Dominic Sayers

Lembriela

What? Who? Right now there are 0 matches on Google for the word Lembriela. By the end of the Liberal Democrat leadership election I predict there will be several more. You read it hear first. Official. The idea of having a Cheeky Girl at No.10 is pretty much unstoppable.

German Business English

As I argued with a German consultant over the word "bi-weekly" it became clear to me that German Business English is a dialect with its own conventions and standards, as different from British English as Australian say. In this case, the consultant was not prepared to put the word "fortnightly" into his document as it was not a word with which he was familiar. I explained that "bi-weekly" is ambiguous - it can mean "twice a week" just as easily as it can mean "every two weeks". However its usage in German Business English appears to be entrenched. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. Living dialects are part of the beauty of the English languages. It just means I need to start mentally translating just as we do when talking to Americans. More examples when I come across them. Have you noticed any?

Learning Curve....aaaargh!

A learning curve refers to the increased rate of production as a workforce acquires familiarity with a new process. IT IS NOT A SYNONYM FOR A LEARNING PROCESS If you mean it is difficult to take the first few steps in a new career and then it becomes progressively easier then OK, that's an analogy with a learning curve and I permit you to use the phrase. If you just mean it's difficult because you're new then say so. Tosser.

Lost place names

English is a dynamic language and most people now seem to think this is greatly to its advantage. That doesn't mean we can't occasionally mourn the passing of a part of our language. The victims in this case (there are two) are place names. Chiltern Railways announcers: please note the station is called Princes Risborough (i.e. Prince's Risborough), not Princess Risborough, tempting though it is to think of such a fairytale character. London Underground announcers: nobody really knows why the area is called Marylebone, but it definitely wasn't named after anybody called Marley (as in Marleybone). OK, it's an anagram of the real name, but then so is Be Normal Len.