A quick break

ghoti

NaNo aside, I thought I'd give you something a little different this morning, though a lot of you might know it. Can you read that word above? It demonstrates one of the challenges that people learning English can face.

Think gh as in 'enough', o as in 'women' and ti as in 'nation'.  And what do you get?

Reciting poetry and reading aloud

I wonder....

 Do kids still learn poems "off by heart" and have to recite them at school?
Back when I was a youngster (and God were a lad - as they say where I come from) we were encouraged to learn poems and recite to class members. Or at least read them aloud. I suspect that it helped create the love of language that has given me a career for most of my life.

There was a time when I knew this one - or at least the first verse - but I had simply forgotten it until it turned up on Platform 2 of Belper Station as part of the poetry trail (see yesterday's post). As soon as I started reading this it came back to me.

For K it triggered a memory of an old film that some of you might remember too. The Night Mail by W H Auden.

Do you remember any poetry and do you ever recite it?

Really unique

OK - just read that title again will you?

Now....... Are you seething, or expecting something very special?

One of my most serious peeves is misuse of words. (not misspelling, poor grammar, etc - genuine errors in what words mean.) Take 'unique'. I have lost count of the number of times I have heard or read, 'almost unique', 'really unique' and other modifiers attached to the word.

The dictionary definition of unique is: single, sole, unrivalled.
Almost unique is like being a little bit pregnant.

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The reason for today's rant is that 'really unique' was on a BBC radio news report. And they should know better!