https://www.economist.com/johnson/ Our correspondents consider the use and abuse of languages around the world, in a blog named after the dictionary-maker Samuel Johnson Wed, 30 May 2012 18:43:11 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/10/14/punnest-weekend-ever A pun is a pun is a pun but is not always fun /content/l6a0d274b4qj1k9hujkvj2cjpnna2fkd Mon, 14 Oct 2013 05:09:30 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/07/05/johnson-becomes-a-column-once-again For three years, we've blogged about language. We now (re)turn Johnson to a weekly column format /content/7t6dftvud44fff7580tujop4npvbn895 Fri, 05 Jul 2013 15:24:02 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/07/04/shrug-like-a-frenchman-and-frown-like-a-russian Timothy Doner, an enormously accomplished language learner at age 17, talks with us in French, Mandarin and Russian, explains how each language "feels" to him, and shares some of his tips /content/22g0lq3u3733tole3jf0tcho2fcajt9m Thu, 04 Jul 2013 07:03:45 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/07/01/mottakelse-to-new-york The perils of machine translation /content/v95ltqhav7s5in2nnnn0v9rde5illni1 Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:50:44 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/06/25/one-state-many-worlds-now-what Karnataka state in India struggles with its multilingual and multireligious identity /content/mns1vnu18lgiisjl0cnbb3vpdkqk094d Tue, 25 Jun 2013 21:46:43 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/06/21/a-language-with-too-many-armies-and-navies The Arabic language is a many-splendoured thing /content/q42u4nd9ddq4svrqvdvinltoo6jo1q1c Fri, 21 Jun 2013 15:39:54 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/06/14/review-babbel-and-duolingo One free and one inexpensive bit of language-learning software to compete with the pricier stuff /content/jq0se763qjmknbce6enj5tkqj1nj1use Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:37:36 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/06/12/crazy-long-words Long words do not make the Germanic languages especially difficult /content/pmpbfgtm19uq73h7vc8quet6dtl3k2mt Wed, 12 Jun 2013 15:20:28 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/06/10/growing-pains Some languages consider digraphs—two letters that form a single sound—to be a single letter, confusing learners /content/aqb5bkd1pkloc4ej2le8rvi114updmtm Mon, 10 Jun 2013 17:38:45 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/06/06/why-so-little-chinese-in-english The booming country is contributing fairly little to the English language /content/dcjij2fn8jp9444ggjpppkegldhv9dq8 Thu, 06 Jun 2013 16:06:47 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/06/04/more-perplexing-portuguese Additions to our glossary of Brazilian speech for foreigners /content/ui5ldt7hk5kf46c59m6ttjs8a6filugj Tue, 04 Jun 2013 14:03:32 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/05/31/schibboleth The Dutch make it difficult to learn their language by speaking such excellent English /content/f5bg4s133951k1dffjnm5esfi2ojjl1c Fri, 31 May 2013 16:04:24 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/05/30/book-review The rise of an obscure Iberian dialect to be the world's second-most spoken language /content/gtpktmdil52ned5gfnnm4o2cfvjblurg Thu, 30 May 2013 16:30:19 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/05/29/lexical-facts /content/a9avtct1usfmv14gv07g6o5s37d63v5l Wed, 29 May 2013 16:02:43 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/05/24/portuguese-for-the-perplexed What Brazilians say and what they mean /content/rputickk1q6pdhhldibno567nkj9186d Fri, 24 May 2013 13:49:49 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/05/21/of-nations-peoples-countries-and-minzu Differing terms for ethnicity, citizenship and group belonging ruffle feathers /content/h77fn6nk3g1p652a7dk3d1ds80e43bka Tue, 21 May 2013 17:55:43 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/05/20/english-atop-the-eurovision-pile-yet-again With no restrictions on the language of songs, English dominates the Eurovision Song Contest /content/ok2f72hqdi71i3e5m6idr0lt9238eflg Mon, 20 May 2013 15:05:11 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/05/13/setting-the-record-straight Discussions of language in India are distorted by nationalist fantasies of a pure and unbegotten Sanskrit /content/kaok87b25738onk9o4smg2vgdf1q2d4k Mon, 13 May 2013 07:41:05 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/05/08/the-performing-black-folks-next-door Criticism of "exotic" television interviews with poor black Americans /content/i7oo0fah1rj5f7j6778fmu5vrg7um2as Wed, 08 May 2013 16:44:21 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/05/07/eurasiatic A new attempt to lump language families into a 15,000-year-old macro-family /content/v1hs05dplqdcmsud0t22forf82g2sqpu Tue, 07 May 2013 19:48:55 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/05/01/unlikely-parallels Languages a world apart have a similar habit of borrowing elevated vocabulary from other languages /content/qo2q50nimulcohmosq4i4e6n6ggm506i Wed, 01 May 2013 19:28:22 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/29/multilingual-in-the-west Language-immersion programs in school are wildly popular in lily-white Utah /content/jajkuu6ctdeidnipfkl043jgj1je0u97 Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:36:54 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/25/a-man-walked-into-a-bar Not all languages use the present tense for jokes /content/ap8lmebrf418fdfli57dtfk50v89f9k1 Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:01:38 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/24/whos-number-1-really A skewed study of business-English skills /content/6a1kroapgi473v697pou2c4n2nnd433v Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:03:04 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/23/an-ombudsman-by-any-other-name-would-still-field-complaints Seeking balance in trying to make language gender-neutral /content/qliomt4ei4srulj4c173doh68d2gahj0 Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:50:18 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/19/212-only Many ways to disguise prejudice through euphemism /content/b6giaa7955ptsg94kimqmlhitf0bl2ej Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:11:09 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/18/going-beyond-dutch The EU's high court strikes down a law requiring Dutch-only contracts in Flanders /content/fd6tqb69l3ie3a9arg4rpo4ie0rv50mt Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:51:46 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/16/solitary-linguistic-confinement Prisoners who lack a shared language with other prisoners experience severe psychological problems /content/3d342dalbm7tbjpmb1bk3adltp40936h Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:39:04 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/15/words-of-war Controversy over describing American policies in the fight against terrorism /content/q2qq9jtq2p0k2t88d4ukhgjk1gg2lueb Mon, 15 Apr 2013 21:55:53 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/11/tamil-in-the-courts Should appeals-court lawyers in India use languages besides English? /content/guvk37j9v7oaamtcrfr7kmu1gbg714ol Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:32:11 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/10/how-black-to-be Moving back and forth between accents and dialects /content/89823nfkip9shdsktp4dma1i330d9ujd Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:31:10 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/08/a-half-century-in-language-change What can we learn from a fifty-year-old book of writing advice? /content/abkg5rglgobbeq5vna35qfcejjt5564h Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:05:50 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/05/justicia-mas-accesible International courts can teach American courts how to provide adequate interpretation and translation services /content/jcvoq3rbuuqun8etu64itcvplcv7pjvm Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:33:53 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/04/words-appearing-in-newspapers-controversially The AP drops "illegal immigrants" from its pages. Who's next? /content/gfp4p1cge4sfv2eg8gt3ot1uq188f50a Thu, 04 Apr 2013 21:08:57 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/03/in-praise-of-sensible-peeving It is perfectly possible to straddle the "descriptivism versus prescriptivism" divide in talking about language /content/nq8j5tksacuh1pl9tenm5t132lihccg8 Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:10:20 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/04/02/towards-a-fairer-distribution French is increasingly anachronistic as a language of diplomacy. What should replace it? /content/iijt9b255j8tqtqkdasibo2qgmp7ur0n Tue, 02 Apr 2013 01:56:31 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/03/29/mental-gymnastics Why users of sign language have better spatial skills /content/8j4qoj01upnobqnjohjhkch53rt9o153 Fri, 29 Mar 2013 19:41:27 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/03/27/broken-promises An abstruse feature of poetry hits the headlines /content/9b6vtli9fno6ij9oitjme5cmrdk83gmj Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:14:38 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/03/25/laws-in-translation How different international tribunals deal with the array of languages involved in the cases before them /content/96jd78n5o1r4qjbdsen0so55c01r2tva Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:03:26 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/03/18/apostropholypse-now A panic over apostrophes is a tempest in a thimble /content/hqmmoao2rohad5dqn1edcmmqsa3cn08k Mon, 18 Mar 2013 21:17:57 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/03/18/theyre-all-a-little-mad Why do we describe sporting crowds as "insane", "mad" and the like? /content/a5j8g3chig8s3a9bnn33i06kjj68bram Mon, 18 Mar 2013 18:14:26 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/03/14/habemus-papam The election of a Pope with interesting linguistic consequences /content/8741a54ti8q2kbm5da8995l7qihoea62 Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:47:49 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/03/13/the-half-life-of-metaphors How many technological metaphors will survive in the long run? /content/r9jn4u9h7snm2k935j7djf9r131j4ms2 Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:09:13 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/03/11/once-they-start-laughing-at-you-youre-through The head of Quebec's language inspectorate steps down amid a scandal over "pasta" /content/5qjsgcbr8hht3rsi2vfmdupdc84vmglh Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:26:32 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/03/07/the-keenest-wikipedians Some languages are surprisingly vibrant on Wikipedia /content/um4hhupbatr994s648hl8a7rjtmi8aar Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:56:12 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/03/06/coded-red As Kenya's elections unfold, some observers are fretting over the subtext of text messages /content/la7q08dbqsqj2ldu4985p7atr587k6al Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:45:01 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/03/04/is-a-comma-grammar Most people would say yes. Language scholars would usually say no /content/ojturkaof56f7igmq7kf2dvd7bfrgh26 Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:39:04 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/03/01/trust-me-im-a-doctor-of-law Should you call an American lawyer, a juris doctor, "Doctor"? /content/ilsk8v45oqr9jahl8utgso4kqhr3udl6 Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:32:22 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/02/27/texting-in-the-underwear-language The more intimate a situation, the more people prefer their mother tongues /content/5n9jp5oluisibjpg4q3gldtk1os7g6pk Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:36:24 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/02/26/the-scope-of-the-self Overuse of reflexive pronouns like "myself" isn't just egotistical; worse, it's often ungrammatical /content/nout6c65mp6bkrlhap5uoi5dl1nmg7dn Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:52:57 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/02/22/convergent-as An intriguing coincidence in slang use on opposite sides of the Pacific /content/t3u0qd2m94nu7f2alv1870hvogqbgogb Fri, 22 Feb 2013 18:05:21 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/02/20/pitch-perfect More evidence that bilingualism is not bad for babies /content/f9djllf8qa32mtoo2blftuc94qjhv387 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:22:35 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/02/13/dumber State of the Union speeches are not being simplified for idiots /content/47v1p6rnck7m949nsa9gqht5ovd45pju Wed, 13 Feb 2013 18:38:35 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/02/12/catholic-linguistics Benedict XVI's linguistic choices, and a look to the future of papal tweeting /content/5di93kd5ncod1v4c522th2q6m3t6ocfu Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:23:00 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/02/08/yum-no-more Some over-clever brand names pose a conundrum for style-book editors /content/5l2d392ef70ifjh7sc1gss2hikhh27v2 Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:12:58 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/02/07/stolz-amerikaner-zu-sein Germans lived for decades without learning English in the America of a century ago /content/hn3hob0qk1tk4mjg6jcsvegnvjdr49li Thu, 07 Feb 2013 02:19:43 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/02/05/the-humble-retroflex What unites Indian languages, and gives Indian English its distinct sound? /content/gh39n1tq686mnbielso5t4c1grevpieg Tue, 05 Feb 2013 15:27:21 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/31/the-magic-words-make-them-learn-english The political importance of English requirements in America's immigration reform /content/3tlvos8asi8j2433eevt7m8nrtnin4dh Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:13:45 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/29/academie-americaine Which languages do best in winning the Oscar for a foreign-language film? /content/2jemjs2etql63eh36pc8dcqarh03nm3k Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:52:58 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/25/we-speak-your-language The elaborate multilingualism of New York on display /content/0gjjl3tsnkfrg394u29l4rrf9mjitppp Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:44:17 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/24/gun-safety-versus-gun-control How powerful are the effects of metaphorical language in political argument? /content/lfhm8c9rg8fahuoa15ndltl0iffb3mmn Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:09:58 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/22/flub-redux Joe Biden makes two tiny changes to his oath of office /content/47h09epjmlf2g9ffj1tvl1ihqei3nu73 Tue, 22 Jan 2013 15:48:42 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/18/the-name-to-me-is- Computer translation has made great strides, but its failures are still frequent—and funny /content/bvfrip7vt0u1p9e6sj4ucbi3cb9sn0i9 Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:06:48 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/17/you-a-short-history The pronoun's winding way to second-person dominance /content/nhli1i3557vkosth2dfsvo2f2ri55a9v Thu, 17 Jan 2013 21:04:52 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/16/singular-they-everyone-has-their-own-opinion But the traditional ban on it is weakly grounded /content/tdm6dcrhea6p1bnd0ob6kk7fpquickle Wed, 16 Jan 2013 19:12:02 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/14/alphabet-soup Catch-all terms for gender and sexual identities are a mouthful /content/meb3lg37jp28q9hirj8jgciv5br5og7t Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:04:45 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/10/thank-the-ft-for-a-sensible-contribution An open-minded reflection on the differences in American and British English /content/bh2pb6r1dsoq9hb9hfbj9t1u4cbutqp1 Thu, 10 Jan 2013 18:50:48 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/08/and-the-winner-is An odd choice for the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year /content/tpkm1tl2778j1oihutmcmhln67c7245t Tue, 08 Jan 2013 21:29:19 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/07/do-spooks-call-themselves-spooks Insiders invent their own terms for things, to show that they are insiders /content/icg29ttctvqh2a1dtrvrdnnpfg9ilukr Mon, 07 Jan 2013 20:52:13 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/04/my-starbucks-name Helping the barista with difficult names /content/0b8o648a1krdo467b4kp4u2397tfr3gs Fri, 04 Jan 2013 16:25:55 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/03/rosetta-stone An in-depth look at a widely touted bit of language-learning software /content/3r289ldgbn9epnpcubv5jdq6fbtrflh5 Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:47:19 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/01/01/split-verbs Some people believe, incorrectly, that a verb cannot be split from its auxiliary /content/v8o7f4ocv5bp4siocq74gktq7qalvbbo Tue, 01 Jan 2013 17:18:34 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/12/21/tomorrows-english What's going on when science fiction writers attempt to depict language change? /content/g7n22i1p9mbi3hbof9v26n473va0aomt Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/12/20/bork Why are some words fun to say? /content/fble7g6qoiigvlclc1alreug8kukarep Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:00:07 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/12/19/para-su-seguridad Linguistic nativism should take a back seat to good sense when considering workplace safety /content/mbj183fvrtbomdudrr61nev53ui8pt0t Wed, 19 Dec 2012 21:07:22 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/12/18/im-in-ur-internets-creolizin-ur-english How is the use of English by non-natives likely to change the standard language? /content/4jth1t9520jm6fjc5s04hfeq3orc9iak Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:42:07 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/12/12/and-he-tweeted-saying The Pope begins life on Twitter in seven languages--with one notable omission /content/kodukin92cflp4mlphben7bsqt0k4g36 Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:00:05 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/12/11/do-you-make-scandinavian-mistakes A controversial argument that the split infinitive and sentence-ending prepositions are Old Norse /content/booq14o4gsr9cvn0k64sbmnq0iheb3h3 Tue, 11 Dec 2012 19:49:05 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/12/10/a-spanish-own-goal Spain's education minister infuriates Catalans with a plan for more Spanish in Catalan schools /content/r8ld3eiv53jhiudkrf3si2cptd292t9u Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:50:37 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/12/07/the-meaning-of-idiot-in-new-jersey Modernising the legal language used to describe mental disabilities /content/nmb6s06g65jjap5qa7aokv9i65dk5itl Fri, 07 Dec 2012 19:27:42 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/12/05/do-you-speak-a-scandinavian-language A putative Scandinavian basis for English is far-fetched /content/qq4dm6glvsg5kjo8kne7mpmutphsceau Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:17:41 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/11/29/the-erkernermerst /content/57d1esb4i20j563foehemq3tq8eih54p Thu, 29 Nov 2012 17:46:29 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/11/28/merry-war-on-christmas-and-have-a-blessed-day /content/8gsrmv3kaoks7bieftvtgavdpn46t2fe Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:52:31 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/11/27/catalonian-confusion The linguistic elements of Catalan nationalism /content/21991he8afug54bcuqc5umbtt5oujjij Tue, 27 Nov 2012 15:10:04 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/11/26/linguistic-sleuthing-in-eastern-congo The difficulty of proving Rwandan and Ugandan involvement in Congo through language /content/251n8mg6r66vlvjfo4gsluhagmogabdh Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:52:58 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/11/22/finding-their-ideal-format The future of dictionaries is digital /content/ea94cabjhlp2pssto86t31trvg1ie9ia Thu, 22 Nov 2012 17:52:47 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/11/20/theres-whats-right-and-theres-whats-right How did the "right" come to mean "correct", "natural entitlement" and "not left" in so many languages? /content/2mnron2r8f6jnja6rc1vmh96d3idec3d Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:53:42 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/11/16/people-such-as-he A tricky construction and some expert advice /content/kq96ajgqe33q0q3qlptmvfh6pscmciv3 Fri, 16 Nov 2012 21:26:35 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/11/14/happy-diwali An amazing panoply of English and Hindi words from one root /content/fv5ehokuj7075k8lregmljtidmsg8g7g Wed, 14 Nov 2012 20:15:04 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/11/12/hablen-ingles--por-favor /content/f9nlcie8rnc8g9d3c4eaqujimfupmqbi Mon, 12 Nov 2012 17:10:22 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/11/08/t-v Struggling to navigate linguistic formality /content/2ftoar7r6eqi8gdm76baq27flnomtr7o Thu, 08 Nov 2012 19:27:33 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/11/02/very-much-lost-in-translation The most emotional topics become deadened when filtered /content/ftpqvu41k6ups2f7po1kh9klob5l00ik Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:40:29 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/10/31/yes-we-kannada Worries about the invasion of other languages mask a fear of globalisation /content/a3p7hs7pmlbn5qfvk64ca8du018bi58g Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:30:16 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/10/30/tracking-casual-homophobia A website tracks homophobic language on Twitter /content/3tnuvf8iu79nf9umu3gkfcv274pb0ds0 Tue, 30 Oct 2012 17:51:01 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/10/29/o-canada-now-also-in-tagalog-mandarin-and-hindi A new census shows surprising linguistic changes in Canada /content/63gofmbtb2oporn5tfpn1no37do7bubr Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:10:06 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/10/24/english-where-she-is-spoke A big survey of English abilities around the world reveals some fascinating detail /content/3nchbec99872214u2rqpklirqmj6a7d0 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:27:33 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/10/23/if-not A usage that is almost always ambiguous, if not impossible to interpret /content/ti6i60ful17oc2clrqcpnv7ajr4j2ri8 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 20:26:11 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/10/23/a-question-for-readers The ambiguity of "if not" /content/2h53fee35r1hknmb7h834jftm68f8roe Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:29:40 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/10/22/standing-proud-for-adjectives Sometimes a verb is followed by an adjective where an adverb might be expected /content/hsjpgkj76s777vs1vcu94kldeld7t5hd Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:05:23 +0000 https://www.economist.com/johnson/2012/10/19/the-ties-that-bind Tensions at an international linguistic organisation raise questions about the organisation's purpose /content/fhjb9koeql0g8j3sisplpmfhq6e46fru Fri, 19 Oct 2012 16:06:43 +0000