-
The weekly Linguistics and Society bulletin is out
-
Jafaican it? No we’re not | Mind your language
Comedians might play the patois of multicultural Britain for laughs, but spoken English has been drawing on influences from other languages and dialects for centuries British comedy has always liked a foreign voice to poke fun at, particularly one that hails from one of the former colonies; from Peter Sellers’ “Indian” accent to the characters…
-
Why nobody wants a ‘worthy’ book
It might be a good thing in other contexts, but a ‘worthy’ reputation will get you nowhere as a writer When did “worthy” become a pejorative term? Orange prize judge Kirsty Lang was praising Rose Tremain’s winning novel, The Road Home, when she said that “though it could have been a worthy book, it wasn’t”.…
-
Why I’m not allowed my book title
It’s called The Book of Negroes in Canada – but Americans won’t buy that term Are we on the same page? … Novelist Lawrence Hill It isn’t unusual for British or Canadian books to change titles when entering the American market. It happened to JK Rowling – Harry Potter has no “philosopher’s” stone in the…
-
When Class Became More Important to a Child’s Education Than Race
-
When Spell-Check Can’t Help