Lynne Murphy
@lynneguist.bsky.social
US linguist in UK. University of Sussex.
Newsletter: https://substack.com/@lynneguist
Blog: http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/lynneguist
Newsletter: https://substack.com/@lynneguist
Blog: http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/lynneguist
Aha, I see it's a discussion in OED, after Lighter, but it does say that it's probably from 'gob' + 'shite', as you do.
This is what happens when comedians write books about language, the surprising story wins.
This is what happens when comedians write books about language, the surprising story wins.
November 28, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Aha, I see it's a discussion in OED, after Lighter, but it does say that it's probably from 'gob' + 'shite', as you do.
This is what happens when comedians write books about language, the surprising story wins.
This is what happens when comedians write books about language, the surprising story wins.
American Thanksgiving in England: Greek takeaway after a long day’s work.
November 27, 2025 at 9:37 PM
American Thanksgiving in England: Greek takeaway after a long day’s work.
You read it here first.
November 27, 2025 at 1:48 PM
You read it here first.
Huh, I kinda thought it was there. I've mostly experienced it as a South Africanism, but OED says it's originally RAF slang. (The Ghana bar in the chart is so high because it's someone's name & the Malaysian because it's a kind of pagoda, I think.)
November 21, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Huh, I kinda thought it was there. I've mostly experienced it as a South Africanism, but OED says it's originally RAF slang. (The Ghana bar in the chart is so high because it's someone's name & the Malaysian because it's a kind of pagoda, I think.)
I love you, TextExpander.
(I may have been marking first-year essays last week.)
(I may have been marking first-year essays last week.)
November 18, 2025 at 10:58 PM
I love you, TextExpander.
(I may have been marking first-year essays last week.)
(I may have been marking first-year essays last week.)
When our child was little, London husband was often warning her against things 'on the floor' in the park... it's possible to find similar on Mumsnet
November 18, 2025 at 6:37 PM
When our child was little, London husband was often warning her against things 'on the floor' in the park... it's possible to find similar on Mumsnet
That may be, but I do hear it quite a bit, and it's not hard to find examples.
football player "I've only ever known one way to play the game, and that is to pass the ball on the floor." (British Nat'l Corpus)
football player "I've only ever known one way to play the game, and that is to pass the ball on the floor." (British Nat'l Corpus)
November 18, 2025 at 6:30 PM
That may be, but I do hear it quite a bit, and it's not hard to find examples.
football player "I've only ever known one way to play the game, and that is to pass the ball on the floor." (British Nat'l Corpus)
football player "I've only ever known one way to play the game, and that is to pass the ball on the floor." (British Nat'l Corpus)
It's 18 years after I first wrote about BrE use of 'the floor' to mean 'the ground' (outside) and that usage still clangs for me.
(In the article, it says 'knocked to the ground', so I don't think it's a case of an outdoor floor!)
separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/11/floo...
(In the article, it says 'knocked to the ground', so I don't think it's a case of an outdoor floor!)
separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/11/floo...
November 18, 2025 at 5:39 PM
It's 18 years after I first wrote about BrE use of 'the floor' to mean 'the ground' (outside) and that usage still clangs for me.
(In the article, it says 'knocked to the ground', so I don't think it's a case of an outdoor floor!)
separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/11/floo...
(In the article, it says 'knocked to the ground', so I don't think it's a case of an outdoor floor!)
separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/11/floo...
No, but I've been naturalised as a British linguist:
November 13, 2025 at 3:09 PM
No, but I've been naturalised as a British linguist:
Adding medical qualifications to my cv. I mean, here's the evidence.
(was trying to google my blog post about 'in (the) hospital')
(was trying to google my blog post about 'in (the) hospital')
November 13, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Adding medical qualifications to my cv. I mean, here's the evidence.
(was trying to google my blog post about 'in (the) hospital')
(was trying to google my blog post about 'in (the) hospital')
If you know that cat, you know where I was today.
November 11, 2025 at 4:34 PM
If you know that cat, you know where I was today.
Just read a metaphorical 'cooking on gas' from a British writer.
Looks like that's not the most common way to say 'cooking with gas' in BrE, but more BrE examples than AmE
Looks like that's not the most common way to say 'cooking with gas' in BrE, but more BrE examples than AmE
November 11, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Just read a metaphorical 'cooking on gas' from a British writer.
Looks like that's not the most common way to say 'cooking with gas' in BrE, but more BrE examples than AmE
Looks like that's not the most common way to say 'cooking with gas' in BrE, but more BrE examples than AmE
Woo-hoo, I got pull-quoted in the TLS newsletter re @michaelerard.bsky.social’s book.
link.the-tls.co.uk/view/6357e23...
link.the-tls.co.uk/view/6357e23...
November 6, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Woo-hoo, I got pull-quoted in the TLS newsletter re @michaelerard.bsky.social’s book.
link.the-tls.co.uk/view/6357e23...
link.the-tls.co.uk/view/6357e23...
She was on a roll that day...
November 5, 2025 at 6:47 PM
She was on a roll that day...
A 'joke wot doesn't work' entry from my Facebook memories...G was 4 then.
November 5, 2025 at 6:45 PM
A 'joke wot doesn't work' entry from my Facebook memories...G was 4 then.
I typed that flippantly, the truth is, they probably would have said /as/, but they could have said /like/ too.
Much as I loved them, I'm happy to speak differently from their generation! 😜
Much as I loved them, I'm happy to speak differently from their generation! 😜
November 4, 2025 at 3:59 PM
I typed that flippantly, the truth is, they probably would have said /as/, but they could have said /like/ too.
Much as I loved them, I'm happy to speak differently from their generation! 😜
Much as I loved them, I'm happy to speak differently from their generation! 😜
2x 'going forwards' in an email just struck me. It's far less common than 'going forward' in any dialect, but more British than American.
I've written about the -ward(s) words here: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2013/07/towa...
I've written about the -ward(s) words here: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2013/07/towa...
October 30, 2025 at 12:28 PM
2x 'going forwards' in an email just struck me. It's far less common than 'going forward' in any dialect, but more British than American.
I've written about the -ward(s) words here: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2013/07/towa...
I've written about the -ward(s) words here: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2013/07/towa...
Showing a bit more US in the uninflected form—harder to see if it's a noun or verb there than in 'segued' (Davies was using it as a verb).
October 25, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Showing a bit more US in the uninflected form—harder to see if it's a noun or verb there than in 'segued' (Davies was using it as a verb).
In the Comedian's Comedian podcast this week, Alan Davies refers to 'segue' as something 'the Americans say'. That surprised me—and I can't see any evidence for it being particularly AmE.
October 25, 2025 at 10:51 AM
In the Comedian's Comedian podcast this week, Alan Davies refers to 'segue' as something 'the Americans say'. That surprised me—and I can't see any evidence for it being particularly AmE.
Wait, it's not in PT. It's in the draft (or in the offcuts pile of that draft) of the book I've been working on...
Here's what's footnoted there: www.jstor.org/stable/45589...
Here's what's footnoted there: www.jstor.org/stable/45589...
October 20, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Wait, it's not in PT. It's in the draft (or in the offcuts pile of that draft) of the book I've been working on...
Here's what's footnoted there: www.jstor.org/stable/45589...
Here's what's footnoted there: www.jstor.org/stable/45589...
The adding of the 'h' was in the context of the new snobbery about h-rdopping in the 19th c. So, in a way, the dropped H's did help!
October 14, 2025 at 10:01 AM
The adding of the 'h' was in the context of the new snobbery about h-rdopping in the 19th c. So, in a way, the dropped H's did help!
GenAI still can't count. It's ironic that it's called 'computation' and tragedy that it's called 'information technology'
October 8, 2025 at 10:59 AM
GenAI still can't count. It's ironic that it's called 'computation' and tragedy that it's called 'information technology'
Many publications to celebrate these days and I hope my lexicographical friends and my fiction-reading friends and my Sussex linguistics friends will join me in celebrating this novel by our former student, @arealmattgreene.bsky.social Loved his last two books. Can’t wait to dive in.
October 1, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Many publications to celebrate these days and I hope my lexicographical friends and my fiction-reading friends and my Sussex linguistics friends will join me in celebrating this novel by our former student, @arealmattgreene.bsky.social Loved his last two books. Can’t wait to dive in.
What a thrilling object to find in the mail/post!
Congratulations to @stefanfatsis.bsky.social I can’t wait to read it!
Congratulations to @stefanfatsis.bsky.social I can’t wait to read it!
September 29, 2025 at 4:51 PM
What a thrilling object to find in the mail/post!
Congratulations to @stefanfatsis.bsky.social I can’t wait to read it!
Congratulations to @stefanfatsis.bsky.social I can’t wait to read it!
Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me*: An Occasional Series
*but mostly @lordsedge.bsky.social
EYELINE
Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...
*but mostly @lordsedge.bsky.social
EYELINE
Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...
September 27, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me*: An Occasional Series
*but mostly @lordsedge.bsky.social
EYELINE
Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...
*but mostly @lordsedge.bsky.social
EYELINE
Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...