Fair warning: Reading ahead will put you in contact with some controversial “bad” words. There are some words in English considered so derogatory and controversial that some people won’t even type them out. They’re shortened, instead, to the just one letter, followed by “word.” The c-word. The b-word. They’re the sort of words young children are told never to utter and most certainly not to hurl …
Spelling is how we put words together, but what is phonetic spelling? An alternate way to create words? Well, yes! What is phonetic spelling? Phonetic spelling is a system of spelling in which each letter represents one spoken sound. In English, some words are pronounced exactly as they look. When T is used to spell tiger, the letter T is assigned one sound. Simple, right? Well, we …
Often an idiom—an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its parts—can seem like something from Alice in Wonderland. Pardon my French is one of the most colorful idioms that combines the profane with a language associated with love. Where does pardon my French come from? Pardon my French, or excuse my French, is an apology for the use of profanity; the expression dates …
