Advertising slogans past and present - gapfill quiz

Try your hand at completing some of Britain's best known advertising slogans.

Confusing words - matching exercises based on two top ten lists

Among the growing number of 'Top 10 lists' at Merriam-Webster online dictionary are two sets on confusing words. Here are a couple of exercises based on them.

Word corner - nearly all you need to know about need

The word need can be a verb and a noun. As well as being a normal main verb, in British English it can also be used as a semi-modal verb. In addition it has a couple of special uses and there are several expressions based on it.

Top Ten British Words 2 (according to Merriam-Webster)

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary have issued a second set of ten British words they like. This has given me the impetus / excuse to do another little exercise, this time in the guise of a very short story. It's meant to be quite colloquial, so don't take it as an example of excellent English to follow.

Top Ten Words 2 - 'Simple but intelligent' conversation boosters

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary have recently issued another Top Ten Words list - 'Simple but intelligent' words to make your conversation sparkle.

This could help you boost your word power. But remember, the best way is to read, read, read. Anyway, have a look at their definitions at Merriam-Webster first (you can cycle through them all), then come back and do the two short exercises.

Top Ten British Words (according to Merriam-Webster)

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary has (AmE) / have (BrE) put together their favourite (BrE) / favorite (AmE) ten British words, and I thought they might be worth a little exercise.

Merriam-Webster are (BrE) / is (AmE) one of the best-known American publishers of dictionaries, and direct heir(s) of Noah Webster, whose An American Dictionary of the English Language was first published in 1828. It was Noah Webster who established the American system of spelling.

I have to admit I didn't realise they were all British. And one of them, chunter, was completely new to me.

Have a look at their definitions here first, then do the exercise. I've also added some of my own (not necessarily British); mouse over the words in blue for their definitions.

Word corner - fair

The word fair can be an adjective, an adverb and a noun, and has various different meanings, as well as being the basis of several idioms. Here are a couple of exercises to help you suss it out.

Remember not to confuse fair with the noun and verb fare. There are some dictionary links below.

Awesome revisited

It seems I'm not the only one to regret the passing of the sense of sheer wonder that the word awesome used to have before it became 'the contemporary superlative of choice'. Jemima Kiss at the Guardian (whose quote that is) apparently has a similar feeling of loss.

She, like me, evokes the Grand Canyon as being something truly worthy of the description, and also sees the technological industry as the main culprits in its overuse.

And also like me, she wonders what word people will have available when they see something which truly is awesome.

See:

• My original post - Nowadays awesome is not quite as awesome as it used to be.
• The Guardian - SXSW 2011: A crash guide to 'awesome', by Jemima Kiss

A schadenfreudian slip?

Christmas is the 'season of good will to all men', and I had really meant to leave the pedants to their roast turkey, but this took the biscuit. By the time I saw it however, it was too late to post a counter-comment, so 'Have Blog Will Speak Out'. I'm talking of a comment to an article by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins on Christopher Hitchens, his hero for 2010, under the 'Comment is Free' rubric at the Guardian. Both Dawkins and Hitchens are committed atheists and Dawkins had written:

He [Hitchens] laughs off the spiritual vultures eager for a death-bed conversion, and dismisses – but with unfailingly gracious courtesy – the many schadenfreudian prayers for his recovery

Now don't worry, I'm not going to get into an atheism versus religion debate, this is not the place. But my hackles were raised when I saw this comment by a certain GoloMannFan (my emphasis):

Your grotesque offences against both the English and German languages aside, is there any actual evidence that Schadenfreude is the motive for such prayers? You know, evidence. I'm sure you're familiar with the concept. You bang on about it often enough.

OK, I get the impression GoloMannFan doesn't have much time for Dawkins. That's fair enough, even some atheists don't like Dawkins's proselytising very much, but why bring his language into it (I assume he doesn't like the word schadenfreudian). As soon as you see the words: 'grotesque offences against ... [the] English ... language ...', you know that they're going to be nothing of the sort.

Word corner - antidisestablishmentarianism

At 28 letters, antidisestablishmentarianism is commonly thought to be the longest word in the English language (although apparently it has its competitors). It is not, however, the longest word in Britain, that distinction going to the name (in Welsh) of a village in Wales usually referred to simply as LLanfair P.G..Which is understandable given its full name of, I think, 58 letters.

To understand what antidisestablishmentarianism means, we need to break it down into its component parts.

anti-dis-establish-ment-arian-ism

anti	negative prefix meaning against
dis	another negative prefix, here meaning something like undo
establish	the Church of England is established as the state religion by law
ment	suffix to create an abstract noun from establish
arian	a second suffix - someone who believes in this
ism	a third suffix - the belief system, movement

Now look at the following article and matching exercise.