Maybe what you’re hearing is not factional information. You could be the victim of the illusion of truth. Truth is the truth and a lie is a lie, right? Well, it can get a little blurry at times. Yes, we all have problems with recognizing the truth from lies, but…
There is a state that is experienced by introverts the world over. L’espirit de l’escalier is a French idiom meaning to have the wit of the staircase. Although it sounds like it means nothing, it is something we have all experienced. It is something we can all relate to, but…
Have you ever walked into a tiny room and thought ‘I couldn’t swing a cat in here?’ Have you ever ‘rubbed someone up the wrong way?’ These are examples of phrases we use all the time, but do you know their origins? I love words. I love metaphors, words that…
Who doesn’t use the internet as a means of communication these days? But have you ever wondered about the effect it has on how we perceive life? Internet communication has risen drastically over the last couple of decades. More of us own mobile phones, computers, and laptops. Social media sites…
Our language is a wonderful tool. We use it to communicate our innermost thoughts and feelings. Writers in particular love to seek out words that add nuance and layers to their work. But in doing so, they can sometimes pick commonly misused words. It can be tempting to pop that…
Our language is full of weird words that look as if they mean one thing but actually imply something completely different. For example, take the word bucolic. If you didn’t already know what this word meant, you might surmise that it was a medical word connected to an illness of…
Some words are so intrinsically embedded into our unconscious that we don’t even realise they are foreign words. Take the internationally-known distress call of ‘May Day!’ for example. It derives from the French verb for help – 'aider'. In the 1920s, people were getting used to new international radio communications.…
Just talking to someone isn’t going to work anymore. You must understand the different types of communication. I can strike up a conversation with anyone, to be honest. But this doesn’t mean I’m utilizing a healthy form of communication. Some types of communication do not work as well as others,…
