Linguistics of pomposity
Meg Maker wrote “We need to talk about wine talk” (link here) an introduction to a panel on the language of wine. She writes that the ‘language of wine needs a reboot’. In this post I want to respond by saying two things. First, largely, the article is not about the language of wine. Second, if it were, Meg Maker’s writing would be part of the problem. Continue reading “Linguistics of pomposity”
What matters and what doesn’t
One of the daily features of my Twitter timeline are tweets telling people how to speak. I regularly object to such policing. Not only, in my view, is it pointless, but, more importantly, it is only about the tweeter exercising (and consolidating) their power to tell people what to do. I recently wrote about (link here) the use of ‘die’ in palliative care, today I want to go back to the ‘c-phrase’. Here is another post about language policing. Continue reading “What matters and what doesn’t”
Fuzziness of a pear
I recently had a bottle of excellent Sancerre which was described by a few experts as a precise wine. As much as I like reading about wine, the word ‘precise’ in reference to plonk has escaped me. So, I decided to investigate and have a little more fun with wine linguistics. Continue reading “Fuzziness of a pear”
Language and professional power
This tweet came across my timeline some time ago. The tweet and the thread are about whether ‘die’ or ‘pass away’ should be used in palliative care. It’s another of a zillion tweets telling people how to speak and how they should be spoken to. In this blog, I want to make the point that it serves little point apart from the exercising professional power. It serves only those who discuss and not those in their care. Continue reading “Language and professional power”