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Grammar: do you write ESTs when they should be ERs?

September 19, 2019 By Leave a Comment

It’s not exactly the end of the world, but did you know if you only have two children you don’t have an ‘oldest’ or ‘eldest?’

writing tips
(Or a ‘youngest,’ for that matter.) Everyone today seems to forget that the suffix ‘est’ should only be used when writing/talking about more than two items, people, etc. If it’s just two, the suffix is ‘er.’ And by the way…

‘Elder-eldest’ or ‘older-oldest?’
According to Merriam Webster, ‘elder’ and ‘eldest’ are only
used to refer to persons, whereas ‘older’ and ‘oldest’ are
used to refer to both persons and things. More on the
detail of that here if you’re interested! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business English if you're not a native speaker, Business writing, Latest, Social writing, Writing tips Tagged With: , , , ,

Want some help to write your next book? Here’s a useful update

September 12, 2019 By Leave a Comment

Do you have a great idea for a book, but don’t know how to go about writing and producing it?
Does writing a book seem a lovely idea, but as such a large project is a bit scary – especially if it’s your first one?

Get your book written and published - without the scams

That wonderful feeling when your new book is actually published and out there…me with my latest. (And over-bleached hair – apologies.) Photo by Kate Everall https://www.kateeverallphotography.com/

The help you need to write your book and get it out there

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Business writing, How to Write, Latest, Publishing, Social writing, Storytelling, Writing fiction, Writing tips Tagged With: , , , , ,

Writing accidents: whatever happened to Spoonerisms?

August 1, 2019 By Leave a Comment

Do you ever jumble up your words and come up with an entertaining alternative? Pity then, for poor old Reverend Spooner, whose jumbling up of words and phrases had his students at New College, Oxford rolling in the aisles laughing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

article about Spoonerisms

Great minds like a think (Great minds think alike)

To quote Wikikpedia:
Spoonerisms are named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930), Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to this mistake.[3][4] The term “Spoonerism” was well established by 1921.

Approximate Spoonerisms I’ve written for some of our favourite personalities:

Jealous Boxin’ (Boris Johnson)

Trumbald Dump (Donald Trump)

Mawistful Tray (Theresa May) [Read more…]

Filed Under: Latest, Social writing, Writing humour Tagged With: , , , , ,

How to write insults without swearing

July 22, 2019 By Leave a Comment

UPDATED JULY 20, 2019. Further to our recent article about whether women should write swearwords or not, here is an updated and expanded version of some glorious, clean (well, cleanish) insults sent to me a couple of years ago by my cousin Alyson in Ottawa, Canada.

funny article about insults

William Shakespeare, King Lear

William Shakespeare was a master of insults, as you can see from above. That full quote, said by Lear to his daughter Goneril (why does her name always make me think of a sexually transmitted disease?) goes as follows:

“Thou art a boil, A plague-sore or embossèd carbuncle, In my corrupted blood.” Gee thanks, Dad. More of Willie’s best insults below. Meanwhile…

There was the exchange between Winston Churchill & Lady Astor:

She said, “If you were my husband I’d give you poison.”  He said, “If you were my wife, I’d drink it.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Latest, Social Media, Social writing, Writing fiction, Writing humour Tagged With: , , , , ,

Déjà vu jokes … plus a few more, 2019

July 13, 2019 By Leave a Comment

Updated and republished July 13th, 2019: Déjà Vu for You Too? Some updated smiles for you …

Thanks to Nigel Jamie Bangs who originally shared this gag on my Facebook group, The Joke Street Journal (please join if you want some good laughs.) The original thought was this: Deja poo jokesAnd that got me thinking. So I started writing…..and writing…..and writing……and I came up with the following. Now in July 2019 I have come up with a few more. But … let’s get you thinking of even more!

Déjà Boo:  Boring people with ghost stories when it isn’t Halloween

Déjà Blue: Long-standing UK Conservative / US Democrat voter [Read more…]

Filed Under: How to Write, Latest, Social writing, Writing humour Tagged With: , , , , ,

How to write yourself a wonderful wedding website

July 11, 2019 By Leave a Comment

Getting married this year? Welcome John Daulton from Your UK Wedding Directory who explains how to set up a low-cost yet effective wedding website to capture all those memories forever.

Wedding websitesby John Daulton

So… you’re getting married and you know you’d like to document it and keep reminders of it in every way you can. You’ve hired the photographer, and you know your friends will be there taking videos and photos with their smartphones. What else can you do to keep the memories alive? [Read more…]

Filed Under: How to Write, Latest, Social writing, Writing tips Tagged With: , , ,
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