Sep

19

Billified

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Today, I had some members of my form in a lates detention for the simple reason that they had arrived to school in an unpunctual manner. At the end of break I was told by MH, a friend of the three culprits, that she had been “billified”.
“Vilified?” I asked.
“No, billified,” MH clarified, “left on me […]

Feb

16

Typical American numptiness

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Apple Matters | The Apple Store - No Place for Kids: “How about some classes? I’d rather my son learn Ruby on Rails before he learns a useless foreign language, so why not have some in-store classes targeting the 6-10 year old crowd? Use iWeb to make your first web site. His school is full […]

Feb

6

Irony bypass

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Prompted by this comment on Flickr I dug this out:
The Local - View topic - What is the most stupid Swedish rule you have encountered?
Having a poorly developed sense of humour or an irony bypass however is illigal sic in the UK and you will be sentenced to be a social outcast for life.

Dec

21

The days are drawing in…

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Today is a big day in the life of many a teacher: we have no more get ups!
It’s also the vernal equinox. We say after the summer equinox that the nights are drawing in. Ought the opposite to be the days are drawing in or the days are drawing out? The former has the benefit […]

Nov

5

Double possessive

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5 - Questions and Answers: Double possessive: “[Q] From Frances Pack: ‘You recently wrote ‘a friend of Pope’s’. What? Do I not remember correctly that Pope’s is already possessive—so the use of of before it makes a double possessive? That was drummed into my ears when I was a freshman in high school in Latin […]

Oct

8

Translations

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A note on translation, from a review of Anthony Briggs’ translation of War and Peace: “Secondly, this idea that a translation should be happily smooth. I agree with Milan Kundera: ‘Partisans of ‘flowing’ translation often object to my translators: ‘That’s not the way to say it in German (in English, in Spanish, etc.)!’ I reply: […]