You might have thought you knew what these phrases really meant, but you might have been mistaken…
Dictionaries
How social media influences language
If you could keep up with the above conversation, you are probably either a parent keeping abreast of your child’s communication methods or a member of the more youthful side of our society and a…
Are they still making them? Dictionaries in a digital world
When I say I make dictionaries for Oxford University Press, people used to say, “Remind me not to play scrabble against you!” Now they say, “Are you still making dictionaries? I just use Google.” It’s…
FUN WORDS to liven up your vocabulary
Here are some fun words you might not use every day to add to your vocabulary!
11 ways to say ‘YOUTH’ in South Africa
On this day that we celebrate our youths and look back on how far we have come, let’s speak to one another in a way only South Africans can: in our 11 official languages.
Drumsticks and talking heads: a closer look at South African slang
A drumstick is a drumstick, right – a lovely, juicy bit of chicken leg on the bone? Wrong. In many parts of Cape Town, a drumstick refers to a baguette or French bread (a long,…
Môre! Hoe gaan dit?
When you’re learning a language, you may feel reluctant to try out the new vocabulary and grammar by speaking. Perhaps you’re afraid of pronouncing a word wrongly and feeling silly. Children learning languages at school…
Emoji
For its Word Of The Year (WOTY) for 2015, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) chose emoji. Say what? Isn’t that more than just a little ironic? That the revered OED – guardian, recorder and elucidator…