Browsing All posts tagged under »words«

One Reason to be Jealous of Shakespeare (or Hate Him)

December 27, 2011 by

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He invented turns of phrase that were so evocative they’re now clichés. So when you want to beat your head against the wall because you’ve heard that so many times before, it’s his fault. But at the same time, you have to admire his gift with language.    

France, 1525

December 5, 2011 by

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I spent some time yesterday looking for something in one of my old notebooks. Which made be a) wish I had time to transcribe them, b) wonder a little about myself, c) laugh out loud regularly and then try to looking innocent and uninteresting when the boys demanded to know what was so funny. I […]

Revera Linguam Latinam Vix Cognovi

December 2, 2011 by

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I can’t speak French. I also can’t speak Latin and a lot of other languages. But it’s those first two that bother me the most. Latin because I’m unreasonably fond of it and like to make bad jokes that nobody understands and French because I’ve quit learning French four times. In year two, in year […]

‘Twisted As All Fuckery’ is the Way It’s Labelled In My Head

December 1, 2011 by

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So I have a program on the laptop that allows me to put sticky notes all over my desktop. I use them for all kinds of things, but there’s one in the bottom left corner that is just temporary storage for notes. I type stuff in there when I’m half asleep and I can’t be […]

Words That Taste Good On Your Tongue

November 29, 2011 by

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Claire: Payback. That’s not a nice word. Me: Sure it is. I also enjoy ‘blackmail’ and ‘extortion’. Actually, quite apart from it’s meaning ‘extortion’ is a lovely word. Fun to say. I am unreasonably fond of whole groups of words for the sound of them alone, the taste of them on the tongue, the way […]

Do You Ever Do That Thing Where You’re Looking at a Word or Hearing a Word And All of a Sudden it Ceases to Have Meaning?*

November 14, 2011 by

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You’re staring at this bizarre combination of syllables and thinking, What is that even? How is that supposed to convey anything? Why are those sounds or letters in that order? That’s not even language. Which, I suppose, is fair. After all language is only words or letters that convey meaning. In that moment they don’t […]

Plug and Play

November 9, 2011 by

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I am off writing query letters today. Yes, I totally am. Shut up. I’m totally doing it. Right now. Okay, not right now. But like, in a minute. And in the meantime I am going to leave you with some things to entertain you. In case you haven’t heard (although if you’re remotely interested you […]

If Thou Speak’st False, Upon the Next Tree Shalt Thou Hang Alive

October 28, 2011 by

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I have issues with Shakespeare. I just wanted to say that. Sometimes people get upset with me when I criticise him, so I thought I’d say that up front in case you want to, I don’t know, plan an intervention or something. Honestly, I really do like his work. Okay, I love his words. I […]

Moves Like Jagger

October 26, 2011 by

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So… I was sick last week, and I didn’t really work because it was hard to concentrate. But I made notes. Little… bits of things that I jotted down on the sticky notes on my desktop to figure out later. So on Monday, illness behind me, I went about organising said notes. And there were […]

Volunteering to be Roadkill

October 12, 2011 by

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I just wrote… I don’t even know what that was. I just wrote 2000 words of… no, I honestly don’t know. But my head apparently has some rather dark places in it. I mean, I know what it is. It’s a new chapter of book two of Path (also known by its awesome codename TRTH). […]