London Language

'provocative' cross gesture

BBC - Church 'alarm' over cross caution

Here's a controversial example which raises lots of issues about language and communication, especially about context and intention. Lots of players cross themselves during football matches without offending anyone but how do you decide whether the context has made this 'procovative'?

Billy

the pleasures of correction

The Times - The pleasures of correction - Charles Bremner weblog

Charles Bremner, the Paris correspondent for the Times, has an interesting post about 'a skirmish over a circumflex accent'. As well as the fun of following the discussion, he has some interesting thoughts about different attitudes to prescriptivism in England and France.

Billy