Tag: English
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Lotsa lolz new words enter Scrabble lexicon
Collins has announced 6,500 new official Scrabble words, many of which draw on slang and new technology. Should we welcome changes in the English language — even if we don’t like them?
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Anger over apostrophes punctuates Devon calm
The road signs of a rural county in England will no longer use apostrophes: too difficult to employ correctly, says the council, and too many complaints about mistakes. Should we care?
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‘Innit’ and ‘thang’ enter the lexicon
Scrabble, the word game, says it will allow new words like 'blingy', 'bredren', and even 'grrl'. Protests will not halt the language's long history of adaptation. But should there be limits?
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Great novelist celebrated against his dying wishes
Charles Dickens forbade any memorials or statues of himself. But as the 200th anniversary of his birth approaches, plans for a monument are afoot. Should we let him rest in peace?
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Sacré Bleu! French culture ‘under attack’
The French Education Minister wants to expand English teaching in schools. But are language lessons a threat to the nation?
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The poet may know it when others blow it
This week, the Scots drank to the poet Robert Burns and Derek Walcott won the TS Eliot prize. Now poetry wants to give St George a makeover.
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Poison pen: scandal and intrigue in Poets’ Corner
After an election full of controversy, Oxford has a new professor of poetry. But why is the job so important? And what is better poetry anyway – a classical sonnet or a modern rap?