The Latin phrase et cetera (usually abbreviated as etc.), which may be translated as “and so forth” or “and other things”, is commonly used in the English language. While listening to this video, I remembered that I had previously heard a number of people pronounce et cetera in an unusual way. The correct pronunciations (there
The German word Kindergarten has become part of the English language in the form of kindergarten. Interestingly, many native and non-native speakers instead use kindergarden. However, the dictionaries I consulted only include the word kindergarten. Moreover, there is no official support for pronouncing kindergarten like kindergarden. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary provides the British and the
The abbreviation KO (also K.O.) stands for knock out. It has its origin in the sport of boxing. Interestingly, in colloquial German, KO is often used in phrases such as Ich bin ein wenig KO (= I am a bit exhausted) or Er ist ganz schön KO (= He is quite exhausted). However, I don’t
I have noticed that words such as careful, beautiful or sinful are often misspelled as carefull, beautifull or sinfull. A spell checker will often flag such mistakes. However, in scientific writing, there are many technical expressions not recognized by the spell checker anyway, so that such mistakes will remain unnoticed. The best example I can
The word route has two common pronunciations, namely [ruːt] and [raʊt]; you can listen to both forms here. However, it is not so clear which version is used by whom and in which context. In particular, it is not a simple matter of British vs. American English. According to Longman’s Pronunciation Dictionary, [ruːt] is used
Since we are quickly closing in on Christmas (or Xmas), let me share one of the funniest language stories I have to offer. A couple of years ago, I was waiting at the Oslo Bus Terminal for my connection to the Jotunheimen National Park. While reading, I happened to overhear a conversation between two girls
If you are over 30 and live in the non-English speaking part of Europe (also known as the Continent in the UK), there is a good chance that you remember the times when the Twix candy bar was called Raider. The name was changed to Twix in 1991 (see here), but Raider bars have recently
Christmas is coming up soon, and most of us are so busy that they can only find time to use the term Xmas instead. First, it seems that only the form Xmas but not X-mas or xmas are acceptable. Moreover, Xmas can be pronounced either as [ˈkrɪsməs] (just like the word Christmas, note that the
Apart from the different spelling in British (defence) and American English (defense), there are some interesting points to be mentioned about the pronunciation of the word defence. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary only mentions the pronunciation [dɪˈfens], both for British and American English, listen here. However, in practice, you will also encounter the variant [dəˈfens], as
The verb to bury generally means to hide or put something in the ground. It is of course often used in the context of funerals, and less frequently in the context of hidden treasures. The pronunciation of the words bury and buried (the simple past of bury) is less straight-froward than expected. The standard (British