In The Prodigal Tongue, linguist Lynne Murphy recounts the story of a friend from the US who was confused when her physician inquired about her waterworks. In Britain, that’s a slang term for urinary tract, whereas in the US, it’s a...
The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between American and British English by linguist Lynne Murphy is a trove of information about differences between these two versions of English. Murphy’s blog, Separated by a Common Language, is...
Those of us in the United States and Britain may be separated by a common language, but we’re also separated when it comes to how we indicate numbers. A Numberphile video featuring linguist Lynne Murphy explains this in more depth. This is...
free vote n.— «Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, leader of the Roman Church in England and Wales, went public to insist that Labour MP’s should be granted what is known as a “free vote,” the process by which party members are allowed to...
grow teeth v. phr.— «After meekly relinquishing a 65—and a record—to Bob Murphy and 7-under-par scores to a couple of others, the golf course grew teeth.» —by Bog Green in Ponte Vedra, Florida Associated Press Mar. 28...