The word matrix has become mainstream in 1999 thanks to the movie The Matrix. Long before that, the word had been in use in science and technology. In mathematics and physics (the fields I am most often confronted with in talks and discussions), a matrix is a regular array of objects such as numbers or
When used as an incorrect translation of the German words genial or Genie, the English words genial and genie almost constitute an oxymoron. These false friends have a completely different meaning, but are often mixed up by German native speakers. The German word genial translates into ingenious. However, the true meaning of the English word
Today, I want to cover a topic that has been suggested by Gerrit, a follower of my blog on FB. He pointed out that German native speakers (and quite likely also people with other native languages) sometimes have difficulties getting the pronunciation of the syllable ‘ey’ right. For example, in the words Disney, Kinsey, hockey,
Typos happen whenever something is written. Even spell checkers and proof reading can not always eliminate all mistakes, for example when the misspelled word is also a valid word in the language used (but with a different meaning). Among the countless boring typos, there are some which stand out, because they transform a regular sentence
Here is an interesting false friend for those trying to learn German. The English word stress has a number of different meanings. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, the word is used for, for example, mental pressure (as in stress management), physical pressure (for example, a stress fracture), emphasis (the boss lays great stress on
For whatever reason, many people tend to confuse the apostrophe ’ with the symbol ` when writing. Some typical examples are it`s, don`t, let`s instead of it’s, don’t, let’s The use of ` instead of ’ is quite surprising because on an English keyboard, the apostrophe is much easier and faster to type. Using either
The word height can be quite difficult for non-native speakers because they are tempted to pronounce it in the same way as the word hate. However, there is a clear difference: hate is pronounced as [heɪt], listen here, height is pronounce as [haɪt], listen here. For me, a simple way to remember the correct pronunciation
The pronunciation of the titles lieutenant and colonel, given to selected army and police officers, respectively, is both challenging and interesting. First, the British and American pronunciations are very different in the case of lieutenant. In British English, the pronunciation is [lefˈtenənt], see and listen here, whereas in American English it is [luːˈtenənt]. Second, colonel
Here are two rather false friends which are quite common among German native speakers. False friend #1: Greet Vienna from us! This is not the proper English phrase, but a false friend based on the German expression Grüße Wien von uns! More generally, the German “jemanden grüßen lassen” translates into the English expression “to send/give
@GrammarGirl @BryanAGarner In German it is quite common among pregnant women to abbreviate “Schwangerschaft” (pregnancy) as SS. — painfulenglish (@painfulenglish) June 18, 2013