Making words work better
If your writing needs polishing or a second set of eyes, I’m here to assist. Email me, and we can sort out the help you want.
What about that phrase ‘till the cows come home’? Why don’t people just say what they mean, which is either ‘forever’ or ‘for an indefinitely…
Continue reading → Till the cows come home: origins and examples
The Right Honourable Member for Islington North recently made a highly emotive campaign speech (4 November) in which, after mentioning the by now clichéd chlorinated…
Continue reading → Thatcherism on steroids, nonsense on stilts, ego on wheels et alia
7-minute read I’ve got a bee in my bonnet at the moment about animal imagery, so when I read someone being described as fit as…
Continue reading → As fit as a flea and a trout and a butcher’s dog
4-minute read When was the phrase mental health first used? In the OED meaning ‘mental health n. health of the mind as distinct from physical health; the…
A few weeks ago I went ape-ian and delved into the origins of four bee-related phrases. This week, like bees round honey, I can’t keep…
4-minute read I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; Nine bean-rows…
Continue reading → Not the bee-all and end-all; busy bees; beeline
