How right or wrong can you be? A morphological nut

English words do not inflect much; in fact you could claim that English is almost a non-inflectious language. […]

Heretofore-unseen: the return of moribund legalese

Every so often, I see some English which strikes me as being odd or unusual. This time it […]

In a word – curb, kerb, or even courbe

Sometimes chasing the origin and meanings of an apparently simple English word gives us a glimpse of a […]

In a word: wake

In a language with so many words, this is another which has several different meanings, which seem to be growing away from their origins.

in-, en-, im-, em-, il-, and ir-: almost morphological nuts

Adding in- as a prefix in English turns out to be more complex than it at first seems. All you have to know is the meaning of in- and the origin of the word.

In a word – keen

From a brave king, to the pungent taste of mustard, with a wail on the side – all in the one word.

Weather it

How it came to be raining, but the weather will be fine and sunny.

In a word – spring

A single origin, many different meanings, and some irregularities to provoke the odd peeve.

In a word – notwithstanding

This odd preposition can also appear as a postposition, but does not behave much like either.

un-, in-, or non-?

If you were looking for a ‘good’ night out with a ‘bad’ man or woman, would you prefer someone who was amoral, immoral, or non-moral? Here comes a strange trip into English morphology…