been fascinating to observe how common singular nouns have – for no apparent reason – become plural.
The problem with the term ‘gender’ is that it has a generally understood meaning and unmooring it from that meaning tends to render it useless.
The word seems to have acquired some metaphorical associations.
Riffle is used onomatopoeically to evoke the rustling of leaves, the flicking of pages in a book, the light babbling of water moving on an uneven bed.
“Hub” is a well-established English word, though it wasn’t used by Shakespeare, and wasn’t included by Dr Johnson in his great Dictionary of 1755.
The idea that ideas need to be “sold” to the public brings with it its own jargon.
‘Mx’ is much harder to pronounce than ‘Ms’. But it’s not a social convenience, it’s a political statement.
The strange mistake has wormed its way into the British press.
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