English is Always Changing

by Margaret Watson

I studied linguistics at university. The emphasis was on how language changed over the years from Beowulf to hip-hop.

We are decorating at the moment so old books have been moved and I have in front of me ‘Historical Slang’ - some 50,000 terms, many of them quite crude, that are no longer used by English speakers. Elsewhere I have ‘Hobson, Jobson’ a book of words used in British India – some of which are still in use both by Indians and Brits, but most of which are obscure to say the least.

The E-mail Craze

by Heather Pears

Email has become the most popular way for people to communicate with each other; some say it’s even more popular than using the telephone, which might seem hard to believe until you take a look at some of the reasons why people prefer email to phone calls.

So cute...

by  Patrick O’Connor

LIKE a cat that got the cream . . .

That neatly sums up the expression of a 64 year old granddad approaching his 40th wedding anniversary who has suddenly found himself a cult figure on British TV.

Whatever you think of computer games, one thing is certain: they’re big business. The computer game industry is worth more than £18 billion and is growing rapidly. To maintain this expansion, however, the game makers are always looking for new ways to develop their product. Consider, for instance, the recent promotions of games linked to fitness and exercise. What, then, does the industry plan to give us in the future? And how does it intend to make games an even bigger part of our lives?

Deluxe Britain

by Sarah Ferrier

Britain has always excelled at luxury - Rolls Royce cars, Connolly leather, Harris tweed, Wilton carpets, Paisley shawls – most of it aimed at a small elite of aristocracy and arrivistes, it must be said. These days, though, the whole world wants luxury, so Britannia has shaken her skirts, booked in for a facelift and upped her game. There has been an unprecedented rise in luxury hotels, bars, shops and spas, many of them in gorgeous historic buildings, others in exciting new builds. Plans are afoot to bring luxury shopping to the heart of the City (London’s financial centre), companies such as Dhillon Hotels and Crazy Bear are renovating historic coaching inns, and the Italian designers Missoni will open their first UK hotel in Edinburgh later in 2008. But that’s all to come. Here’s a thumbnail guide, for the man – or woman – on a mission to luxuriate now:

Where Do I Come From?

by Margaret Watson

I was born only a few miles from the geographical centre of England. My cousin, the daughter of my mother’s twin, was born a few weeks earlier only 18 miles further south. Throughout our childhood we saw each other several times a month. You would think then that our accents would be similar, but even in this relatively small island there are numerous differences – few men from Cornwall would understand first time round someone from Tyneside in the North East and vice versa. My cousin and I are quite similar in lots of ways, we even look alike and in early photographs it is difficult to tell her children from mine. However, we pronounce many words rather differently. She has always lived below the line that differentiates those who use a long vowel and those who cut it short. – She says ‘BARTH’ and I say ‘BATH’. She says ‘PARTH’ and I say ‘PATH’. My children, who spent their early years in the south and grew up near Manchester, have combined the two - They have a ‘BARTH’ in the ‘BATH’ or even a ‘BATH’ in the ‘BARTH’, while hers are definitely southerners.