English has been this vacuum cleaner of a language, because of its history meeting up with the Romans and then the Danes, the Vikings and then the French and then the Renaissance with all the Latin and Greek and Hebrew in the background.

The story of English spelling is the story of thousands of people - some well-known, most totally unknown - who left a permanent linguistic fingerprint on our orthography.

A feature of English that makes it different compared with all other languages is its global spread.

Swearing makes an excellent relief mechanism

Although many texters enjoy breaking linguistic rules, they also know they need to be understood.

As I get older and I get a few more years experience I become more like Dad, you know, King Lear.

You don't talk to a linguist without having what you say taken down and used in evidence against you at some point in time.